Uptown Girl

I just realized that entitling this entry "Uptown Girl" will probably lead people to believe I have a story about some trendy Japanese girl...sorry to say, I don't. While we training in Okayama, the crew and I went looking for a 100 Yen store. After the mile long journey, we finally stumbled upon one and it was playing William Joel's "Uptown Girl". I happily sang along...until it ended and I heard it again. It was funny to hear the same song repeat, until it repeated for the third and then the fourth time. The song interrupted in the middle with a shrill Japanese voice exclaiming something about a sale. My first thought dealt with how the employees of this place must be slowly going insane. Either they have a much-needed and helpful ability to tune out the background music or they're experiencing a strange version of Chinese water torture. The first few times you hear it, it's harmless. And if you heard the song every now and again, it would have no effect but since it's continuous, each playing would hurt more and more until it becomes unbearable and you take a samurai sword to your abdomen because you can't take it anymore.

Then I moved to Himeji and I live within spitting distance from a big department store and they're having a July 1-28 Bargain Sale. And this bargain sale is accompanied by the same customized song which has played on a loop during the workday for almost four weeks. I am not sure whether to feel sorry for or admire the Japanese workers that have to deal with this.

Another weekly tradition I've recently adopted is going to the foreigner bar on Tuesday nights. Now I end up at this place 3-4 times per week but Tuesdays are special. For on Tuesdays, a Japanese man named Takahashi plays his acoustic guitar in the bar. The best part is that Takahashi knows every Beatles song and a whole slew of other random selections which will inevitably get everyone in the bar involved in a sing-along. If you've ever heard a middle-aged Japanese man lead a bar-full of drunken gaijins in a consecutive set of "Hey Jude" and "Manic Monday", you'll know the magic that his guitar creates.

Tomorrow night, I am taking the shinkansen to visit one of the girls from training in a city called Tokuyama - which I guess is a pretty country-ish Japanese town kinda close to Hiroshima. We'll stay there tomorrow night and then we're off to the southern island of Kyushu on Sunday. On Kyushu, we're going to a city called Fukuoka and I have zero idea what we're doing there. I was told today that I need to try a food called Mentaiko - which is a roll of caviar, red pepper and something else. It may sound gross now but I've never been steered wrong by any other Japanese food.

And two weeks from now is Obon. Obon is a Buddhist event where people pray for the spirits of their ancestors to return and reunite with the family. I guess this is met with huge family parties and giant festivals and then after the celebrations, families bring the spirits of their ancestors back to the grave and they hang a painted sign with the family crest and light incense in their homes - and the smell of the incense is called senko. This sounds like an absolutely beautiful and awe-inspiring time for the Japanese. Unfortunately, I am not Japanese and I don't know any Japanese well enough to be invited, so it's just a week of for me. So, over Obon, some of my friends and I are heading up to Tokyo to see what kind of fun awaits us there. My next few weeks promise to be entertaining so please keep reading; here are some pictures.


Look, it's Yao Ming!!!!
Our karaoke room where Brenna was being attacked by a T-Rex
My Tuesday night tradition also involves new hairstyles. Week One was mohawks. Week two (this picture) was 50's greaser with a duck tail in the back. I might've abandoned it at this point.
Saw an Illini shirt in a store near my apartment. If there are any small girls reading this that would like it, it's only about $5
My friend, Luci, and Takahashi the Beatles Expert