It is freaking cold.

I have been on the verge of getting incredibly sick for about a week now, pretty much ever since Thanksgiving dinner. My body goes in and out of having chills and aching joints, and I'm tired no matter how long I sleep. Taking preventative measures, I have been downing pills, eating fruit and vegetables at every meal, sleeping in excess, and chugging water. But this damn cold weather is not helping. Today it was freezing, and I think I need to buy another heater for my room because one isn't cutting it anymore (I would use the kerosene powered one the previous Fulbrighter left for me, but last time I tried turning it on, it made exploding sounds and made my apartment smell like a gas station). Tonight in my apartment, I was literally sitting in front of the heater with a hooded sweatshirt, sweats, scarf, hat, and gloves on. I might as well have been huddled around a trashcan fire in a New York city alley. Oh, and according to forecasts, tomorrow is supposed to be Sendai's first snowfall of the winter. Did I mention that it's cold?

Last night, I watched some Seinfeld episodes I have downloaded on my computer and a few episodes of Larry David's Curb Your Enthusiasm (I have the season 1 DVD - which I last watched with Emiko during the summer. Hi Emi.). While Curb Your Enthusiasm is incredibly well-acted and funny and Seinfeld-esque and all that, I have never enjoyed it nearly as much as Seinfeld despite the fact that it's HBO-ness allows it to say all the things they couldn't say on Seinfeld (though that admittedly often adds to Seinfeld's charm and humor). My usual response to Curb Your Enthusiasm is closer to extreme agitation than knee-sleeping laughter (if you haven't seen the show, it basically puts asshole Larry David in situations where other people treat him like an asshole and say and do unthinkable things). Which is strange, considering it's all basically the exact same situations as were used on Seinfeld. How it all puzzled me so. But then while ignoring today's boring Macro lecture on the IS-LM structure, I realized why: it's all about execution. Larry David's shows generally hit on the things I find ridiculous and annoying about people. But on Seinfeld, those things played out in an unrealistic sitcom environment with a studio audience. Curb Your Enthusiasm has no audience and is shot on location with handheld cameras - giving it that "documentary feel". That difference makes all the difference - when the situations play out on Seinfeld, I can laugh at the ridiculousness of the people and the actions because they are not real. When they play out on Curb Your Enthusiasm, they seem just real enough that I get pissed off for how people act around Larry rather than laugh about it. It basically produces this subtle but striking difference: "Haha! Those assholes!" and "What?? Those assholes!" All of this leads to one conclusion: my brain is easily tricked and embarrassingly stupid.

That was boring and unnecessary to write about. Sorry.

Moving on, I made a couple promises to Dana the Robot today about my blog, so to kill two birds with one stone:

I wake alone. Eyelids are heavy. Filled with the regret of
heavy dreams that have plagued me lo these many days.
Who am I? Where am I? Where am I going?
I don't, can't, won't know all answers, but I know the last:
I am going to the cafeteria.
I sip tea and lean back like I'm riding in a tricked-out M3. Gangsta.
Whoa! is me! I miss those Hill lunches with you, friend.
Oh, to share a meal with you again after absorbing the history
of Japan like sponges.
Longing, yearning, sadness within happiness,
Melancholy mind, empty stomach, empty heart, I am a waste
In line for a hamburger - yes, without cheese.
one man, one robot
two assholes in a pod. Insult, sarcasm, friendship.
But I remain steadfast, looking on to another day, not weak.
How wonderful to have an android who never wants
To say goodbye.
_________
There are very few people who will understand what the hell just happened right there, but I hope you appreciate it, Dana. Leave a message if you appreciate it.

"USC is full of life; the Irish are not."

I ordered a Yahoo Sports Pass for 1 month for the low, low price of $4.95 and I can now listen to the radio broadcast of the USC-Notre Dame game. It doesn't exactly compare to being in South Bend last year to see SC humiliate the Irish, but considering this is the closest I've gotten to seeing a college football game this season, it's definitely good enough. It's almost like listening to a game on that little gray rectangular radio that my parents have gotten probably about 20 more years of mileage out of than it was meant to handle. And I'm happy to say USC is once again pummeling the Irish, something I'll never get enough of after USC lost the first 13 games they played against ND in my life.

