Battle Royale II----------------|

Eagerly awaited. 

There is a fairly common formula for sequels to popular films. More money, similar story, same characters, lavish cinematography and, most importantly, not as good.

I saw Battle Royale a few years ago at the cinema in the UK having had my interest piqued, indirectly, by watching "Ringu". The original Battle Royale is a much deeper, and cleverer, film than I think it is given credit for in many quarters. I think even a lot of its fans would baulk at the suggestion of depth to its premise and execution. But its there. Battle Royale came out in the UK in September 2001. There was some other big event then too…

BRII is set a few years after the initial film and opens with a wide shot of Tokyo and then two very big buildings collapsing - this is a film that is going to wear its controversy on its sleeve. The plot is set up with this event, the "winner" of the last film - Shuya - has become the leader of a terrorist organisation named "Wild Seven" and they are responsible for the devastation. The new contestants play a new game and they can all survive this one. The new aim is to kill Shuya. There is a lot less of a set up to the game itself here and it is a lot quicker into it. The kids, however, are given combat equipment to attack with and expected to work in team. A clever addition to the rules is the pairwork "encouraged" by having each person paired up forcibly - if one of the pair dies then the other necklace starts beeping…
The film is a lot more overtly political than the previous one and, at the beginning, reels off a list of countries that the US has bombed. Rather surprising to hear in a mainstream (in its native country) film and this is a theme that follows through. As mentioned previously, Shuya is a "terrorist" and is responsible for the deaths of thousands of people yet, by the end of the film, he is dealt with rather sympathetically by the film.
I don't really want to get into the plot details here but this film shocked with its portrayal of the characters and I was very surprised by it. In many ways it is a mixed bag of a film. As it started it felt quite weak and like a "sequel by numbers" but this was a very different beast by the end of it.
Compared to Battle Royale, and there are few other films I could compare it to, there are a number of comments to make. I think that the potency of the imagery is somewhat dulled by the simple difference in clothing. Although the characters do seem to look younger than the previous batch, the constant of school uniform in Battle Royale was an ever-present reminder of the age and immaturity of the protagonists. And, it did just look better aesthetically. As the film develops, the imagery throughout is fairly standard war film fare, which although still technically impressive, is not too memorable. There is nothing to match, or near, the lighthouse scenes in the original for instance.
The characters, in general are not so well developed but they are quite easy to differentiate due to the fact that a sizable number have dyed hair and are "cool". But, whereas the original film told you something of each character before they came to their inevitable end, here there are a fair few cannon fodder types giving the air of time filling. This is due, in part, to the differing intentions of each film but it is still a failing of sorts.
This is not the classic that the original was, this is rarely the case with sequels, but it is a very interesting film with some themes that you would not be expecting to see in other films. It is a sequel, it has some of the same characters, its got some violence, its got decapitation. Definitely worth watching for fans of the original and I would certainly recommend watching that before this.

Japan, China, North Korea, Cuba, Congo, Peru, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia, Grenada, Libya, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Panama, Iraq, Somalia, Bosnia, Sudan, Yugoslavia, and... Afghanistan
What do they all have in common?
In the past 60 years, America has bombed every one of them
Some 8 million dead among 22 nations
Equality? That's a lie

Revolving Doors

Another month, another teacher I know leaving.
Steve came out at the same time as me so it is a little odd to see him leave so soon - well it feels "so soon" at the moment anyway. I guess to him it is a long time.
The week after Paul left, was a relaxed affair with a bit of tidying and stuff. Some of my students even threw a little party for me, which was very nice^[A]. They brought food in and we all ate and drank. I was told it was a "pot luck" party and this involved everyone bringing in a dish and then we all ate. Some of the lessons were moved around too so that we could have longer.

Anyway, Steve had a leaving "thing" on the Saturday as that was his last day of teaching. And, because he was in company accommodation, he HAD to be out of there on Sunday although his ticket was for later in the week. Anyway, the party was local at "Wara Wara" (an isekaya chain) and I went down after work. I went with one of the receptionists I work with who has lived in Koshigaya all her life. She didn't know where the place was and she had never walked from one station to another! It was nice to show a local around… I got taken to the wrong place and then we had no idea where to go. So I asked her to ask someone, what with her Japanese being a little more competent than mine. But she proceeded to ask a friend on her phone (and via email aswell) so I just asked someone. And we went the right way. It seems a common trait for Japanese people to not ask directions - I thought it was meant to be "men". Anyway, there were a fair few people at the restaurant and I met a few for the first time - they all seemed pretty decent. We stayed for a while and had a laugh but I had work the next day - a Sunday due to a "special campaign" that the school was running. Steve went off to a club in Shibuya, which was tempting but I had stuff to do the next day.

