進撃の蛸 (Shingeki no Tako)

Why do I do this to myself.

After taking the train and again transferring like eight times, like a boss (life skillzzzz), without making a single mistake, and then stopping in Hamamatsu, Shizuoka for the night (and like the walking fail that I am forgetting a bag full of electronic devices and wires A.K.A. leaving my whole life behind), I finally got to Osaka and was able to meet with my friends there. The weather was awful again (WTF OSAKA!), so it was perfect for shopping in the Shinsaibashi/Dotombori area. We had delicious takoyaki in a shop where you had to poke a menu with some kind of electronic pen to make your order (and in barely concealed fascination listened endlessly to the Takoyaki Song which was coming out of a restaurant guarded by a gigantic octopus) and I proceeded to empty my bank account at ALL THE STORES to buy ALL THE SHIT because that's how I am.

Coming back to the coin lockers area, I realized that I had left the key in one of the doors, but thankfully, my bag was still there... which contained my laptop, for one thing. Congratulations, Stephanie. Also, thank you, Japan, for having such (usually) well-behaved and honest people. Speaking of which, I was planning on sleeping at a net cafe, because although Japan does have its fair share of shady people, it doesn't make me nearly as nervous as... Okay, I can't think of any place. It's true that I tend to be pretty reckless when I'm traveling alone and, on some occasion, let's face it, unbelievably stupid and naive. Though for the record, I've never had any trouble and I'm still alive so that's all that matters, right?

But that night, I was fortunate enough to end up at my lovely friend's warm house of love, be treated to a wonderful meal and invited to spend the night. (As comfortable as those cubicle reclining chairs are, they are no match against a bed.) We had 手巻き寿司 (temakizushi - basically, sushi in hand), garden salad and miso soup, and concluded the meal with coffee and choux a la creme. We also had a skyping session with the dad and sang the addictive sake song (酒が飲める) which features many Japanese dialects and just pure silliness (yet no alcohol was drunk... not sure how this came on topic, but it was highly instructive). To some this may not seem much, but I enjoy this kind of evening, surrounded by this kind of people, the most. That night, I deepened some friendships and created new ones, and for that I am forever grateful.

We failed our lives going back on the following day when we just kept missing our trains or taking the wrong ones and it took us ages to get to Osaka (but I made good use of my time by doing some good ol' jacket-shaving... inside joke). Then we literally wasted hours looking for ONE shop - a J-Rock place -, but it was well worth the effort. An indie band was there for a signing event (I thought there were too many staff members and they looked way too good.) I asked one girl who they were and what I could catch sounded like "Peacock" but I doubt that's it XD Oh well, I'll never know. I'm ashamed to admit that I treated one of the members as if he were an employee before we understood that they were actually musicians... but he didn't appear offended, thank god. XD Still, I now have a favorite place in Tokyo (much more accessible) and it's called Closet Child. It also has AWESOME clothes. :D

After leaving, we set out to find the famous Koreatown - which, we concluded, does not exist, as we did not find it. DX But we did find a great restaurant which served pretty good Korean cuisine. The waiter was heavenly good-looking and so genuinely sweet that my friend and I fell for him at first sight. The other one was a magician and managed to take our towels from us and replace them without our noticing. He also kept looking at us as if he could read our minds... O_O It was a little unsettling to say the least. But, good times, good times.

I seem to run into a lot of trouble whenever it comes to finding where I'm going to stay for the night. (That still doesn't make me want to start acting like a normal person and book hotel rooms.) Although I prefer staying in net cafes than in hostels (it's the best if you just want to be left alone), locating the right one is not always a piece of cake. Whether it's going in a questionable building that turns out to be nothing more than a sort of apartment building, and being greeted by two couples (that really look more like two prostitutes and their clients), who chuckle softly at the sight of you poor innocent thing that has lost her way, carrying more pieces of luggage than she has limbs, or finding another net cafe that is advertised as such, but walking in on rows upon rows of porn DVD's... The fun just never ends. All episodes are usually preceded by or at some point followed by the drop of my phone's energy below the fatal point and the inability to find a goddamn electrical outlet wherever I go. (That wouldn't be a problem if I could find a net cafe, but that is exactly what the problem is in the first place. Not very helpful, huh.)