The weather here in Sendai has been beautiful pretty much all week - cold, but clear and sunny. I met my new conversation partner for dinner on Friday night, an engineering senior named Ishiyama Taida. It looks like he's going to work out well - we get along and have a lot to talk about, and I think he's even going to take me to play basketball sometime. Dude's even got a car. Suh-wweeeet. Last night I hung out with a Chinese friend of mine, and she was teaching me some Mandarin with mixed results. Lea, I have new found respect for your Chinese studies.

A Very Fulbright Japan Thanksgiving Special

On Saturday I hopped on an ANA flight out of Sendai and headed down to Kyoto to celebrate Thanksgiving in Kyoto with 70% of the Fulbrighters (none of the J-people could make it: John is in the forests of Hokkaido; Jen is in Thailand; John is in Okinawa with his Dad). Kyoto is among Japan's most historic cities (in the greater Kyoto area, there is an unbelievable number of shrines and temples: 1,700) and it is a beautiful, and is particularly beautiful this time of year because of the fall colors.

I've been staying over at Dave (Junichi) Follette's place which has been excellent; we stay up late nightly chatting it up like girls at a slumber party and just generally have a good time. Saturday night, we all headed out on the town to have some dinner and free entertainment (ie, sitting around talking). Sunday was arbitrarily chosen as Thanksgiving. The other Dave (Junichi) ordered a pre-cooked turkey from a department store, Dan and me Dave (Kenji) were in charge of mashed potatoes and random errands, Anna and Laura baked a pumpkin pie, and Katie and Lauren skillfully dashed off a variety of dishes (such as stuffing, homemade applesauce, salad, pie, and even jello salad). Considering my annual Thanksgiving back home with the Isozakis, Hayashibaras, and Nakashoyas usually involves Japanese food in addition to the traditional foods, this was ironically the most traditional, American Thanksgiving I've ever had. We had a couple of Japanese guests (guys from Dave Junichi's lab) as well as one member of last year's Fulbright squad who still has some unfinished business in Japan over as well. We played a few card games and drinking games after dinner, and enjoyed some pie with ice cream and cream we whipped by hand with chopsticks, a fork, and a potato masher (we don't own a whisk). It was an excellent night on all counts, and I'm very impressed that we managed to pull off such an authentic Thanksgiving so far away from any Puritans and Indians.

Today, we woke up, grabbed the Thanksgiving bento's we made the night before from leftovers for lunch, and headed out to a temple called Kurama with Katie, Lauren, Anna, and Laura. After walking around and eating our Bentos, we headed up to a nearby onsen (hot spring), where Dave and I sat naked together in hot water with a bunch of other naked men for like 1.5 hours, with nothing more than a small square towel to cover up. It's not as terrible as you think. Well maybe it would be, I don't know what you're thinking. Afterward, we had some tonkatsu and sang it up at karaoke.

I'm excited about tomorrow: heading to Osaka to meet up with Jen and play for the day! Woohoo.

CAUTION: Foolish Optimism Ahead

After raining all day yesterday, the sky cleared up tonight and the stars were brighter and clearer than pretty much anytime I've seen in my life. They were brighter than holes punched in black paper; this was the kind of night sky only seen in like Christmas commercials and planetarium exhibits. It was a nice way to end a good day.

I had two reunions to start off the day: one with tutor Tsuyoshi who I haven't seen in three weeks, and the other with economics class which I also haven't seen in about three weeks. Economics class today actually felt like something useful and interesting for once. Apart from my other tutor Takako basically giving me the cold shoulder in the bookstore and walking away from me mid-conversation for no apparent reason, it was an encouraging moment. Then, tonight my relatives called me to check up on me and to plan out our New Years schedule (still undecided). And THEN I found out I have a visitor to look forward to in three weeks. The best possible visitor on the planet (any guesses as to who?). And THEN that visitor told me that I might not have to spend Christmas all lonely and mopey because there are some people who think it would be better if I spent it with them - still sure if can take up the offer, but it was touching nonetheless. It all makes me feel like today might have been my turning point - and that I will only kickass from now on. But then again ...

