Super Friends Trip Preview

I don't think I could anticipate anything more than the upcoming Super Friends trip.  Days at work are spent less planning lessons and more planning each hour of the minimal time we have together.  Here is the general rundown of my plan...and for all of you wonderful people out there in readerland, please take note because when you come to visit, I want you to have ideas.  Andy, Aubrey, Dave and Scott's flight arrives on 4/30 at 3:20pm; Shuko and I plan on meeting them at the airport.  She suggested making a welcome sign - a la a limousine driver looking for his passengers.  I told her she could do that if she wanted to but that requires some semblance of patience upon the first sighting.  And, knowing me, patient will be the last characteristic to describe this.  Dave has told me that he will be actually disappointed if their visit's initial meeting doesn't draw tears.

This is another reason I wish that Jeff could come...he's a fellow crier and would likely have a few run down his cheek.  After all, Jeff and I have engaged in 'who cries first' contests in the past so I know what I would get.  With the crew coming, I just don't know.  Dave is the most emotional person I know but he's not a crier so I am not setting expectations high there.  I'm holding on to this though:  if I was living in Atlanta still and saw Dave for the first time in ten months, it'd be almost impossible to squeeze a tear.  But this is Japan...this situation can be likened to the Bulls/Celtics series.  With Garnett (living in Atlanta), there's almost no chance at all.  Without Garnett (living in Japan), the chances are much greater but still a long shot.  By the way, I am writin this on a Sunday afternoon after staying awake until 5am watching Derrick Rose and Rajon Rondo kill themselves but the Bulls emerging victorious in Game 1.  I know that Andy is capable of tears but I don't believe I've seen them.  He might be too focused on amping himself up to lift me in the air upon first sight.  That takes some serious preparation.  Plus, he has had Aubrey around since I've been gone so I didn't really leave him alone so he hasn't developed enough of a loss.  Aubrey is really awesome but I don't know if we've known each other long enough to have a tear-inducing welcome...but she is a girl.  Scott is the wild card.  On the surface, Scott is relatively emotionless - or a nicer way to put this is that Scott contains himself in the fashion of a man.  As a matter of fact, Scott is a grizzled veteran of a man but that makes him the wild card.  I grew up with Mort and his city worker friends.  They are also grizzled veteran men but anyone in the know will tell you, they are quicker to tears than most and that's what I am curious about with Scott.  We've shared some monumental life experiences and that could all come to a head at Kansai Airport.  I'll cry...I'm fairly sure, so the only real mystery is if I can get it from someone else.  Please root for the active tear ducts...for my sake.  Well that was tangential.

I've planned our first night to some amazing detail and I am really looking forward to hitting the ground running.  From the airport, we're taking a train back to Osaka (Shinsaibashi to be exact) and will head to our capsule hotel - our lodging for the first two nights of the trip.  We've reserved a group room at the capsule hotel.  We will have the capsule experience but we avoid two downfalls of getting single capsules on public floors - 1) the smell of drunk Japanese men or the smell of Euro men and 2) Aubrey would have to stay on a woman's floor.  After a quick check-in, we're getting right back on the train and heading to Koshien for the Hanshin Tigers vs. Yokohama BayStars.  It's too bad the Tigers aren't playing a cooler name - Hiroshima Carp or Nippon Ham Fighters - but it is what it is.  Shuko's friend works for the Hanshin Railways and managed to get us some nice tickets for only 1000 Yen apiece.  I've been to one game and it's definitely a different experience...plus Koshien Stadium had a few renovations in the offseason so maybe we're in for additional treats.  We're looking forward to seeing the newly acquired Tigers right-fielder, Kevin Mench.  He was only known for his giant head in America and, aside from being crap to begin the JPB season, he's only known for that here as well.  The BayStars are trotting out some pitcher who had a cup of coffee with the Cubs a few years ago...surprisingly I had never heard of him.  Being a mainly fact-based blog, I've spent the necessary two minutes to look up his name again...Les Walrond.  Maybe a few of you know him...if you do and haven't read Dave's Cubs blog, please look at the previous entry to access the link.

Once the game ends, we'll try dodging the crowds and head back near Kobe where we have a reservation at an okonomiyaki restaurant. Okonomiyaki is termed a Japanese pancake.  I don't totally understand it because it tastes and consists of nothing reminiscent of a pancake but it is circular and flat.  It means something like "anything you want, grilled".  I met David in Kyoto for okonomiyaki and took Becky to a Himeji place and both seemed to have enjoyed it immensely.  I've taken Scott's quote to heart, "this is my vacation, I can sleep on the plane".  We'll be going non-stop from their arrival until the early morning so I hope I am not dragging zombies around.  After a few hours of sleep in the capsules, we're taking a morning train to Kyoto.