All of this happened on the same night, but thankfully, I managed to find what I was looking for and in fact discovered what is probably the best net cafe I stayed at to date. (I'm starting to be something of an expert, so trust me on this.) (UPDATE: I found one that compares to this one in Shinjuku.) The staff was friendly and good-looking, the place was dim-lighted and quiet, but also clean and modern. Of course, they also had the usual deal: drink bar included in the price and daily necessities provided in your booth (headphones, tissues, Q-tips, candy) at reasonably cheap fares. You can also take a shower, of course, and they also sell a bunch of stuff if you happen to have forgotten something (even underwear lol). It's really convenient!

BB Cafe near Nishinakajimaminamikata Station in Osaka, Osaka

大阪府大阪市淀川区西中島  3-23-9 中里第  2ビル  4F

Gran Cyber Cafe Bagus near Shinjuku Station in Shinjuku, Tokyo
東京都新宿区歌舞伎町1-21-1第二東亜会館

On Friday, I was on my own, so I decided to do a bit of sight-seeing. I was glad I decided to stay, because it was a beautiful day! The weather was gorgeous, so warm and sunny! I went out to find Osaka Castle and hopefully some sakura. Before that, I went to Sky Building, but I regretted going there during the day. I didn't want to pay again (700 yen), so I left it at that, but I'm sure it would have been much better at night. Exactly because it was sunny, the landscape was too bright and kinda foggy (smog?). I really would have liked to admire a night view instead. Some other time, maybe! On the other hand, the castle was quite the sight. I had some takoyaki again, bought a lot of souvenirs (including this little guy!) and walked around in the sun. There I found some sakura at last!

But they weren't that impressive. My big surprise was upon leaving the castle, when I ended up in Osaka-jo Kouen, a lovely park right outside Osaka Castle. More sakura! But this time, it was the real deal. Most of the trees were quite small and the flowers had only started blooming, but they were already of a vivid dark pink – magnificent. At that point, my cellphone was begging me to save what little energy it had left, and my camera had just died, too. But that wasn't going to stop me! I took a ton of photos, and then my phone died, and I was left to find the station without any directions. In the end, I found my way back, and I was more than happy not to have held back!

Don't Call 119 Yet, I'm Still Alive...

You might have read about it, but my Christmas vacation was absolutely epic, so going back to work wasn't easy by all means. Perhaps because Christmas is my favourite holiday, I didn't want to put away my Christmas tree just yet, and so my apartment remained decorated for quite a while, long after the holidays were over. At least it wasn't Christmas lights like in the West, but I might have overdone it... I think I kept it until we were well into February. >_> But my apartment now felt pretty empty and naked, so I made up for the absence of festive objects by buying and printing a shit-load of posters and little anime and idol cards and invading my walls with them. Not sure I want anyone who doesn't know me well to come in anymore... I wonder what their reaction would be upon seeing Haruchan's bare chest in the living room... At least the BL stuff is rather SFW, but still, I'm not sure how I would explain it! (@^w^@)

Other than a shinenkai (New Year's drinking party) at a local sushi place, where I met lots of new people, I also celebrated my 24th birthday, spent time (and probably too much money) hanging out with dear friends. I discovered what has become the new meaning of my life, those who know me personally know what I'm talking about, I won't go into detail here. :P Let's just say it's an anime with a very short name that tells the story of a flower and a mouse. Moving on... We had our first real snowfall around the beginning of February. That one time, we received what would qualify in Canada as a "storm" (albeit a normal one). Not long after, I tried my hand (feet) at skiing and wasn't much more successful than I had been at snowboarding a while ago. This was going to be my last time on a slope for this year... I hope I can motivate myself into going many more times in the future (next year), but this year wasn't too productive... I know, you are all very disappoint. Oh, also, I made a short trip to Niigata and on the train ride back was harassed by an old man who tried too hard to be my friend and get my number. >_>