...the one thing that did suck was the this week's episode of Last Christmas (the fall drama I've been following devotedly, and yes, effeminately) was the first one to miss the mark. After getting the protagonists together last week, they disappointingly followed drama protocol and used this week as a halfway house for ripping it all down next week, and by using a far-fetched "hatsukoi" (first love) theme no less. Come on! You can do better than that! Damn. Looks like I'll have to wait 7 days to find out if Yuki is really going to leave Kenji (yes, the main character's name is Kenji, which accounts for part of the show's undeniable charm) for that brooding, self-important pretty-boy Naoya. I'm guessing that since there are still 6 episodes left, yes, she will. So typical. Oh yeah! And then on this week's episode of ainori, that doofus Hide finally figured out that Kayo likes him - but the night before she leaves Africa to come back to Japan! And that show isn't even scripted - it's a reality show! Is he really that blind?? Uh yeah so .. ahem* .. um. Did I mention TV is a great way to study Japanese? Heh.

Feeling ____________

The weekend passed in a blur. Yesterday, I got a package in the mail from my amazing friend-since-second-grade Junette Teng who sent me a boot-legged copy of Team America all the way from the dirty streets of New York. It wasn't as funny as I expected it to be, but it was written just as well as I had heard. It has one of the best social metaphors based on dirty parts of the body I've ever witnessed (okay, there aren't many social metaphors based on dirty party of the body - but this one was really good! Really!). Thanks Junette - you're the best.

Australian Heath's girlfriend Amy was in town from Tokyo (where she's studying) for the weekend, and they were all going out with this other Australian girl Helen and invited me along. We started off with bowling in Ichibancho, and I almost felt like I was back in the U.S. again - I was with white people, and the bowling alley had the same cigarettes-mingled-with-human-sleaze smell of the bowling alleys back home. We then went to play pool down the street, and finished with dinner at Yoshinoya. It was the first time in a couple months that I really hung out with native English speakers, and it was really refreshing. And I realized Australians say a lot of funny words I don't understand. Anyway, it was a nice warm-up for this coming weekend in Kyoto for our Fulbright Reunion/Thanksgiving.

Speaking of the Fulbrighters, I've been in Japan now for three months, and I submitted my second monthly report tonight. I'm beginning to get worried that my progress is not as fast as the other Fulbrighters, and my pathetic whining made up the majority of my report.

Oh, and my cell phone is getting pounded with Spam e-mails. I don't know how I ended up on all these spam lists since I've literally never used the internet on my phone, never replied to or clicked through one of the Spam e-mails, and have never used my phone address for anything. I'm thinking that I might have to change my e-mail address soon if it doesn't get better. To add to that, my right ring finger has a cut along the nail that got infected and now my finger is swollen. Shit.

Just for the hell of it here are excerpts from three songs that have been instrumental in my days and nights for the last week:

Theologians by Wilco from A Ghost is Born:
They thin my heart with little things
And my life with change
Oh in so many ways
I find more missing every day
Theologians
I'm going away
Where you will look for me
Where I'm going you cannot come

Counting Down the Hours Ted Leo + the Pharmacists from Shake the Sheets:
As I'm walking toward tomorrow with a rifle in my hand
And I'm thinking about New England and I'm missing old Japan
And a mountain in California where a spring runs hot and cold
And if I told you I felt ageless, would you tell me I'm not old?