My goal was to keep a mystery appointment concealed from the super friends but I was just unable.  First, I had to tell them the appointment would cost 6500 Yen and that you had to be relatively clean-shaven.  Dave correctly guessed it had something to do with geishas.  So, in fact, we are going to a Maiko shop and will get made over as geishas..complete with white makeup, hair, kimonos and commemorative pictures to serve as the second edition of the brophy.  Please check back in mid-May for those pictures.  I can't promise many things but I promise they will be priceless.  The remainder of the first day should be sightseeing at the Kyoto National Museum, Nijo Castle, Fushimi Inari and Kiyomizu-dera.  Once our feet are ready to give up on the rest of our bodies, we'll head back to Gion for a traditional unagi (eel) dinner and we can walk amongst the nightlife of Kyoto.

On Kyoto Day 2, we'll try hitting Kinkaku-ji (Golden temple), Arashiyama (perhaps the romantic train), Iwatayama (monkey mountain) and maybe Ginkaku-ji (Silver temple) if there's time.  Hopefully we can get out by around 2pm and hop the train to Nara to see the giant Buddha, deer and whatever else there is to see in Nara.  Most of the places we're going in Kyoto, I have been to but I've not been to Nara so I am looking forward to it.  My friend, Ami, is from Nara so she has given us some great ideas of what to see.  Nara shouldn't take us late into the night.  So, if it doesn't, we may have to make another stop but we can see where the wind takes us.  Eventually we will end up in Himeji because the next day begins with an early Shinkansen to Hiroshima.  As the story was relayed to me, a Japanese girl during World War 2 thought that making a thousand paper cranes and hanging them up would bring peace but she died in the middle of her quest.  People heard the story and finished the thousand cranes for her.  Over the years, Japanese and others have been bringing paper cranes to the Peace Park in Hiroshima.  Meg, Dave's sister, told this story to her history class...they made a bunch of cranes, strung them together and sent them to me.  So, we'll be hauling that giant box around to contribute to a pretty heart-warming and nice story.

Aside from the Peace Park and seeing Miyajima (temple in the water), I am not totally sure what else we're doing in Hiroshima but Shuko is from near there so I am sure she'll enlighten us.  One thing is for sure, we're going to a restaurant near Miyajima called Irori Sanzoku - which means "the hearth of a mountain pirate".  I've had to assure the super friends that it is not a pirate themed restaurant.  I am quite sure that was initially disappointing but it should be an experience nonetheless.  My guess is we'll spend the evening in Hiroshima but, if not, we'll make a detour to Okayama or Kurashiki on the way back to the Princess Road (Himeji).

May 4th is the day to explore the general area I live in.  We'll take a guided tour of the Himeji Castle in the morning, followed by lunch - either at this little amazing cafe in Himeji or we'll head to Kobe for some Kobe beef.  After a few hours tromping around Osaka, we'll take the train up to Arima onsen.  Onsen is a hot spring bath...it's remarkably popular here and Arima is one of the more famous places to go.  And onsen time is naked time.  Men and women are separated - which may or may not be a good thing.  One thing is for sure...we'll be stared at for multiple reasons and will likely cause an international incident.  So I may be coming home soon but against my wishes.  On our last night as a five-some, we're going to see Kobe at night and return to Himeji for some obligatory karaoke.  We will be making videos of this - you can count on that.

The next day Scott is leaving - thus ending the really well-planned segment of the trip.  I am terrified of lag times or being unprepared in Scott's presence.  Once he takes off for the airport, the rest of us will head north to Fuji and Tokyo to see what will transpire.  The breakdown of that on a future blog should be a total surprise...for everyone.  I don't even want to think about the day this trip ends but I can take solace in knowing that I will be creating a trip DVD that will premiere at Shuko and my visit to America in December.  I hope you will all be able to attend the premiere viewing party.  And please, submit some ideas of things to film while the super friends are here.  Time to take my leave and enjoy the remainder of my weekend.  Kiyotsukete...sayonara!