The yosenkai was a party that the teachers and the 1st and 2nd-year students staying behind prepared to send away their seniors who would be graduating in March. I wasn't supposed to be there, because the day of the party fell on a day on which I'm usually away at one of my visit schools, but I wanted to be there, so I asked for special permission. I didn't know what to expect, if only for a kind-of lipdub I had been asked to participate in. The song was Koisuru Fortune Cookie by AKB48 (my favourite band! – just kidding, I can't stand them). But Japan cannot get enough of them, it seems, so it couldn't be helped. In its defense, the tune is pretty catchy, and it was their newest song when I arrived in Japan last August, so it's a bit nostalgic... maybe.

Anyway, the farewell party started on that rather funny note and from then on it just got funnier as it was punctuated with little presentations of survey results (who is the most ikemen (good-looking) amongst the male teachers, for example), baby pictures (both students and teachers), reminiscences and goodbye messages. There were a lot of performances, too, including skits but also choreographies. The music ranged from SMAP to Morning Musume, Exile, Arashi (Happiness), Busaiku, AAA, Kyary Pamyu Pamyu and of course, the group you want to shake a finger at but just can't seem to shake off, AKB48. Overall, although there were some sadder moments, there was a good feeling to this party, which is good because I hate goodbyes with a passion.

The graduation ceremony a few weeks later was another story. I'd read and been told about it a number of times. I knew that what could have been a festive occasion was solemn and serious, often sad. My expectations sure were met in that respect. Many things went as I had foreseen: students were awarded diplomas, but also certificates and trophies in their respective disciplines and club activities. As usual, there were many addresses and greetings where everyone had to stand and bow (and sit down and stand up and bow again and WHY NOT A THIRD TIME). The usual drill. What shocked me was how orderly and disciplined the students were, and how spotless and infinitely precise everything was. Even more so than what I was used to. I knew there had been a lot of preparations and rehearsals, but still, this was especially impressive.

At this point, we did not know yet which teacher would be staying and which teacher would move to a different school, so those farewell speeches were pronounced at the closing ceremony. This was entirely about the 3rd years who were finally saying goodbye to their high-school days and moving on with their lives. We may not realize it in the West, but Japanese students are often deeply involved at school during those years, and they go through intense moments and feelings, both good and bad, so when the time to get out of school comes, whether they are moving on to university or entering the labour market, they leave a great deal behind. For that reason, not a single pair of eyes stayed dry, at least as far as the students are concerned, when the time to say goodbye came. I didn't cry, but I must admit that when this emotional pop song started playing and the girls filed out of the gym in tears, my heart ached in my chest.

Between outings to and from Tokyo and Yokohama with my precious girls, I also had a few enkai. I might have enjoyed myself a little too much. But in the end, all was well and good in the world and I got to know the teachers better. (Even if the next day I almost threw up twice in the car of one teacher who was nice enough to drive me home from the hot spring resort.)

Damn you Gunma and your swirly mountain roads!

I also started a tattoo project (a bicep tattoo which will become a half-sleeve in due time), saw kabuki for the first time in Tokyo (separate blog post will follow, as they say in Japan, 暫くお待ち下さい - please wait a moment). During spring break, which started last week, I also made a short trip to Osaka. I had been once, but it had been much too short of a stop, to the extent where I could say that I had never set foot there before. Although this time around wasn't that much longer (only about three days), it was definitely worth the super-long ride on the local trains. Find out more in a separate soon-to-come blog entry.

That leads us to... well, now. The new school year has just started, some teachers have arrived, others have gone, the desks have been moved and the seats switched and floors swept and I am about to meet some new kids. Though it has its perks, the job isn't easy, but...

I'll do my best again this year!