My teaching the next day was a little frustrating because I was at a school I had never been to and will probably never go to again. The students were alright and I finished relatively early. Someone^[B] came round after that and we watched "Battle Royale" - a good film.

I also managed to affirm that the "You're so cool" line in the subtitles is accurate. Like I thought.


---All lettered footnotes were written in 2015---

<sup>A. This was with an afternoon class which was actually the very first class I taught (in Kawaguchi school) and was a group of students that I really liked and stayed in touch with each time I returned to Japan. They were all, apart from one, female and married (these were often called housewives' lessons) and they were all interesting and interested which made for a good start to the week. We discussed many things and one of my highlights was setting up a debate amongst them about the pros and cons of videogames (I did do other things as well). Apart from the subject matter, what I found interesting was that they were not used to the honesty and slight confrontation that debate brings and that they had never really spoken to each other like that - they said that this was very difficult to do in Japanese as it is so consensual. (I took this to mean more the native language as you are always restricted by your knowledge of the subtleties of certain words. In a language that you cannot quite capture all the subtleties of, it does not hold you back. I found the idea of this really enlightening. Incidentally, the non-female one was also married and was an academic who I got on well with and have seen once or twice, at least, per year since.↩

B. This lack of name is much more my style! Maybe this was where I became more natural (using names is not my style in spoken conversation either).↩</sup>

Skip to the end...

As The Great Tim Bisley said.

I can't be bothered to write about the rest of the time Paul was here. He is meant to send me some stuff about it but I have not got it yet. Basically, the next few days of the holiday I had were a bit of a write off due to "inclement" weather. It rained very heavily, and incessantly, for three or four days. But it wasn't a typhoon apparently. Well, I went back to work more tired than before the holidays but actually quite pleased to go back. Paul continued to go out to random places in Tokyo and we were back to normal - the default position it felt like he had been here for so long!

We watched a few films and stuff too. We watched all 26 episodes of the first stage of Initial D in three or four nights. Scarily addictive. Paul also watched a couple of Miyazaki Hayoo films - namely "Spirited Away" and "Princess Mononoke" [US titles]. And was very impressed. He was visibly "blown away" by Spirited Away.

Paul being here was pretty decent. I was quite wary of spending such a long time with him (or anyone really). I think the quality of Radiohead was too high for anything to go wrong really. Maybe my opinion has been swayed by the lovely presents he has left me. A genuine surprise.

I was actually half expecting a present...of Paul still sat in my room refusing to leave^[B]. Instead I came in to a fairly tidy flat and two things on my desk: a card and a box. Rather excellently the box contained a "Neo Geo Pocket Color" (the name - they can't spell colour unfortunately). The card was even better as Paul had drawn it himself - a picture of Pikachu and Doraemon both saying some Japanese (kanji too so I cannot read it - "peace" allegedly). Inside he wrote some Engrish and, nicest of all, he had written "arigato gozaimashita". Which means "thank you" for things you have done in the past. I'd like to think that he meant "Thanks for everything" which is how it was translated in an anime we watched.

Well I ended the day pretty pleased but I do kind of miss Paul. We had some interesting chats and it was nice to be able to speak normal English at my normal rate with somebody that would understand me. So it^[C] begins...


---All lettered footnotes were written in 2015---

<sup>A. By this, I think I mean the idea of having a more "genuine" experience without the influence of people that knew me. This was possibly the reason I made an instant, unfair judgement on John when I first met him - it was almost as if I was a little fearful of having someone see through me. I had a number of visitors over the years and the majority (with some notable exceptions - I fell out with a couple of people in ways that I had not done before or since) were very positive but I would definitely place Paul in the upper echelons. He wanted to see/do things but he was almost unfussy as to what they were and I think the country grabbed him in that time.↩

B. He returned to work in Japan himself and spent a similar length of time in the country which I think has to be partially because of the time we spent together.↩

C. The "it" beginning was really just my "real" time here - without the stabiliser of having a friend there - now I would have to make some new friends. Making new friends is a tricky business and I did not do too badly in this period of time - I would still count a decent number of people I met as friends - and some of them even "good friends". It was a good time and age to do it and I was massively more successful at forging new relationships in Japan than at any other time, especially university to which I can compare the times quite closely.↩</sup>

Is marriage confirmed?