Assorted thoughts/Becky Pt 2

I think that I've found my calling - and it's babysitting non-English speaking children with happy demeanors while their parents are around to handle any necessary messes...like emotional breakdowns or poop-filled diapers. Last weekend I went to the outskirts of Okayama to meet Shuko's friends and their families. The train ride from Himeji to Okayama takes about an hour. Apparently last weekend was a holiday or something because the trains on a mildly popular line were packed. 'Packed' to me is that all seats are filled and a few people linger in standing areas. But this train ride was different - it was that familiar Japanese scene with formerly docile people shoving each other to make their way onto the train as if it were the last rescue boat after the Titanic - when, in fact, there were subsequent trains every 15-20 minutes for the rest of eternity. As Gino and Becky can attest, train rides here are filled to the brim with people who are passed out within a few minutes of boarding.

Normally I am fairly tolerant of situations and surroundings but being packed in a crowd drives me to insanity. My normal course of action is to internalize my discomfort and make judgments about people and their actions. In this case, I was green with jealous rage (thank you "Hot Rod") - directed mainly at the people sitting down. Here's a sample of my thoughts during this train ride (I was thinking blog while on the train to keep me from jabbing my knee into the back of the man who was sleep-swaying into me):

"Look at the effing guy - he's got a leather jacket two sizes two small and lion hair and I bet that somewhere in his head, he believes he's a total badass and not an effeminate Japanese man from a good family that would piss himself at the sight of a knife outside a restaurant." Please keep in mind that I, too, would piss myself but this is my fantasy judgment world where I am impervious to criticism, realistic thought or judgments of my own.

"Does she have any clue what her shirt means in English?" I don't recall exactly what this shirt read but I've had this thought so many times during my time here that the details run together. Becky made it a mission to locate the best Engrish and came away with some awesome pictures and even a few baby t-shirts. For what it's worth, I was an ass enough to ask one of my Japanese friends about this. She said that most people have no clue but even if the ones that do know just don't care.

"How much can that salaryman make because he's wearing black sneakers with his suit." I've seen this before but never in Japan. Actually I wanted to throw up more here after seeing this than I did in America. The tackiness is too much for me to handle - and I'll accept whatever flak you want to give me for being stuck up.

"That guy genuinely does look like a bad ass but the teeny bubble gum J-pop is what is most likely blasting from his iPod." For the most part my students are the rich, well-behaved types but there are a few that fit into different social circles. With what I perceive to be some peer circle separation, I would assume some variation in interest - especially music. But it never happens - all of my students boy/girl/big/small/older/younger listen to J-pop. I am really curious about this, especially with the infiltration of American pop culture but the kids love the J-Pop...and it's as horrible as you would imagine.

I devised a scheme for Shuko and I to take our standing positions near students because generally they take trains to schools in cities from their homes in the burbs and don't take trains from big city to big city. Sure enough, my theory worked. The kids who seemed to have snuck under the crowd to get a seat only occupied it for a few minutes and we quickly capitalized. I felt like this got me the point back that my manager took from me while suggesting that I couldn't cut paper for a poster because Japanese products are better than American. Let me get back to my story - that was the longest tangent ever, compared to the miniscule length of the story. For about four hours, while Shuko and her friends gabbed in Japanese, I entertained the two little girls. We've all been in an interaction with a child where you either have no clue what the child is talking about or you could not care less. The most beautiful thing about watching kids who don't speak English is that their Japanese is about equal to mine. In America, I would look for another adult to pawn the child onto but, this time, I got to have my first "intellectual" conversation. We shared our points of view on life and the scenery of Japan. "Peeing is fun" and "the sea is beautiful" were just a few pearls of wisdom we shared with each other.

But before these train and babysitting hijinks (I tried four ways to spell that word), I had three more awesome days with Becky before she had to go home. We flew into Kobe airport - which is really really convenient. The major airport for the area in Kansai, which is about two hours from me by train and comes with the normal pains of an international airport. Kobe is a smaller and mainly domestic airport located about fifteen minutes from central Kobe so our arrival there and trip back into Kobe was painless. Becky wanted to experience onsen (hot spring bathing) so she braved a few train transfers by herself and got her hour to relax with other naked old Japanese ladies. In that time, I wrote part one of the blog about her trip. We eventually made our way back to Himeji because I had one of my two days of work that week so I needed my beauty rest.