Jolly Christmas Times in Kyoto :-)

Okay, this post is long. Really long. Don't say I didn't warn you. >:(

 

This is........................... Truly sad.

Yes. Nuff said.

Here is the long (not that long-)awaited holiday post! 行くぞううううう！

(I'm a little hyper, so please excuse the extreme and frequent change in language register.)

I spent a good part of my Christmas holidays in the train, but I didn't let it bother me much. You see, JR (Japan Railways) offers a special traveling pass called 青春１８きっぷ (Seishun 18 ticket) two or three times a year. It allows one to use the JR local and rapid trains limitlessly during five days for a set price (11,500 yen so very roughly 120 bucks). One day starts at 00:00 and ends at 23:59, and all five days don't have to be consecutive, but they need to be during a certain period (December~January in my case). City subways, limited express trains and Shinkansen transits are not included. Obviously, taking the local train can be pretty time-consuming, but it allows you to see the country so much more! Trains in Japan are also pretty-well heated in the winter (more comfortable than my apartment). You can sit down and relax while enjoying the view. One downside, however, is that if you're going a long distance, you're likely to have a lot of transfers and if you get lost, you can waste a lot of time. The farthest I went was Sendai (Miyagi pref) and Kyoto. The ride always took between 8 to 10 hours and there were never less than 6 transfers. But I love trains and I love traveling cheaply, so it was fine for me. What would have cost me more than 30,000 yen ended up costing little over 10,000 yen (and that would still be using the local train, the cheapest although slowest means of transportation), so it's a pretty decent price!

On December 21st was my base school's bonenkai (end of year party). An enkai (drinking party) is an important social event held among coworkers in many workplaces. Enkai can have different levels of formality depending on the occasion (casual weekly/monthly outings, victory at a sports competition, promotion or retirement), but in most cases, there are a number of (written and unwritten) rules of etiquette to follow. For example, based on your "importance" in the hierarchy, you should sit close to the door or far from it. A company president or school principal would be seated across the room. You should always wait to be told where to sit before sitting down and shouldn't start eating until the "Kanpai!" which usually indicates the end of the speech(es) and beginning of festivities. Most rules are common sense and I naturally follow many, but some are trickier. You should never pour alcohol for yourself (it is considered rude and makes you look like an alcoholic); rather, you should go around the room and pour for others. Everyone does it, but it's more the task of junior employees. In other words, even though I'm cut a lot of slack for being a foreigner, it makes a lot of sense that I would do this, but even if you're aware of it, it's tough to get the sense of it. It confused and stressed me a lot at first, but then I began to understand that even if a person has only had a sip, you can go over to them with a bottle and chat. Even if they have barely had any, they will drink a little out of courtesy and hand you their glass gratefully. As you understand, this can be dangerous (i.e. lead to inebriation in a very short time), but no one is forced to drink alcohol. Many female teachers drank tea. When it dawned on me and I started doing it too, I felt better and got a lot of praise.

What surprised me, though, is that people got drunk very fast and although I had quite a few glasses myself, I was just fine. I usually cannot hold my alcohol very well... Anyway, we played bingo and I kept winning (but only claimed my prize the first time, of course). I won a bottle of champagne. ^^ I was expecting karaoke (I had even rehearsed for it, bwahaha), but there was no such thing. We were at a hot spring resort so many people must have been able to enjoy the onsen, but I couldn't (and didn't really want to) go in, because of my tattoos. One is pretty large and looks a little yakuza-ish. But moving on! I also went to the nijikai and sanjikai (second and third parties) in private rooms that only a few people attended, where I continued to drink and eat like a pig. It was a lot of fun. I got to practice my Japanese! (^^)

