It was a long, hard, cold winter, but the light at the end of the tunnel is finally showing.
CHERRY BLOSSOMSIt all started with the Cherry Blossoms a few weeks ago. The Japanese have a tradition called
Hanami, which means flower viewing. Most people here have a picnic underneath the blooming Cherry Blossoms to celebrate the arrival of Spring.
My friends went to Tsurumai Park in Nagoya at 9am to get a prime spot under the Cherry Blossoms. I got there around noon and found them on a tarp in the middle of a walking path because every where else was full.
The weather was absolutely perfect without a cloud in the sky and everyone in the park was drinking. My friends and I were no exception. This was a full on party with food stalls set up all over selling everything from popcorn to fried squid.
Every once in a while the wind would pick up and scatter pink snow all over the crowds and draw a light applause.
As the day went on, with karaoke blasting out of a giant speaker setup from the spot just next to us and the live music sounds of Sushi Caberet, a local group of strum rock extrodinaires, coming from somewhere else in the park, everyone began to feel a little tipsy and started intermingling with everyone else. Amidst all the craziness, my friend Will evidently dressed up like pink bunny.
When night rolled around and the lights came on in the park, lighting up all the trees and providing a kind of dreamy atmosphere, most of the children and families had gone home. It was only the heavy weights and obliterated salary men left. Everyone was three sheets to the wind.
Evidently, Spiderman showed up and gave me a beer. After that, I think I crawled back to my buddy Will's apartment, a couple subway stops away, to get some sleep.
The next day, Will and I got right back in the saddle again. We joined some friends in a remote section of Tsurumai Park for nice quiet, sit down,
tempura party.
The weather was overcast, but it never rained. It was a great way to come down from the previous days debauchery and hang out with some really cool people.
HEIWA ENGLISH SCHOOL BBQ PARTYThe following week I hosted a BBQ at my house for all my new students. I'm glad I did it because it created a buzz around town about my newly christened school, but I will never do it again at my house. Ever...
The intial idea was to have a small house party with a few students and a few friends. Then I started promoting the idea to my students, not realizing every single one of them would come... and bring their friends.
Luckily, my friends, who I will be forever indebted to, stepped up and helped me.
I have tried to write about this event in detail, but nothing I say can express my gratitude to the numerous people that helped make this happen. For that reason, I'm just gonna post some pictures taken by my friends.
There were some initial problems getting the grills fired up, so there was no food ready when the crowd arrived. I was scrambling to get drinks poured, hot dog buns prepared, and everything became a blur when my stress factor reached astronomical proportions and the Locos T-shirt I was wearing became a frame of mind.
My only clear memory of that scene was Cem holding up cooked hot dogs in front of the ravenous kids all chanting "Me, me, me!"
At some point, my buddy Will suggested I get out from behind the drink table to mingle with all my guests.
Now, before the party started, I anticipated the adults would come inside my house to get out of the hot sun, and the children would run around outside, but the reality was completely opposite.
The adults were too nervous and uncomfortable to enter the house, so they took all the chairs outside while the kids ran amok inside my house.
When I walked in my house to check and see what was happening, I saw a three year old baby girl beating on my new computer keyboard like she was Charles Bukowski playing the piano. Next, I spotted a group of 6th grade kids running in and out of my laundry room laughing at my underwear hanging up to dry.
I almost snapped.
Enter Fumio.
My friend and guardian angel, Fumio, was nice enough to prepare some games for the kids to play. He brought over a bag of various materials like ping pong balls, balloons, and bingo cards.
We got all the charges outside and off to the side of my house and began playing various games.
We divided all the kids into two teams, the Bob Sapp Team and the Gorilla Team. We started by playing Rock-Paper-Scissors games and eventually got into a few different relay races, like carrying ping pong balls with spoons.
The bingo game was a success partially due to the electronic gizmo that choose the numbers to be called out.
Every kid wanted to push the button to choose the next number.
By the end of the bingo game, I was dead tired and ready for a chance to relax.
This Bingo card sums up the way I felt once all the kids had gone home.
I was all punched out.
Once all the kids left, the rock n' rollers showed up to keep the party going late into the night and left an entire landfill outside my front door.
But the hits just kept coming...
Big Frog & MoeNot two days after the big BBQ Party, my friends Big Frog from Tokyo rolled into town on their current tour to play an after party for the American jamband Moe.
Big Frog started their set at the BottomLine around midnight and played until sunrise.
To start their second set they were joined by two members of Moe for a cover of Ween's
Voodoo Lady.
After a couple hours sleep, I woke up and drove five hours with friends Jason, Tyler, and two girls that Tyler knew.
We dropped the girls off in the middle of Shibuya crossing and met our good friend Mark, who lives only a few minuets away from the mass craziness.
We all went to see Moe play in the new Liquid Room in Yebisu, and afterward came back to Mark's house to get some much needed rest.
After a good night's sleep and a pleasant afternoon throwing the frisbee in Yoyogi Park, also short walk away from Mark's new house, we said goodbye to him and drove to Yokohama for more Big Frog & Moe.
Big Frog opened for Moe, playing a short 45 minuet set, but they were also invited onstage for a rollicking version of the Blue Oyster Cult's
Godzilla.
Oh no, there goes Tokyo...
It was the perfect way to end an amazing two weeks.
Luckily, the pension where Daniel had reserved a room for me was nice and clean with a very friendly staff that offered shelter from the storm.
Early the next morning after a few hours sleep and feeling the tequila tomorrow sickness, Nicole and I went to the domestic airport to catch a flight to the northern Batanes Islands. We arrived with 10min to spare, rushed through the check-in, quickly bought some doughnuts for the flight, and sat down in the white walled waiting room near a portrait of the Bleeding Heart of Mother Mary only to wait for a half an hour for them to cancel our flight due to wicked weather.