正夢　by Spitz
どうか正夢　君と会えたら
なにから話そう　笑って欲しい
小さな幸せつなぎ合わせよう
浅いプールでじゃれるような

Snow is the Informer: "A Licky Boom Boom Down"

(the subject today is in reference of course to great early 90s reggae-rap hit "Informer" by white Canadian rapper Snow (get it?), which made a brief come back tonight in my apartment after Mena gave me a link to the video)

This last couple days, I've been squeezing the most out of the few friends I do have here. I hung out a couple times with Takako, am going to hang out with my Australian friend Heath a couple times in the next few days, and tonight I went out to eat with Chong-ri for our belated-by-one-week pizza party. After finding the Sendai Pizza Hut, and finding out that, like American Pizza Huts, you can only order for delivery or take home (ie, not tables), we went in search of another place to eat. Luckily, just down the road was a cute little joint called "Pizzeria de Napeles" or something. We sat down to a cheese pizza, a salami calzone, and two bottles of Yebisu (which, is by the way, much more bitter than I remember it being). I enjoyed the food quite a bit, but my Korean counterpart kept complaining that the dough wasn't thick enough and Pizza Hut would have been better. Allright, allright. Next time we'll get pizza hut. Geez. Oh, and one thing that drives me crazy when I'm with Chong-ri is that her Japanese isn't that good, but she talks in this really, really loud voice all the time. Even when we're in a quiet place (like the restaurant). It's like she has no sense of HOW LOUD SHE IS TALKING. And Japanese people like to look at foreigners funny, they all start looking at us funny. And in Japan, you're supposed to be mindful of not annoying people around you, so yeah, it's problematic. I kept trying to tell her to keep her voice down, but to no avail. It's very embarrassing. But yeah, uh, she's still really cool and all.

I can hear the monks at the nearby temple banging their drum to start the day, so it must be 6 AM here. Why am I still awake. Good night.

My toilet just went insane.

My toilet just went insane. Imagine the inner-workings of your home's toilet. After you turn the knob to flush the toilet, a plug closes up the tank again and then water flows from a little tube into the tank until the little floating bell in the tank rises high enough to shut off the valve, right? Well, you know how sometimes after you turn the knob, the plug doesn't close and you have to jiggle the knob around a bit until it falls into place? And you know how sometimes it's stubborn and won't budge, so you actually have to take the porcelain lid off the tank and coerce the plug into place so the toilet will stop wasting water? Well that happened to my toilet tonight. But Japan's toilets come with a twist - for some reason, maybe so you can see that your toilet water is clear or maybe Japanese people like the sight of running water, the tank lid of all toilets here are like little sinks, and the little tube that refills the tank comes up out of the lid into a little faucet that pours the water down the sink's drain back into the tank. Very aesthetically pleasing. Well, tonight when my toilet wouldn't stop flowing and I had to open the lid, I didn't realize the tube feeding water to the faucet wasn't actually attached to the faucet. So when I removed the lid (and thus the faucet with it), water started shooting out of the tank all over the bathroom. But I couldn't do anything because my hands were busy holding up the porcelain lid, which I couldn't put down because the lid was covered in mildew and some kind of apparently-inocuous blue disinfectant. So finally balancing the lid with one hand, and dripping blue shit all over the place, I aimed the tube back down into the tank and jiggled the plug back into place. And then, for my final trick, waited for the thing to finish filling, and redirected the tube back into the faucet while dropping the lid back into place. . Now my bathroom is covered in toilet water. On a related note, I need to go buy more towels.

On a completely unrelated note, I ate a lunch today with Chong-ri after our professor for Reading Class failed to show up for the 2nd time in five tries. After that, we wandered down to her apartment so I could, of all things, teach her how to ride a bike as I promised. We've all seen images of proud fathers running behind their son or daughter as they finally let go of that little Huffy's seat and watch their kid reach another childhood milestone. Now picture me holding up a 38-year old woman on huge gray granny bike as she struggles to pedal around a dirt field in Sendai. Yes, it was as bizarre looking as you think. And since she doesn't speak English meaning there is no chance she is going to read this and be offended, let's be honest: she weighed more than I expected her to. Of course, I will be immensely proud when she finally rides on her own. She has a long way to go, but goddammit, we're going to make it. Afterward, we headed back to her apartment so she could reward me with kaki and sobacha (persimmon and buckwheat tea).

I could use a few friends over here.

I just surveyed the 3100+ songs on my iTunes, and found that 14 songs have the word "friend" in the title: indie oddities by arists like "Casiotone for the Painfully Alone" and "Devendra Banhart"; two songs by the White Stripes; classics by the likes of "The Beatles", "James Taylor", and naturally "The Zack Attack". Fourteen is a good number of songs. And it also happens to be more than the number of actual friends I have in Sendai.