The next day, I had a train to catch at 10:00 and that almost turned into a catastrophe, because I left valuables in the small safe in my room (wallet with train ticket, cellphone, 3DS, etc.). The onsen resort was about half an hour away from my place. I had gotten a ride back to my apartment and I made that realisation not even an hour before my planned departure, but some of the teachers managed to bring me my things and drive me to the station just on time for me to board. I was so grateful! I'm so absent-minded, it's embarrassing... and despite this, as stated before, I made two wrong transfers and ended up arriving in Sendai not any earlier. Imagine how late I would have gotten there if it wasn't for my fellow teachers! I got there on time to spend a really fun evening with friends. Sunday was my concert, and as you might now, I returned to Gunma on Monday December 23rd, which was a holiday (the Emperor's birthday). Since I was so excited about the holidays, though, I gathered my stuff and left again right away, this time heading to Yokohama to sleep at my favourite manga cafe.

Some friends and I had agreed to spend the holiday season together. They are assistant language teachers like me, and came from as far as Hokkaido and Tokyo. I'll spare you the details of what led me to Kyoto on Christmas Eve night, but there I spend a really memorable Christmas. When we finally got a hold of each other at the train station, we headed to a district called Sanjo and had dinner at an izakaya (Japanese pub). (The waiter was so hot! *O*) There we had tabehoudai and nomihoudai (all-you-can-eat and drink) – this would soon become a habit. ^^ When we were done, we proceeded to another bar (because obviously we had not had enough), where we met some other friends. The drinks were so cheap there! Each was 200 yen (2$) and some turned out to be pretty good! We were all really into the Christmas spirit and, approaching midnight, we treated everyone in the bar, including the staff, and cheered together. I think the other patrons must have been quite surprised, but they seemed happy enough. By the way, those drinks were awful, and one of my friends got a little too enthusiastic and spilled half of mine on me. (He claims I wasn't looking, but it's his fault! >:() No joke, I got alcohol on me two or three more times throughout the rest of the holidays. XD

We walked out not long after and were heading for karaoke when one of my friends (whom I won't name, he knows who he is), started wishing a Merry Christmas to everyone around. I don't remember how it came to be, but he bro-hugged two guys who were standing outside a pub and we started talking. One of them had really good English. They invited us for a drink inside and we ended up spending a few hours there with them. So a moment of joyous impulse earned us new friends and a really good time! XD After we parted ways with them, we proceeded to a karaoke place and spent another three hours there. There were only five of us so everyone got to sing a lot and we were so into it! I never had that much fun before. We were de-li-ri-ous. Obviously, anyone would have paid a fortune to see us performing Bohemian Rhapsody in the wee hours of the morning. 8D When we finally got out, it was nearing 6 AM, so we walked back to the train station and went straight to my friend's apartment, where we crashed until 2 or 3 in the afternoon. Seriously, we spent the few next days recovering, but we still managed to go back to Sanjo on the 25th, do some shopping and puri-kura, and go back to the apartment, where one of us cooked us a delicious Italian dinner. Would you look at this little beauty!

On the 26th, we didn't do much again, but we hung around Sanjo once more, though the weather wasn't too good. We had pretty decent pizza (for Japan) (yes, all-you-can-eat again) and then I decided to tag along with some of my friends who were staying at a youth hostel. After grabbing some kawaii donuts nearby (I have the worst influence on my friend's ability to evaluate their hunger), we took the train again and finally got to the station closest to our soon-to-be accommodation. Well, I'll never forget the 20-ish minutes that followed...! Turns out that the hostel was inconveniently far from the station. Not only that, but the streets leading there were pretty dark and narrow. The rain had been falling pretty hard for quite a long time and showed no signs of slowing, much less stopping, so when we weren't walking in the mud, we had to cross a friggin' ocean. Eventually, as we got closer to our destination, we entered the woods (it was pitch black at that point) and couldn't help but notice that we were surrounded by BARBED WIRE, of all things. My overly active imagination too found that one particular building looked very much like a prison, what with those extremely high walls...! Needless to say, it all looked way too much like the scenario from a low-budget horror movie. Not to mention that we were on a trip and looking for a place to stay! So cliché. Anyway, I was originally not meant to go with my friends, but they wanted to do a lot of sightseeing (so did I) and they insisted on me coming, so I did. Naturally, they had not booked for me, so they sneaked me in their room. 8D Don't I have the best friends or what. What an adventure!