I went down to Shibuya today because it was something to do. I got a mobile phone too. And it only took me a few months. Not that I have many people to contact.

Getting the phone was a true experience too. Basically, I knew what phone I wanted to get and just wanted to find somewhere cheap. Cheap being free in this case. The phone system here is pretty different from other parts of the world (theory one - the Japanese are "racist" and keep the best stuff for themselves) both technologically and stylistically^[A]. As far as I can tell, the fashions in phones have already been explored here quite extensively. The phone I got was with J-PHONE (guess what J means…) which is in the process of being rebranded as "Vodafone". There are so many pictures of David Beckham floating about to advertise them too. They also use Michael Schumacher and Hidetoshi Nakata but there is so much more Beckage that it is quite scary. Anyway, here, each handset is exclusive to the network so if you want a specific handset, you need to go on a specific network. I was not too bothered. They have some pretty nifty phones here too and they all have cameras and lots have video too. Mine can take pictures at a decent resolution (640 x 480) and store three mins of video. There is a really great one on DoCoMo, which rotates and has a 1MP camera. I never saw the point in cameras on phones before but it is useful to be able to take quick pics of info. I never send them though^[B].


Anyway, the shop I got it from was a "Yahoo BB!" shop in deepest Shibuya - not where I would expect to find it cheap but it was free and you cannot get much cheaper than that. And the process was well worth it. Now my Japanese is still pretty much non-existent but I can point and say, "How much is that?" [ikura desu ka] and then followed by "I'll have that" [kudasai]. So I did that, I wanted it in red and that was sorted out so I went to the counter. I got pretty deep into the contract I was signing and understood most of it vvia some hand gestures and face making. I even wrote some Hiragana and Katakana for my name and address. Which I am quite proud of! The attendant knew no English at all (fair enough) so there was a lot of pointing and giggling from both parties until she had the best idea ever. Being a "Yahoo BB!" shop they had a fair few PCs online (they use these shops to sell broadband and also to show how life changingly amazing it all is) so she had the bright idea of using online English <--> Japanese translation.
Pure Comedy.


I have used these translators quite often (to read Japanese sites) such as http://babelfish.altavista.com/ and they are not supremely accurate. Better than nothing and OK for gist I guess but the languages are quite quite different. She just finished the main thing and then typed loads in for the detailed questions at the end - asking me about call waiting and voicemail. I think. It took a long time to type it all in but I didn't mind too much - its difficult to mind when she seems so very nice, helpful and always breezy.
Then, she asked me something that I had no idea about. So she mimed it, which made Paul and myself crack up (and then her too afterwards). I had no clue so she just did it again. Basically, she put her right arm like a chicken wing and then flapped it in time to four notes she sang- "puh puh puh paaaa". It was hilarious and I just wanted to see it again. And again. It was even better because she knew I had no clue what she meant yet she continued to do it and smile whilst doing it. She loved it! Paul said it even surpassed Junko's b-boy impression - his previous highlight. After a few attempts at explaining, she sauntered over to the PC and did her translation magic^[C].

Is marriage confirmed?

She was simply asking if I was married. I personally would have done some mime based on the wedding ring and I still, to this day have no idea what her mime was^[D]. The tune was not a wedding song and I have never been to a chicken wedding either.

With that bit of fun over, I had to wait a while for them to activate the phone (and charge it up a bit for me and then I was away. And all connected up……….but to nobody.