Not that it's my fault, or anyone's fault here. It's hard moving to a place where you have no associations with anyone (I mean, even when you start working somewhere, you have your co-workers) and attempting to meet people. I have no social roots. Sure, I meet some kids in my Japanese classes, and I have a few Japanese acquaintances here and there from random circumstances, but I have very few people I can count as friends. Last Friday, I tried going to the rockband club to check it out, hoping I'd meet some cool Indie rock kids. But they all kind of looked at me funny, I guess wondering what they were supposed to do with this asian kid from the States. Not that I can blame them; I had no idea what to do with them either. A couple of the guys let me borrow a shitty old Steve Vai Signature Series Ibanez guitar (for guitarists, yes, one of those lame guitars with a handle cut into the body) and I jammed a little with them, but no one had any idea what to do and it was just kind of awkward.

When I can't scare up a few of the people I know to actually do something with me on the weekends, I actually prefer the weekdays when I actually have class to go to and responsibilities. For those of you wondering how I can still have a lack of friends, remember that everything here has to be done in Japanese and Japanese style. People just don't start talking to each other randomly like people do in the U.S. At Penn, I could make friends in class pretty easily. That doesn't really happen here. You just come and go.

Tomorrow, I'm being assigned a conversation partner, which might open some doors. My theory right now is, if I just expose myself in as many directions as possible, SOMEONE will HAVE to be my friend eventually. And then it should be easy from there. In the meantime, I'll just be like, listening to iTunes and stuff.

Oh, and if you miss admiring my immense talents, take a look at www.furuburaito.com, a website put together by another fulbrighter named David and myself. It doesn't have much content yet, but every graphic was made by me and good ole photoshop (other Dave built the structure and I filled it in). I just finished overhauling a huge section, so take a look.

Oh man, we're fucked.

I was raised a Republican and consider myself rather politically apathetic (give me a break, I'm from Orange County). In the last few years, however, I have increasingly become a supporter of the Democratic party, and in recent months become more concerned with the state of affairs in the U.S. And while some people would probably say that the influence of college is making me more liberal, I would have to disagree; it is rather the hyper-conservative and quite frankly dangerous policy of the current government that has made me liberal.

I hate to simplify things in criticizing, but this is just a blog so I will. As a lot of Bush's detractors have pointed out, he refuses to admit that it is possible that with the his attack on Iraq and the "war on terror" that they might be going about things the wrong way. He assumes that just because the terrorists and people like Saddam Hussein can be classified as wrong, anything the U.S. does is automatically right. And we can see the result of that logic - thousands of people dying in an increasingly intractable situation in Iraq that had little to do with terror, but does now since we've pissed everyone off. He cut taxes and then rang up the bills paying for his war, which is completely irrational. Imagine if you were running a household. How many of you would deliberately take a paycut and then go on a spending spree? Thought so. Meanwhile, the environment is getting shittier (no matter what Bush says) and the supreme court is in grave danger of becoming heavily conservative. And remember that whole separation of church and state thing that is part of our government's foundation? Yeah, because it seems like Bush has been increasingly forgetting it.

With this election, a few things come to mind. First, man, Americans are stupid. They are currently allowing every decision they make to be controlled by fear (which has been carefully cultivated by the White House and the press mind you). They are so easily baited into believing whatever a pundit or politician says about their safety or their future without independent thought. Bush twists and spins words into positives even when he has to cover up bald-faced truth. And Americans eat it all up (did I mention Americans are also morbidly obese?). Americans so fully concentrate on their own safety and their own interest, that I think they are making things worse for themselves. I can't blame the American people for being afraid, but they have to start acting more like a part of the rest of the world rather than everyone's self-righteous big brother. I read on the internet one American's belief that we need to fear the rest of the world because "so many countries do not have America's best interest a heart" and that "an offense is the best defense". Aside from the fact that it is obvious and natural that the rest of the world doesn't necessarily put America's interests first, this is precisely the kind of jingoistic, xenophobic, war/fear-mongering rhetoric the the American people don't need but are drowning in. Drop the attitude already. Seriously, living abroad you meet so many people who aren't afraid to tell you how much America sucks (and their reasoning is usually spot on), and those are just like South Koreans and Chinese and Australians and Europeans, people who I'm pretty sure aren't going to strap a bomb to their chest anytime soon and run into a busy Manhattan train. I mean, I live in a country right now who LOVES the U.S. and is one of the few significant nations helping out in Iraq (only a little though, since the U.S. wrote into the Japanese constitution that Japan couldn't have a military ever again), and yet the people here are still pissed at Bush and his administration. So just imagine how much other people must hate the U.S. - and in increasing amounts! So we have learned that looking at the U.S. from the inside and outside, it looks increasingly silly, pompous, and hateable. And somehow Bush still got elected back home.