While I made an ass of myself for children (as I do everyday), Becky explored Hiroshima and mentally prepared for her Japanese karaoke experience to follow that night. Karaoke always promises two things - first, there is never a disappointing night. There are times you don't get to all of the songs you want or someone commandeers the microphone but, overall, it's always a positive experience. Secondly, karaoke always leaves you unfulfilled. Again, whether it's not getting to all of the songs or thinking you should have done certain songs earlier or being pissed that you didn't rock "Man in the Mirror" the way you did in the shower. Above any other time we've karaoked, I felt happiest with this one because we were introducing it to someone previously inexperienced. Japanese karaoke is simple - very simple. There's drinking, a dimly lit room, two microphones, a book of possibilities and friends - it's a recipe for paradise. It has also further solidified my resolve to go to a karaoke place and ask to borrow the song book - only to transcribe songs of interest to a collaborative list for future karaoke wonderment.

It's baseball season again, thank God. The NCAA Tournament ended poorly and I watched far less of it than I have in any year since high school. My adopted team, the Hanshin Tigers, are 3-3 and starting former MLB castoff Kevin Mench. He was known in America and now in Japan as the player with the biggest head in baseball. I have no idea what his opinion of himself is, I just know that he has literally the biggest head in baseball. The head created so much pressure on the helmet here that it cracked.

On the tube - Scrubs, this season, has been phenomenal. Last season they started getting goofier and stupid - like what "The Office" is heading towards but the move to ABC seems to have done something because the shows are still hilarious but have more poignancy like the first six or so seasons did. Why is 30 Rock so amazing? Everything about that show is great. I often think to myself, how could things keep coming out that are hilarious. I've laughed at many different things in my life but people keep finding new ways and that mystifies me...sorry, the grammar of that sentence was probably abysmal.

And if I had guilty pleasures (I don't because, to a fault, I will divulge anything), one of my biggest would be American Idol. I love this show. Maybe it has just been the past few seasons but it's captivating. At least Gino and my aunt watch so my contestant breakdown should pique someone's interest. Scott just left the show and it was bittersweet. I think the guy got further than he should have because he's blind but every week, it's really cool watching someone who can't see master the piano - he's not inventing the wheel there but it's still pretty special. Kris seems to perform well each week and has made my favorite song choices. He's going to be pigeon-holed as the whiny, romantic acoustic guy but it's his niche so good for him. He'd sell some records. Alison is cool...really cool. She has that Melissa Etheridge like frog voice, except that Alison sounds better. Fox wants me to save Adam for last in my recap - for that reason, he goes in the middle. For the first few weeks, no one annoyed me more than him when he shrieked through "Satisfaction" and "Black and White" but in the past few weeks, he's been tolerable - more than tolerable, pretty good...with the exception of "Ring of Fire". Whatever I think and whether or not he wins, he's the most likely to go platinum like my man, David Cook. I love listening to Danny Gokey but I feel like he has Christian rock written all over him...ugh. Lil is extra boring. Normally I don't like the power female singers anyway but Lil isn't even that great with that. Matt is, by far and away, my favorite. He won't win and he may not sell that much in stores but he's just unique enough for me without being ridiculous. Anoop still being around is a joke, I think he's a good singer and a nice guy but does he have any commercial appeal? Any? So that's that.

Lastly, it's sakura season in the Kansai area - cherry blossoms are everywhere. They're beautiful, don't get me wrong, but people are obsessed and I don't get it. Well, I should clarify. People take whole days and bring picnics to parks or shrines and have a day out viewing the sakura and I think that is a great idea. But Shuko is going from city to city to see the cherry blossoms. If that's your thing, great and I like that she's so excited about it but they really aren't any different in different cities. I suppose the scenes change and make you appreciate the view more so maybe I should've looked at it like that. Another interesting thing about life here is that people are so easily impressed. Fireworks and visiting shrines/castles/parks are major events and even though they've seen them dozens of times before. People take pictures as if it was their first time. The tiniest gesture of kindness is acknowledged and you are thanked. Everything is cute or cool. A few years ago, I likely would've raised an eyebrow and wondered what drugs these people are on. Now, I really treasure that everything is appreciated here and it makes for a much happier life, I am coming to find out...but I still wonder about the drugs.

Two more quick ones - the Academy Award winner for Best Foreign Film "Okuribito" made me cry more than "Marley and Me" - just don't let me watch anything emotional while alone. Secondly, let me pimp my friend, Dave's, Cubs blog for the Lafayette Journal and Courier. Please read his Cubs-related musings -

http://www.jconline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?category=BLOG&pluck_blogid=Blog:696e5224-cbb0-4aea-bf02-c412801cbc50

Stay tuned for news about the Himeji Sakura viewing party, a potential IAABP event and the Family Visit