---All lettered footnotes were written in 2015---

<sup>A. For quite a long time, the Japanese mobile phone economy was quite different to the European one but there is a deal of convergence now with the smartphone. The "flip-phone" was hugely popular in Japan and internet usage was very common already at this point with almost all phones using e-mail instead of text messaging such that there were few problems communicating with other people either on phone or computer. Smartphones were not as quick to penetrate for this reason as many of the benefits of smartphones were not new to Japanese users and a major factor, in my opinion, is the typing of Japanese being quite well suited to a numerical keypad so the big benefit of a keyboard was lost. Flip phones were convenient though with portability and decent sizes available.↩

B. This is still true and I rarely use the camera which is, of course, ubiquitous on mobile phones now. I used to take pictures of maps and timetables when I went somewhere so that I could have that as a reference when I needed it. It may not be much fun (although many had fun at my expense for doing such things) but it was very useful and many people did also do it after initially mocking me. Of course, this was a time when online mapping was not so common but the timetables (and journey planners etc) were already commonplace on the walled internets that the phone companies provided. Mapping is seen as such a commonplace thing but it was at around about this time that Google released their "Earth" and "Maps" products and I do remember being amazed by them at the time. When I first provided instructions to how to come to my flat for some visitors, I drew the map out and labelled the relevant buildings by hand. I then took a photo of the map to put online and also walked the route from the station to my flat and took pictures of the junction so that the visitors would be able to find it. I put all of that stuff onto an unlinked page on my website to send to people when they came. Now, I guess I'd just provide the address.↩

C. Again, this was not a particularly well developed field at the time and machine translation was not really able to convert across the grammatical differences well. The questions would probably be trivially simple for a modern translation engine such as Google Translate which is also machine translation but is constantly adapting and learning in order to give decent output. 2003 was a strange time, technologically speaking, and it was the cusp of the truly pervasive internet. I can see that now.↩

D. Thinking back to this, I have a feeling they were meant to be bagpipes - it is the only common instrument that seems to have the heft. This particular story is one that I completely forgot (as, in fact, had Paul) about until I read it recently but, in hindsight, this was one of my happiest moments in my Japanese time. Everything felt so fresh, exciting and comfortable at the same time - and having a longer standing friend there at the time also made it feel more real.↩</sup>

"Monorail! MonoRAIL!! MONORAIL!!!"

I'd spent the last few weeks being told, constantly, that there was some amazing fireworks action happening every Saturday. But my working hours kind of preclude me from the joy. But not this weekend. Hurrah! Or so I thought…

Paul was blaming me for his dodgy stomach that he had got on Friday. He blamed it my chottomatte delivery but I reckon it could be the delayed jetlag mixed with his general incompetence. Or some other food. Well, this kind of impacted on Saturday as he felt like crap. Much like the atmosphere - we had a typhoon situation. Typhoon^[A] sounds so strong but I don't think it was so extreme in reality. Admittedly most of my clothes did end up near the bike sheds but still don't think it was enough for a "warning". And the Japanese warnings are really specific. They give a time for when it will hit each area. It is funny because they do the same thing for the passing of the seasons. The rainy season starts and finishes on particular days which are marked on the calendars. Not too accurately in my experience though.

Anyway, Paul's illness promoted his lethargy which meant that we got a bit delayed in leaving. There were meant to be fireworks in Urawa - the capital of Saitama. Pretty big ones too - 13000 of the bangs according to one report I read. It was going to be excellent I thought, note the tense.

Paul and me got to the station (where we had not been before) and walked towards the bright lights and sounds. Except there were none. So we walked in a direction. Until we heard some English chatter from some people on bikes. I say English but they were obviously American you could hear them from about a mile away^[B]. Paul shouted to them to ask where the fireworks were. Cancelled due to the wrong kind of rain. In Japan!! Everywhere I go, I always take the weather with me. Unfortunately. Paul felt rubbish but, trooper that he is, didn't want to waste the trip so we walked around for a bit. Then we went into an arcade. It wasn't too busy but there were a few players. Paul picked up the courage to have a go on a new game that is pretty popular here now (though I think "flavour of the month" rather than long-term) SVC Chaos^[C] - an SNK beat 'em up with some Capcom characters - an SNK riposte to the Capcom vs. SNK series. Within a few minutes, he was pretty chuffed with himself having beaten a real life Japanese person in the arcades. Quality. Had another look around and then went home to start another day.

And on Sunday, another day did start. With plans again. Plans to go to Odaiba which is an area in the south built on reclaimed land. The reason for these plans: A digital Arts Festival and more fireworks. I will see some! Now, the problem is that to get almost anywhere in Tokyo, I have to go via Akihabara (usually getting out to change trains, and lines). So we stopped off in Akihabara and had a "quick" look for a CD-writer and some arcades. Ooops. Too long.

