Crab...Battle!!!

Since coming to Japan, I have eaten more whole sea creatures than I had in all my days prior. Whether it's just grilling a whole fish, and slapping it down on a plate (head, tail and all), or the squids and cuttle fish we ate (all but the entrails and beak). Well, the other day, my host dad comes running in the house with this white box. I had pretty much just woken up, but he calls me out on the back porch to show me what was inside. He popped it open and inside were four large crabs, still fizzing at the mouth, and moving their legs. He then proceeded to explain that "they're still alive right now, but tonight we will eat them." wow... The weird thing about it, is that Part of Japan's religion (shinto) holds to the idea that spirits of deity are found in Nature, including plants animals and the like. The Japanese live very closely with Nature; everyone here is super green. We have five different recycling bins, even at school, and even before one eats there is a phrase one should say that essentially means 'please give me your life' (recognizing that that which is sustaining you was also once alive, but had to give up its own life so that you could keep on living). Even in spite of all this, tho, there are so many things here that would have PETA flipping out. Not that I am an extreme rights activist or anything, for the most part I don't care, but it's just odd that there are such stark inconsistencies. You should see the pet shops here, they are like animal Ghettos. I haven't yet been to the zoo, but I hear it's equally as depressing.

Hisashiburi

Apologies to all of you who genuinely check my blog regularly. I cannot begin to describe how busy I actually am here. Well, really I could, but I am just too lazy to do so. Suffice it to say that I have been busy; but without further delay, a new post for all you good people:

I suppose a lot has gone on in the past twenty days since I left you. I just don't know specifically what to talk about. Here are a few things on my mind....

First is that I just got a Shamisen!!! Well, actually, I had to order it so I still don't have it yet, but I will soon. I cannot contain the excitement! A shamisen is the one thing I knew I wanted to buy here, before I ever came. For those of you who don't know what a shamisen is, I will attach a youtube link. http://jp.youtube.com/watch?v=09vfa4vuHFY&feature=related

The second thing was something that was moving, but quite sad. For those of you who don't know, my parents recently came and visited me in Japan for about ten days (part of the reason I haven't posted in a while). While they were here, a friend of my host family was kind enough to give my parents a very nice gift. As per custom it is a good idea to give a gift in return as a token of gratitude. But since the friend already is... well shall we say has most things one could want, my host family suggested giving her flowers in return. So that's exactly what we did. We went to a local flower shop, and the clerk put together a beautiful arrangement using flowers we picked out plus some she thought would compliment them nicely. It turned out to be a little more pricey than I anticipated, but all is well. We took the flowers to the friends house, and she was overjoyed to receive them. I, in my broken Japanese, tried to explain that we were grateful for the gifts she gave my biological parents. Now I'm not sure of the details, but I think her husband may have passed on. In either case he is no longer around. She told me that in all the years she was married, her husband never once gave her flowers. I was blown away. Speechless... I understand that Japanese married couples rarely (if ever) say "I love you" or express affection (especially around others), but still. This lady is one of the nicest people I have met, she is so generous and kind, and this year marks the first time in 20 years that she hasn't hosted a foreign exchange student. I couldn't believe her husband never even did the simple act of giving her her flowers. Now, I'm not saying they didn't love each other. I didn't want to pry, so I didn't ask any questions. But still, little gestures go a long way, and I think that each of you who are reading this should go out of your way a bit and do something for someone you love, Today. If you don't have someone special to you around, then do it for one of your friends or family. and just remember not to take any act of kindness that comes your way for granted.

The break down on breaking it down without breaking down... Karaoke style.

Alright, so to all of those who told me do to Karaoke, to whom I most likely said "we'll see" but didn't really mean it cause I never intended to do it... well... I did it. I hope that you are happy. Here's my report:
We went to a place called U-bou, which some of my friends had already been to. The cool thing about the place is that A: you can stay until 5 in the morning, and B: for 3300Yen you get all you can drink, and unlimited karaoke. So yeah, there were about five of us that were hardcore and went fully intending to stay the whole night. All together we started with about 15 people, but the thing is that the subways stop running at about 12:30. Depending on the line, they start back up at about 6:00am. So either you go home early, or you're in it for the long-haul. Most people went home early. It is possible to get a taxi, but they are really expensive. So yeah, the night went on and most people left at least fairly early, but considering we got there at seven thirty, I guess most of them stayed for about four hours or so. We were split between two rooms. There was a lot of meandering and chatting in the hall too, so it was good not only to do Karaoke, but to have fun just haning out with all the foreigners. Everybody that came were exchange students, but they were from all over the world, so it was still really cool. Anyhow, it got down to just the five of us, and only three for a while, but we still rocked out hardcore. Once our time was up, we all payed and headed out into the streets. three of our party went into a local diner to get some early breakfast, but Tom and I just walked around a bit, wasting time til we could go home. It was starting to get light out by that time. After a while the subways opened and we all parted ways. I fell asleep on the second train, and almost didn't get off at my station. Fortunately it's the last stop, so the train lingers there for a bit before starting its next run. I woke up to realize I was in my station and needed to go. Even so, I still had to wait for the bus, which seemed to take FOREVER!!! I may it home regardless; trying so hard to keep my eyes open on the bus so I wouldn't miss my stop.

Story aside - My evaluation:
It was fun. BUT, I think there were two big contributing factors: A) the people you are with make all the difference. B) the drinks help. If the people around you are good friends, just into it and having a good time, it's awesome. But I would hate to do Karaoke with people I don't really know, or people I can't have fun with. It's all about just letting loose and not caring, and if you aren't able to do that because of the people you are with, then you're not gonna have fun. On the flipside, however, if the people you are with are cool, then it's super awesome fun time, oh yeah! And if you're all feeling a little rigid and or bashful, the drinks will help with that bit and get you singing in no time. I'm pretty sure I thought I really was Chris Martin there for a bit. That or a real member of Destiny's Child.... Oh yes I did do Destiny's Child... Who else... Foo fighters, Radiohead, some Japanese bands, Arctic Monkeys (tho I got laughed at by the British guys for not sounding
British enough), etc.
Over all, it was a really great time. Definitely something I would do again. Altho, in Japan it's a very big industry. I would be skeptical about a Karaoke bar in the states. I wish that I could bring my friends from home up here to do Japanese Karaoke with me. Maybe someday.

~LjD~

Post Script:
I got back home around 7 o'clock and slept til 12:30, then that night I went out to dinner with my host mom and a few of her friends, and another ryuugakusei (exchange student). We had a whole bunch of expensive food and drinks, and this tiny little place had a karaoke corner it in, so yes of course we all had to do at least one song. Out of a book that was about three inches thick, there were maybe 3 pages of song list that were in english, so I chose "by the way" by the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Oh yeah... I rocked out!

Post Post Script:
If any of you out there are english teachers, I apologize profusely for the terrible grammar employed in this post. The more tired I am, the more prone I am to use an ungodly amount of commas, and poor sentence structures.

Living it up! (a.k.a. - When in Rome...)

Karaoke and all you can drink: not a good idea........it's a great idea!
I no longer have a voice.

Captions:
1) (L2R): Alex, Anna, Me
2) (L2R): Me, James, Anna
3) Lauren and I
4) James
5) Tom, rocking out in Japanese.