Over the course of the three following days or so, we visited quite a few places, most of which are among the UNESCO World Heritage sites. We went to Arashiyama to see the bamboo path leading to Tenryu-ji (Tenryu Temple), a beautiful zen temple where I trespassed (not on purpose!) in a restricted area because I lost my way. No one knows that, but I only had time to see a man (monk?) running after me and telling me I couldn't be there. XD He let it slide, but I felt so bad at the time! Anyway, the sky was pretty cloudy, but I managed to take some decent pictures.

The bamboo path was gorgeous.

That day ended with the monkey park, which is pretty small, but where you can walk amongst monkey (they literally walk around you – sometimes they walk up TO you!). The rule of thumb is not to look them in the eyes, as they consider this a challenge and might go ape-shit on you and try to eat your face. (It goes without saying that you cannot throw rocks at them. Come on.) I couldn't get good pictures since my phone/camera/extra battery decided to be smart little bastards and die on me, but my friends took plenty, so I will add those later. We also went to Inari Shrine. There is a great number of Inari shrines throughout Japan, but the one we went to is the main one. I'm not well-versed in Japanese theology and feeling quite lazy so here are some explanations straight from Wikipedia:

Fushimi Inari Taisha (伏見稲荷大社^?) is the head shrine of Inari, located in Fushimi-ku, Kyoto, Japan. The shrine sits at the base of a mountain also named Inari which is 233 metres above sea level, and includes trails up the mountain to many smaller shrines. Since early Japan Inari was seen as the patron of business, and merchants and manufacturers have traditionally worshipped Inari. Each of thetorii at Fushimi Inari Taisha is donated by a Japanese business. First and foremost, though, Inari is the god of rice. This popular shrine is said to have as many as 32,000 sub-shrines (bunsha (分社^?)) throughout Japan. Inari Ōkami (稲荷大神^?, also Oinari) is the Japanese kami of foxes, of fertility, rice, tea and Sake, of agriculture and industry, of general prosperity and worldly success, and one of the principal kami of Shinto. In earlier Japan, Inari was also the patron of swordsmiths and merchants. Represented as male, female, &/or androgynous, Inari is sometimes seen as a collective of three or five individual kami. Inari appears to have been worshipped since the founding of a shrine at Inari Mountain in 711 AD, although some scholars believe that worship started in the late 5th century. [...] Because of his/her close association with kitsune, Inari is often believed to be a fox; though this belief is widespread, both Shinto and Buddhist priests discourage it. [...] Foxes (kitsune), regarded as the messengers, are often found in Inari shrines. One attribute is a key (for the rice granary) in their mouths.

There are many trails which leads you through a great number of shrines and up the mountain, but for some reason, we kept getting isolated and losing members of our group. We liked to say this was because Inari was trying to confuse us. (^^) Anyway. This was our main event, but after this, we also went (back for me) to Kiyomizu-dera (Kiyomizu Temple) to see the gorgeous pagoda, where it finally started snowing (and not just a few little flakes!). What's a little too bad, when it comes to Kiyomizu, is that there are always so many people. It's just too crowded! Enjoying the view and taking good shots is possible, but it becomes a real challenge...