We made our way towards Odaiba for the fireworks festival. To get to Odaiba, you take a new monorail^[D] thing which is very nice, but a little expensive. People seem very proud of it as they are so open, windowed and driverless. A bit like the DLR in fact.

Japan has been in recession for about a decade now and the government has tried, many times, to kickstart some regeneration by major public projects. Odaiba is one of them. A totally commercial place with no real reason to exist. Retail and leisure. Like so much of "New" Tokyo. The monorail is decent, if a little busy today. But there is a completely pointless (as far as I can tell) loop that the tracks make out in the bay. It just turns all the way round (can see it on the map) whilst going up. I thought that it was used to go up but I think there is a downhill bit before the next station. Totally pointless^[E]. But fun.

The Tokyo Bay Fireworks are supposedly some of the best in the world and, I think, the second biggest ones in Tokyo. The popularity definitely showed on our arrival. The great thing about the fireworks being on such a scale is that people can see them from all over the place. Even so, everywhere you can see them from is totally packed. We went to some fake beach and tried to find somewhere to sit. The operative word being tried.

After the explosions had started (accompanied by a few "oohs" and "aahs") we sat down on the path. There was a lot to see both in the sky and on the ground. The other good thing about festivals is that lots of people "make an effort" so there were a lot of very attractive girls floating about too. Quite a few wearing Yukatas but also a lot in "normal" attire.

The fireworks were actually very, very good. I'm not a massive fan of fireworks but big displays are usually better than the school type that we normally get to see back home. These are free, better and have a great atmosphere too. The quality of the fireworks was excellent and some real thought had been used for the choreography. My personal highlights were the huge ones that exploded, but you heard the bang a good few seconds afterwards as they went so high up, and the Doraemon ones. These were particularly impressive as they exploded into the shape of cat's faces - with whiskers!

As ever, the problem now was getting back. The station we were at was rammed so we walked through some of the shopping centres (one of which is called Palette Town pokefans) until we came to another station. This was also rammed but there was a smaller overspill so we queued. And queued. We got on eventually and the monorail guards had prevented the train getting packed at each station by buffering us through so the train was pretty spacious. And people could actually get on at the next station. Good organisation.


NOTE: The original blog did not have photos within posts (as it seemed too tricky to code it for me to bother) but sections for photos. I have put some of the relevant ones in the post.


---All lettered footnotes were written in 2015---

<sup>A. I had a number of experiences of typhoons over the years and they are quite scary when they pass over. It does not happen so often but it will require the shutting down of the rail system which causes havoc as Tokyo really needs trains to operate. They also leave behind a trail of broken umbrellas (I say trail, but they are usually disposed of neatly in the bins) and the last time I was in one, I broke two umbrellas within about one hour and then just escaped inside.↩

B. The stereotypical, loud, American tourist is based on experience but they are not all, of course, like that and there were a number of annoyingly loud British people I encountered on my travels - and not just in Japan. My "favourite" was when I first went to Itsukushima jinja which is near Hiroshima looking out to a particularly lovely scene of the torii gate out in the water during sunset. It would be a wonderfully serene moment in photographs but in reality, there were a group of tourist loudly exclaiming how peaceful it was there. Repeatedly. And loudly. ↩

C. It was a pretty popular game but I am not sure it had legs to keep going and the 2D fighting games that seemed to have long lasting appeal over the years were Street Fighter, the actual King Of Fighters series and the Guilty Gear series.↩

D. This is called the yurikamome line (named after the black-headed seagull) and Odaiba, in many ways, was supposed to be a little like Canary Wharf but ended up very different↩

E. I guess it isn't totally pointless as the bridge it uses - the Rainbow Bridge - is elevated quite high above the water to allow larger ships underneath but it did feel like it could have been done less extravagantly. ↩</sup>

If looks could kill

I got the most evil stare that I have ever got today. I don't even understand why either…
Anyway, I went off with Steve (who also had to get his money from Head Office) and Paul who I had sent on a mission to find me RAM (PC whiz that he is) in Akihabara. I was gonna meet him there after for food and…stuff. Got the money and turned around to go back to Akihabara where we met Paul and grabbed some food in some isekaya style place. Akihabara is a pretty cosmopolitan place by Tokyo standards (there is even a Kebab van!) so a lot of the staff in shops and restaurants can speak, or at least understand, a bit of English. Anyway, the waitress came up and asked what we wanted to eat but we weren't ready so I said "chottomatte" meaning "please wait". And then it came. The eyes that could kill. And she had eyes only for me. And not in a good way. I was shocked and she totally ignored me after that when giving the food out. Dunno what happened^[A].
Went to Asakusa^[B] for a bit after that to have a quick look around but it was dark and so we just sat down for a bit.