It really makes me worried about the future. The planet is being increasingly controlled by a few guys - Bush, Blair, to some extent Koizumi - while a bunch of other people suffer. I'm worried about my own future - I mean, just wonder if there is a draft because of this nutso war we're fighting? I won't have to fight, right? I'm worried about my parents' future - where is the social security money going to come from now that we are so stretched by deficit and debt? I'm worried about my children's future - how horrible is the environment going to get? How hated can Americans get? How weak and debt-burdened can America get? I'm worried about the entire nation - how many more terrorists are going to spring up from the U.S.'s unilateral and unthinking foreign policies? Now that we're tied up in Iraq, are we ever going to catch Bin Laden? Now that we pissed everyone off, when and where is the next attack going to be? Because I want to make sure I'm out of town on that day.

Really, just thinking about moving back makes me scared. I'll be moving to a big city, so of course I worry about terrorist strikes (you know, just like all those small-town Christian mid-Westerners who voted for Bush and are at huge risk of a terrorist attack at their .. um .. hardware store). And if the terrorist strikes don't get me, then I can always fear being killed by a psycho American on my way home from work or on my way to the grocery store (can you believe that I can't remember seeing one story on the nightly news here about someone being murdered? I still don't understand why Americans kill each other in droves). I guess fear is just the default setting for Americans. Oh well. At least I get to stay out of the country until next June.

South Road

A quick antedote to show an instance of a Crazy Tokyo-ite: I was riding the Chuo-sen down to Tokyo station on Monday to drop off my luggage in a coin locker before meeting up with Akari and Madoka at Jyouchi Daigaku (read: Sophia University) and at Shinjuku (I think), as usual most people de-trained. One of the passengers that boarded the newly empty car was one of the strangest sites I've seen in Tokyo, which is saying a lot. He was this short man (couldn't have been over 5'3") who had the typical head of a normal salaryman - gray comb over hair, peppery mustache, Groucho Marx black-rimmed glasses. The thing that made him strange however, was he was wearing women's clothing from the neck down. He had on a black cardigan, one of those long tank top things that are like a dress, brown pants, stockings and open-toed black shoes. Oh, and a bra. He seriously looked like one of those games where the head, torso, and leg sections of different people rotate on three wheels like a slot machine and you have to try to stop them and make a complete person (you know the game; it was a bonus round in Super Mario Bros. 3); this guy clearly lost that game. I know what some people familiar with Tokyo might be saying - oh come on, there are much stranger kids in Tokyo; he's just a cross-dressing old man. But those kids are just trying to stand out and be strange. There was something eerie about him; the way he kept his mustache despite the rest of his appearance; the dramatic way he kept moving around, staring longingly out the window, crossing and uncrossing his legs, stretching his legs out in front of him and pointing his toes, draping his cardigan on himself to cover his "chest", adjusting his bra so it wouldn't peak out of his top. Keep in mind most people don't move around at all on trains so they don't annoy the people around him. This guy was annoying people, nevermind the fact that he was also drawing attention with his dress. It seemed pretty clear that he wasn't just a cross-dresser, and he wasn't trying to just stand out; he had clearly gone nuts. Oh well; he managed to make a lasting impression on me with his appearance in a town where it's pretty hard to do that.