 

The same could be said about our next stop, Kinkaku-ji (the Golden Pavilion). There were a lot of tourists on site upon our arrival, and while there were a lot of foreigners, the Japanese were also well-represented. What is truly regrettable is that people were too excited about the temple and tended to be a little forceful, if not downright rude. One of my friends was literally pushed out of the way and told something along the lines of "Sorry, but we're trying to take a picture!"... Duh! As if we weren't all! >_< Anyway, despite that, the temple is really worth going all the way. We ourselves were pretty excited and spent quite a long time taking millions of pictures until we were satisfied. But once you've done that and gone around to the back of Kinkaku-ji, there isn't much left to do other than... raid the souvenir shops! Everything was so perfect! I won't say what I bought (I'll give you a hint: a lot) since most of these will be going to my friends and family, but there were gorgeous keychains, postcards, frames, purses, bookmarks, mirrors, dishes..., all of which showed the scintillant pavilion, and we just wanted to buy it all. (And some of us did. Don't look at me!) After that, there were a few stalls that were selling a variety of snacks and (that was a first for me) allowed visitors to sample most of them, so that kept us busy for a while. (^^)

Later, when we were heading to Nijojo Castle, we stumbled upon a truly breathtaking scenery. To this day, I still have no idea what it was, if it was some kind of temple or a private property of some sort. Unfortunately, we found out that Nijojo Castle was closed to admission for the holidays, so we could not get in. But I still managed to take some pictures from the outside! As the night was growing near, we proceeded to look for a place to eat and found it in Sanjo (again!), a place called Mr Young Men that makes mind-blowing okonomiyaki at a low cost. Drool before the divine food.

Our evenings consisted in playing cards in our room while inhaling large amounts of... bitter juice, chocolate and chips (pizza on the second to last day!). Our commendable efforts to get our bodies in a state of advanced... elevation were well-rewarded (except when the... juice ended up on the floor or on my clothes... twice more!) and we shared a moment of sheer mirth in each other's invaluable presence. (By the way... We learned before leaving that we weren't allowed to eat or drink in our room. Adding that to my illegal stay, amongst all things, I'd say we broke quite a few rules... Oops!) In the end, upon my return, I didn't spend as much time in Yokohama as I had originally planned (but I was so glad I decided to stay in Kyoto longer)! It's not like Yokohama is that far from my home and I didn't have much that I wanted to do so I only ended up spending one night there (at the usual place) and after showering and getting more or less ready for New Year's, I started making my way to Tokyo. After I had reunited with my good friends, we set out for Shinjuku, where we had planned to spend the night (literally). This one was going to be good...

Well, it was certainly memorable. First, we met up with two more friends that we hadn't joined us yet and stuffed our face at Shakey's (more pizza). This one had a lot more variety, including squid ink and dessert pizza. Having had enough pizza to last us the rest of our lives, we decided to split up into two groups (boys with boys and girls with girls) as we wanted to do different things. I don't remember the details of what the others did, but we learned later on that they had witnessed the aftermath of a suicide (i.e. blood on the front of a train)... :-( The group of girls decided to go clubbing for a while and we ended up spending most of our evening at a spooky-looking spot called Decadance. If I had known in advance, I would have dressed up, but I didn't, which took away some of the fun. On the other hand, some people had impressive costumes. The barman/maids and other staff members looked especially good! I couldn't quite get into the mood though because although the place was packed (well it was pretty small), most people were only slightly dancing, if at all. I'm pretty shy, but I can liven up a party, as long as someone takes it upon themselves to start it. I think that might have been the case for a lot of people, therefore it was a little quiet. Also, the music could have been better. It was pretty typical "club" music when it could have been a lot darker in style (the best part was when they played Manson's Beautiful People :D). We stayed until well after the countdown, and at that point, some people were hungry, so we went to grab a bite. Festivity was in the air and a few people wished us a Happy New Year in English, which made our night! XD Then we went for karaoke, but there wasn't much time left until the first trains, so we didn't stay very long. On the way there, I had an amazing spicy kebab sandwich that I split with a friend. The taste lingered in my mouth (and heart) long after it was gone... (TT) The moment we parted ways...

What a tragic story.