---All lettered footnotes were written in 2015---

<sup>A. I do not recalling this happening again although I do remember being ignored a number of times when with other people which was quite frustrating. My level of Japanese in 2003 was not great but the years after, I could get by and travel around on my own without much difficulty. I may have said this in a more abrupt way than I should have, that is a possibility. Generally, my pronunciation was OK - not great but definitely better than most. When I visited in later years, I travelled solo quite regularly and cannot recall having any problems getting myself understood in any part of the country at hotels or even when renting bikes from people that had never met non-Japanese before. Yet, if I was then joined by a Japanese person, suddenly my Japanese became incomprehensible to the stranger and they would then ask the Japanese person to say again or direct all conversation to them. Even if that person they thought was Japanese wasn't and was actually of another East Asian background and couldn't speak a word of Japanese. This happened a few times yet I never stopped feeling frustrated by it. I loved travelling around Japan, and I loved travelling around Japan with some people but it was quite a different experience.↩

B. Asakusa is an area with a relatively well-known temple and has a more old fashioned feel than much of the rest of Tokyo. It was also on the same train line as Koshigaya and so I regularly passed through. The area is now home to the Tokyo Sky Tree which is a ludicrously oversized sky scraper which opened in the early 2010s. But, most importantly, it is the name of a very nice restaurant in Mornington Crescent.↩</sup>

"Aight, Ey Ey"

Well, I continued working for a few days and Paul continued to go out during the day. Actually, he spent a fair bit of time around Koshigaya just walking and stuff. I reckon he knows the place better than I do. I think the jetlag caught up with him too. About two days of solid travelling followed by an intense Radiohead experience has got to be wearing for anyone.
I finished working on Thursday and in the evening, I met up with Paul and we went to dinner in an Isekaya in Koshigaya, called Watami^[A]. I went with the receptionist, Junko, I have on Thursday (in fact she invited us) and I met another teacher (John) and another receptionist (Hiromi) who were both pleasant enough. Actually, Paul thought I disliked John and that I made that decision before I had even spoken to him^[B]. Maybe my friends know me better than I know myself? Anyway, the food was good and we had a decent enough time and even got to see a real Japanese person (Junko) do a b-boy impression. Worth the flight money on its own. I have to get my wages from head office again due to some errors. Not looking forward to the lengthy journey^[C] and not pleased at having to go again. Its expensive to get down there too.


---All lettered footnotes were written in 2015---

<sup>A. Watami is an izekaya chain and they are everywhere. They are quite a convenient night out and place to eat as they have a good variety of food so most people are OK with it.↩

B. As it happens, I was very, very unfair on "John" which I will blame on my supercilious nature. As intimated, maybe I was predisposed to not liking him that evening and I am not sure why. I got to know John over the three years I spent in Japan and, although the feeling may not necessarily be mutual, I would definitely consider him a friend. In fact, my last (as in most recent and also, in all probability, final) trip to Japan was to attend his wedding which was a real joy. We had quite a strange relationship in some ways and although we shared a number of interests, we were not necessarily aware that we did. This is from 2003 and it was not until 2011, a full eight years later, that we both found out that we liked football as it had just never really cropped up. Later on, I used to see him in the mornings when he used to be in the area to see someone and we had a nice gaming friendship too.↩

C. The head office for Shane was in Tokyo (Nishi Kasai) and over an hour away. It was also not in a particularly interesting part of town so it was a journey with few positive side effects.↩</sup>

The come down from down

[cont...]

Sunday was amazing but I was definitely "feeling it" in a different way on Monday. I was shattered. The journey in was hard. Didn't help that I did not get much sleep the night before and NO sleep the night before that. My receptionist asked me about the gig though so it started OK. I just want to tell everyone about it. I was wanting to work it into all of my lessons too. Even the ones with very young children. I was spouting a lot of nonsense (I thought anyway, though the students said I was fine allegedly) and it was a long day. Fun though.
I got home to an empty house. Paul had departed but I didn't know where. He got home after 12 which is pretty impressive in itself with the trains here.

