Research Complete!

Wow. So it's definitely been a long road to the end. This is probably the first time I've had nothing to do in a day, and I used it very well. I'll get to that later, though. Our research here in Japan has come to a close, and now I'm afraid I'm no more than a tourist for the next six days. That's okay though, because now I get to chill out, shop, and hang out with friends without worrying about the next interview, homestay, or nomikai (as much as I like nomikai).

We've been in this hotel for a few days now. I'm not entirely positive as to when we moved in, everything's been such a blur. It must've been...Thursday? Wednesday? I think Thursday. Hotel Asakusa is a capsule hotel with some singles. Thankfully I'm in one of the singles, and I even have my own bathroom. In all honesty, though, the bathroom is no larger than the kind you find in a motorhome in the states. Maybe even smaller. I was shocked that anybody could fit a toilet, bath, shower, and sink into such a tiny space. Anyway, the last few days have been kinda rough for me. Miserable, really, except for the research ending. First, we had a bit of a slip up with one of our interviews, and with my last homestsay. Basically, one of my research partners forgot to confirm with an interviewee, and she waited at home all day for us, and those who were SUPPOSED to interview her never contacted her. Word got around, people got scolded (not me, thankfully), and we had some massive damage control to do. The next day, my body decided to let down on me. Around 8 PM I came down with a fever, and had it through this morning. I've had this fever, aches, a lot of stomach pain, a sore throat and a cough since then. I think I'm finally getting better, but I had to do my presentation feeling like shit, and I went to bed last night at 4 PM.

Anyway, other than all of that shit, things are going well. The weather has been okay (except it's downpouring tonight), I've been able to relax, sleep, and shop, I'm eating better, and feeling better. Tomorrow I think we're going to go to Harajuku to do some shopping, and I also want to hit up a store somewhere so I can take a look at Freitag bags. I'd like to price them, so maybe I can go back and buy one with my leftover cash before I go back to the states. We'll see though, it's going to have to be a 19th of June purchase, if it's going to happen. Tomorrow I head out to the other side of Tokyo (again), and I'll be staying with Niji for the rest of my time here. I'm excited for that, but I just hope I'm able to get better quickly, so I can fully enjoy the rest of my time here.

Other than all of this, the end to our research was pretty awesome. We had a few nomikais with some people (I got hit on by a 30 year old woman), and we were treated to dinner numerous times. Sam's host mom took us out to an izakaya, and then we went to an American-style karaoke bar. It was really funny, because all of the Japanese people I meet seem to think I have a really good voice. I think my voice is okay, but I don't know that I'd go so far as to say it's actually good. I've actually still got ¥5000 left for my time here. It won't last me all 5 days, but that's okay. That's why I've got my personal monies. Actually, I bought a pair of Evisu jeans today. They're really cool. I got to pick custom pockets, so they'll be ready for me in 3 days. I'm going to go ahead and keep the cost private, but let's just say I hope they shrink two full sizes like the people in the store said they would, because if they don't I'm screwed, and out a substantial amount of money.

Oh! I almost forgot to mention, on Thursday we had the opportunity to meet with a shamisen master for an interview and a private playing session. It was reeeeeally interesting to hear what he had to say, because he runs a business in both Tokyo and Tacoma, WA. I guess the highlight for me was watching him play his instrument. He was constantly feeling out the music, changing the tone of the shamisen. He played with his son, and they were in perfect unity. According to him, the two could feel when each other would stop playing through the music, and whenever they ended, they ended simultaneously. It was almost freakish. The song he played for us also sounded really cool. He said that the most important part of a song isn't the note itself, it's the silence that comes after the note. He also had some interesting things to say about technique. Mostly that he thinks it's becoming overdone, and people are becoming too worried about playing with good technique that they're losing the soul of their music. And if you lose the soul, there is no staying power. Really, really interesting guy. I got his performance recorded on my DVR, so hopefully it came out okay. If possible I'd like to convert it to MP3 and put it on my iTunes to listen to every once in a while. In other news, on this same day I got stung by a bee, it was incredibly painful, and continues to hurt.

I've had terrible luck with health and bugs since I've been on this trip, I just hope I can make it six more days without any more problems. I just want this illness to go away, and I don't want to deal with mosquitos, or cockroaches, or bees, or anything. I DO wish I could stay longer though. I'm going to go home, and all of my friends are going to be peacing out, or busy with jobs, and I'm never going to see anybody. It's a depressing reality. People in Vancouver are growing up, moving on. I never understood the mentality that you have to lose your friends when you get to college, but a lot of people seem to live and die by that rule. A healthy balance is where we need to be, I think. But, at the same time, I imagine I'll be pretty bored while I'm at home. It'd probably be better for me just to stay in Tokyo, travel around and see everybody, enjoy my time here. Lee-san (one of the coordinators here) even told me to e-mail her about a job singing or something like that. Interesting, interesting, interesting. Well, I'm kind of out of things to say, and I have been since about the beginning of this entry. I'll write again soon, hopefully. Peace! =)