Now I must commend your patience for reading this far and reward you with the interesting part of the night: when everything started to go wrong. First and foremost, I had wanted to see the first sunrise of the year at one of the popular scenic spots, but we thought we didn't have enough time, so we decided not to go. Turns out, the direction I was going (and that one friend who was going with me) did not have any trains until at least another hour. My shoes had been killing me for a long time... The heels were actually not high at all, but I wear heels like once a year or less, so I'm really not used to them. My friend was tired, but I was positively dying. Anyway, we decided to grab some drinks at the conbini and sit down on the floor to rest a little. Okay, I really don't think we looked that bad, so I'm not exactly sure what happened, but apparently we must have looked like we were homeless, because most people that walked by looked at us pointedly, and many of them smiled sadly like "oh, look, how sad, some people are not having very nice holidays" (but we were!) and wished us a Happy New Year. Some men even came to shake our hand, but they were just being creepy and one of them introduced himself and told us he was Nepalese and stuff.

It could have been cute...

If he didn't look psychotic. What with those bulging eyes of his.

Let's move on.

Once we were able to get on our train, we thought our troubles were over. How very wrong we were. We hadn't slept at all and crankiness was starting to creep its ugly face (at least as far as I was concerned). Considering the time, the trains were packed, but I was surprised by that since the New Year holiday is observed in Japan. I wonder if all those people were heading to work? They couldn't all have spent the night up... Thankfully, we arrived at our station before I could kill anyone (Light Yagami much?) and we got off, thinking that we would be sleeping comfortably in our beds in just under half an hour. I was able to locate the bus stop easily this time around and we got into line, exhausted but relieved. Our bus was supposed to be here in a few minutes, so we bore with it, training our patience. The minutes ticked by and many buses came, but none were headed where we wanted to go. In the end, we waited a good fourty minutes before surrendering and coming to terms with the fact that our bus was not going to come. Frustrated, we hailed a taxi and were finally able to rest our legs. But we were not home free just yet. For one thing, we barely had any money to pay for the fare...

We had been gone for a while now, so our cellphones were all but operational. The address we needed to go to was on those cellphones, which means that we had none to give to the driver. We could, however, tell him to drop us at the town hall, which wasn't far from our destination. Thank the heavens, the man was completely adorable and he made our day by chatting with us. He was middle-aged but quite good-looking (as are many Japanese), polite and pleasant, and he was wearing a full suit and a bright smile. He was also extremely patient and made small talk with us despite our lacking Japanese skills. I was almost sad to leave him, but we desperate needed sleep. When we got to the town hall, we couldn't remember where to go and we were too tired to hazard a guess. For a moment, we really thought we were lost forever. It's not a good feeling. Regardless, we had to do something, but we were pretty stuck without our smart phones and all businesses were closed for the holiday. As we were walking past a random apartment block, we decided to go in and that's when I spotted our lifeline: an electric outlet. So we stood there for a few minutes, listening to the sounds of the tenants waking up and going about their morning routine... wishing to death that no one was going to come out and see us... that would have been awkward, lol. To our utmost despair, we realized that the phone was no longer charging but discharging...

The numbers were going down!

Should we give it a try, go out there and risk not finding any other electric outlet again? Or should we waste more time trying to charge the phone, to no avail, and rather use up what power it had, rendering the phone unusable? In the end, I thought of something. My camera was holding up, so I took a picture of the itinerary on my phone and we went from there. After wandering around tentatively, still fearing that we were on the wrong track, we managed to find our friend's apartment. I had never been so happy to see it. Honestly, we were so relieved we could have cried. We scrambled in with effort and collapsed on the futon where we slept through the afternoon. I'll admit, it's kind of funny talking about it now that it's over, but at that time, we really weren't laughing. T_T

We won't forget that day, that's for sure...

Well, this marks the end of my holidays. I returned to Gunma the same day and enjoyed a few quiet days at home before school started again. I'm sorry, but I can't think of a funny, creative way to end this post, so I'll just leave it at that. You are free to imagine whatever you want, but please share your thoughts if that's the case. >:) I am curious as to what I could have possibly been doing besides reading Death Note fanfiction and marathoning the series and the movies again (twice).

Well that's that. じゃね！！（＾O＾）