Everything In Its Right Place pt.3 and encore

[cont...]

We then started to make a move towards the stadium itself for the main attraction (and the ONLY reason we had come). I had wanted to avoid the Stereophonics (as had we all) but it was worth it if we could get near the front We got to the stadium to find a HUGE queue to get to the front, near the stage. We waited and waited while a cat died [the Stereophonics]^[A]. Actually, I shouldn't be so harsh as they weren't that bad And there was this one girl near where we were waiting who looked like the happiest person in the world. Seriously. She looked like she was going to explode with joy. Not the loud kind of whooping joy but the internal "rising up inside and I will not let it escape" kind. It was beautiful to see and so I have to have some kind of grudging respect for the 'Phonics. Which is a shame - I feel dirty and wrong. We got through to a roadblock in the queue. Some stewards were stopping people from getting any closer and we were lucky enough to be stuck with some other people who spoke English. They were knobs. They were constantly swearing at the stewards to let them through and acting all matey with us. I didn't want anything to do with them but Paul is a little more forgiving so he spoke with them^[B]. Eventually we worked our way to the pitch after the Sterophonics had finished. The back of the pitch. Better than nothing. But, not better than the front so we pushed and barged through til we could get to the little path/gate thing that allowed us there. And we got there. Nirvana.
We got there before The Strokes were on so we managed to watch them in the pit. They were pretty good but the lack of material was really apparent. Blitzed through the album in some random order. It's not even a particularly long album and its even shorter live. I enjoyed it a lot though. The crowd seemed to like it too. Not amazingly into it though, the problem with festivals is that you don't necessarily get a load of fans there of each band (1). And it is difficult to sing along in a foreign language I guess. They chucked in a few Japanese words. Well they said "Arrigato" (Thanks) anyway.
It was still light as we waited for the headliners to the accompaniment of some random muzak. Not the style of the new Beta Band album on repeat (like at South Park) but some other stuff. There seemed to be a bit of a buzz about the place. Craig had never seen Radiohead before and I had spent much of the time after getting the tickets building up his expectations about how they were life changing live. Not sure he believed me but he was obviously looking forward to it. Me and Paul had seen them a few times so we spoke about our favourites, speculated about the set list and what it would be.
And. Then...

Everybody went mental. And I mean it, not in some blinkered "cos I was excited" way, they went mad. Radiohead came on, played the beginning of "There There" and, well, I had no choice but to float. Thousands of people started moving and I levitated. Phenomenal. I was wrong (look at (1)). They had all come for Radiohead - this was a Radiohead gig with support. I can't even remember the details that well but it was like a totally different experience from not only every Radiohead gig I have been to but also anything else I have ever done. They played a lot of songs. A lot of songs, especially for a festival set. And the crowd were well into it. Singing along, jumping and, most bizarre of all, swaying in time to the slower ones. You know, like primary school girls. Except thousands of them. Bizarre but amazing. I was well into it too, obviously. I even started the shushing for "Exit Music (for a film)" Like at South Park. The band looked really pleased too, I don't think they can get that reaction for most of their gigs (no way they could be such grumpy muppets if they did!). Thom spoke more Japanese than the rest of the bands that I saw that night and the crowd were very appreciative of it. In fact they were very appreciative of anything they did. The setlist was really weird and highlights the breadth of material they have at their disposal now. They played a lot of new stuff and it was a bit like a "Hail to the Thief" touring list but they played a few older ones. I was shocked at the lack of "Street Spirit" and "Airbag" but the other stuff was "not bad". They played a decent rendition of "Everything in its Right Place" too to finish the first part.

The highlight of South Park (sorry to keep mentioning it but those that know me will recognise what high regard I hold that in) was the encore of Creep. Not because it is their best song (far from it in fact) but because it felt very special. They don't play it normally and they even set it up last time with a bit of trickery. They played it again as the finisher and again it was a bit of a surprise. But it didn't feel as special because it was just "normal". It even took the sheen off of South Park for me and Paul. It was still absolutely fantastic though and the crowd went mental yet again. It was so very hot too - everybody was drenched. The gig finished and there was the most intense ovation I have heard in a long time. And then the real finisher came. Knockout blow. Fireworks. In the sky. Perfection. I cannot explain it and I don't know if it was a Radiohead thing or a Summersonic thing but it was perfect. And took the whole night up that little bit more.
The lights came on and I found Paul and Craig (the pit was fairly "fluid"). And Craig's face was totally different. Honestly, he looked totally drained of "something" and pale. As if he didn't quite understand what had happened to him. Eyes WIDE open. "Rabbit in your headlights", if you will. He clearly loved it beyond what he had thought and it was really visible. Different to that girl I mentioned but visible nonetheless.

