Well here I am once again without internet at this house in Tamagawagakuen-Mae. I don’t understand it, but whatever. I can’t let it get to me. I just have to suck it up and get some extra rest tonight (maybe). I’ve only got two more nights here, tonight being one of them. The other night, I awoke (probably drunkenly) to a cockroach about three inches long crawling up my arm. At first I thought it was just a nightmare or a hallucination or something, but NO. It was actually a huge ass cockroach crawling up my arm. That’s never a fun experience…seriously. The best part is that after I woke up Chris and we turned on the light, it crawled into my duffle bag, and we had to wait until morning to get it out. It took me an hour or more to get back to sleep. I ended up spending the next night at Niji’s place, partly out of fear, partly out of frustration with my living situation, and partly out of a simple desire to stay out. Soon we’ll be in Asakusa, which, in all honesty, isn’t THAT much closer, but it’s on the subway system, and definitely closer than Machida.
Aside from my crappy internet connection, getting no phone service in my room, and GIANT cockroaches crawling up my body in my sleep, everything has been pretty sweet. We’ve had meetings and interviews pretty much continuously since I last posted, and I’ve been super busy doing interviews and meetings in Tokyo. I can’t believe it’s been five days since I wrote an entry. That seems like a bit too long, eh? *shrug * I don’t know, a lot’s just been up I guess. I bought a NEW camera in Shinjuku the other day. It’s 12 megapixels, and is a Japanese line of Canon (the IXY model). Unfortunately it’s not a D-SLR, but it allows me to continue to take the nice pictures that I haven’t been able to take with my broken digital camera.
Sam, Kenji and I met with this company president, Okamoto-san, the other day at his place in Shinagawa. The interview we did with him was especially interesting, because his take on everything was so laid back and chill. He took us to a Chinese lunch, and paid with his company card, and then invited us to a party at his place a night afterwards. We all went and it was definitely an experience. It was a lot of fun to hang out with a company president and his friends and family. There were lots of little kids, lots of really chill parents, lots of food, and lots of alcohol. I ate tons and tons of food, and I drank quite a bit too. Sam drank so much that he ended up blackout, passed out, falling out of the bathroom. Okamoto-san’s wife INSISTED I take pictures to tease him about it later, and when I refused she took my camera from me and took pictures of him. I can’t help but think it was the red wine during quarters that did Sam in, but he was pretty cocky about his ability to drink, too. Okamoto definitely showed us all a thing. I was a hit with the little kids. The girls all had crushes on me, and by the end of the night I found myself playing guitar and singing (awfully) to them by myself. They were all really sweet though, and I enjoyed spending time with them. I lost arm wrestling countless times, so this party definitely encouraged me to get home and do some weight lifting or something, for once.
Last night, after a rousing day of doing nothing but relaxing at Niji’s house and spending a little time at a department store, we met up with the granddaughter of the founder of Toyo Suisan Company (those are the people who own Maruchan). She met us in Harajuku for a bit, then took us to dinner in Ginza. Also, she was pretty much one of the coolest people I’ve met on this trip so far. She was really chill about taking us wherever we wanted to go (which I felt really bad about, especially since I couldn’t afford ANYTHING in Harajuku), and she took us to a shabu shabu/sukiyaki restaurant that was all you can eat, all you can drink. I chose to eat and drink at the same time, so I don’t really know how much I managed to stuff down my throat and into my stomach, but I can say that I successfully managed three drinks before our 90 minutes were up and we were forced back to the ritzy, unaffordable streets of Ginza. Afterwards, we hit up some karaoke. I think the most exciting part of meeting this girl was the fact that she knows and likes house music, particularly Shinichi Osawa. She invited us out to go clubbing at Asia’s biggest club this weekend (in Tokyo), and also said that if there was a good show coming up in the Tokyo area, we could (and should) go together. If I ever get internet back, I’ll friend her on Facebook, and hopefully we’ll meet up again. She was pretty cool.
Today was exhausting. We had an all day meeting with Toyo Suisan employees. It felt like we went from one thing to another. We started out from Tamagawagakuen-Mae at about…oh….9 something…I think. We met everybody at Shinagawa at like, 10:15 or so. Instead of being tested for swine flu, this meeting was much more relaxed. We just got to sit down and interview the employees, go out to lunch with them, and then visit their research and development facility. I ate curry rice with espresso and dessert. It was delicious. The R&N facility was pretty cool, because we got to taste test a whole buncha stuff. They had all sorts of noodles, gyoza, rice, and soups. Wow, it was delicious. Taste tests rock, especially when it’s instant noodles, because it’s so cheap to manufacture that you can’t possibly feel guilty about not eating everything! We were also given a HUGE bag of noodles and omiyage (souvenirs) from the company. I’m excited to see what I got, because I haven’t looked yet! After R&D was where the evening really began. We went to dinner at a restaurant with some of the salary men from Toyo Suisan. We didn’t have to pay anything, and could eat and drink basically anything we wanted to (again!) Our meal consisted of chicken parts, which was really interesting and different. My mom NEVER could’ve eaten this food (I don’t know if she could eat much of the food in Japan…at least Japanese food). I think that my family makes too big a deal about it though. If you just drink a beer, it’s much easier to try new things, and if you stop worrying about being sick from something, it tastes a lot better than it would otherwise. I’ve eaten raw egg six or seven times on this trip, raw fish countless times, and I even ate raw chicken tonight. I’m not dead yet, so I guess it’s probably okay. Anyway, word spread around Toyo Suisan that I was zaru (a tank), and all of the salary men were particularly interested in me because of it. They told me some really funny stories. I guess the girls at the front desk thought I was best dressed/best looking out of the whole group. I don’t think so, but whatever, that’s their deal not mine. =D
I exchanged business cards with one of the managers, and after the dinner, everybody went their separate ways. It was pretty early, so I went ahead and traveled back with Sam and Loretta to meet Sam’s new host family. When we got to the station, the host mom invited us over. It was SO much fun. Sam always gets the coolest host families. We sat down and the host mom served us tea, and then when the men came in, more alcohol was brought. We had snacks and some beer, and a few hours of good conversation in Japanese before I decided it was time for me to leave. I wish my Japanese were a bit better, but I guess that’s something that will come in time, with practice, and living here. Overall, it was a very relaxing and chill night in Tokyo. I also got to travel back by myself, which, for some reason, I always find to be especially relaxing.
Anyway, it’s pretty late, so since I don’t have internet, I’m going to sleep right now instead of staying here and just screwing around. I’ll post this entry as soon as I have signal again. Worst case, it will be on Thursday morning around 11 AM. Wow, I have so much work to do by Friday. Sick. I have to say, though, I’m really excited for next week to come. Not much but chillin out, partying, and shopping!!! I finally get to spend the $570 I’ve been trying so hard to save this whole time for shopping! Woohoo!!! *yayyy * I’ll catch you all later, PEACE!
PS- HAPPY GRADUATION JUSTIN! I’M SORRY I CAN’T BE THERE, BUT I’M PROUD OF YOU! WAY TO GO!!!!!! Also, happy graduation to the entire class of ’09. Now go find some jobs or go to college or something, don’t sit around and waste your lives! xP
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