Tonight, I met up with my tutor Takako to watch the news with her. She's helping me out expand my vocabulary and in general try to answer my questions about Japanese, while I'm trying to increase her English proficiency before she heads off to Australia for the month of february. She is pretty good at reading comprehension, but is remarkably bad at listening; she has a hard time understanding anything I say, no matter how slowly I say it. Hopefully I can help fix that. Speaking of being good at reading, I hope she doesn't read this! Anyway, Takako works way too hard and says she might not be able to be my tutor anymore; she has a full course load and works 2 restaurant jobs to earn money to chill with friends and stuff. She's basically constantly busy and has now been sick for a full week because she refuses to take time off to get better. She's crazy. But I hope she stays my tutor because (1) she's sweet, dresses rad, and is fun to be around and (2) she is a source of much needed friends!

After we parted ways, I went down to South Road, this little pub owned by my good-friend-Emiko's mom's best friend. Emiko's mom grew up in Sendai, and is now the secretary of my dad's bestfriend. The pub owner is named Teruko, and she prepared me dinner (okada, salad, oshinko, and delicious sushi) and gave me all the free drinks I wanted (I stuck to beer and sake, and avoided drinking too much after the Tokyo fiasco two days ago). The place is a favorite of a few salarymen and middle aged women, so I ended up having strange conversations with a salaryman and singing karaoke for the entertainment of all in the room. It was quite embarrassing, but they enjoyed it. Teruko invited this guy Suda to come who is a professor of Agriculture and Animal Husbandry at Tohoku University and had him bring his English teacher, a half-japanese guy from New York in his late 30s named Fujii. Fujii was nice company and had the first New York accent i've heard in awhile. Strangely, just last weekend he met Conrad, who just so happens to be an English teacher in Sendai and is my dad's bestfriend's cousin. Hold the phone! - let's have a recap of that "It's A Small World/6 Degrees of Separation" thing that we had in little South Road, the random tiny pub in Sendai: It all starts with my dad's best friend Gary. His secretary is the mother of my good friend Emiko and the bestfriend of pub owner Teruko, who knows Suda the professor who knows Fujii the English teacher. Fujii met fellow English teacher Conrad last week, and Conrad is the cousin of my dad's bestfriend Gary. And I'm David Chang, the son of Gary's bestfriend. Now try and tell me that isn't some crazy-ass shit.

Addendum: Two points of clarification - (1) the man on the train was not dressed for Halloween. For one thing, Japan doesn't celebrate Halloween much more than decorating store fronts, and second, it was daytime on November 1st when I say him. (2) Teruko had no idea that Fujii knew Conrad. She in fact has no idea who Conrad is. It was entirely a crazy coincidence.

We're not going to the town; we're going to the city

I'm back in Tokyo for the weekend staying at Akari's apartment. It's kind of a culture shock to go from quiet Sendai to loud and insane Tokyo, and thought I've only been here 2 days, I already want to go back home. I can see why people from Sendai say they don't like Tokyo - it's crowded, expensive, and exhausting.

I came down to go to ICU's gakusai (school festival), strangely skipping most of my own school's gakusai in the process. I got here Friday, spent Saturday visiting my old homestay family and eating dinner with my work sempai from last year Shinji. It was crazy seeing the Kita family after time has passed because the kids have gotten so much older, especially their daughter who is on the brink of teenagehood. They fed me and their other guests (people from the father's job) massive amounts of food. It was awesome, especially since Mrs. Kita is such a great cook. Shinji took me out to an izakaya (japanese bar) to eat and drink over good conversation.

Today I met up with some of the kids who graduated or studied abroad at Penn at the ICU bunkasai, along with some old ICU friends. We ate food and watched the performances, which included yet another long performance of Samba. The second samba performance I've seen (1) this week and (2) in my life. This one was more entertaining though. After the festivities, we all went out to eat in Musashisakai at another izakaya, and I had a little bit too much to drink. But I'm fine after some rest.

Tomorrow, yet another gakusai: Jyouchi Daigaku (sophia). And then shopping in Harajuku, and return to Sendai.