[tbc]

---All lettered footnotes were written in 2015---

<sup>A. I used to like the Stereophonics in a certain way. Their first album should have been excellent and it had some really good singles - but they worked as singles. They didn't seem to work within an album and I felt the same about the second album.↩

B. I do not seem to get on well with people at gigs - it may be an aversion to seeing other people have fun. Or it could be that some people become very selfish and entitled once they have had a few drinks and are surrounded by other people.↩</sup>

Everything In Its Right Place pt. 2

[cont...]

Not sure it was the greatest idea in the world to go without sleep but I am guessing adrenaline will keep me going for a while. Reminds me a bit of my friend who went to see Massive Attack and took some sleeping pills. And then promptly fell asleep at the gig. You know who you are!

Well, we got the train from the next station from me (Minami Koshigaya) all the way to Chiba Marine Stadium and waited outside the station for Craig (or Kuraigaru as we decided to call him that day).It was a fair walk from the station to the stadium so I needed a drink to cool myself down (sweltering to say the least - and this was no heat wave). I got a super-sweet coffee and an orange ice tea. Caffeine/sugar rush plus the most refreshing drink in the world^[A]. Nice.

We got into the stadium to hear some mad Japanese guy shouting on stage. The crowd were lapping it up and loving it. I didn't understand but he wore a dress so I think he was "wacky" or something. The crowd loved it but, to be honest, I was more worried about passing out due to the heat. Moved from the pit to the seats in the shade for the next (first) actual band...."The Polyphonic Spree". They were good, really got the crowd into it and the stadium was nowhere near full (it was 1030). There was also some crazy dancing from some of the crowd - it looked like they had honed it on "Dance Dance Revolution" with their four way movement. It was funny but also quite nice to watch. I reckon I might have to make their CD a purchase^[B]. I was also very close to the world of sleep which did not bode well for the rest of the day..... Standby beckoned.
We had to get moving after as the next band were not on for a while. And movement (usually) prevents sleep. Got some vending machine coffee - a wonderful mixture of caffeine and sugar. Just what I needed and always very close in Japan.
Made our way to the other stages and this is where the fact that this was a very Japanese festival hit home. The other stages were a fair distance away - crossing roads and such like, and they were in the Tokyo equivalent of the Birmingham NEC. And in no way was it dressed up in any other way. This was an exhibition centre and no mistaking. From the faux airport feel to the tacky posters and everything. Then we couldn't find the stages we wanted, just a load of doors and toilets - convenient but not required at the time (though caffeine is a diuretic). We found the stage, it was just beyond what I could generously describe as "stalls". But these stalls were like the ones you get at graduate fairs - orderly little compartments with little of the haphazard ambience of a festival. And it was indoors^[C]. We eventually worked out where the stages were and watched a couple of (to be honest AND fair) pretty non-descript acts: The Rapture and Mando Diao. We got some food and then watched a band called Interpol who were a little better. Paul actually managed to fall asleep in the gig - most impressive.

[tbc...]

---All lettered footnotes were written in 2015---

<sup>A. Chiba Marine Stadium is a baseball stadium, and I never had any interest in baseball or going to watch it as a novelty. I did return to the station a few times as the festival was spread over both the stadium and "Makuhari Messe" which is an exhibition centre. Tokyo Game Show was held here and I was fortunate enough to be able to attend in 03, 04 and 05 (also 2011 as part of a separate trip). I may also have gone to the Tokyo Motorshow but I am not sure. Each time, it was ludicrously hot and humid, and each time, I had an orange ice tea to cool down - which was a nice tradition.↩

B. I did, indeed make the purchase of "The beginning stages of..." which was a great album and a good album to prepare lessons by.↩

C. I returned to Makuhari Messe to see an actual gig a few years later - Radiohead again. The atmosphere was awful and the airport feel really did not suit music of that scale. The smaller acts I saw at Summersonic were OK in that environment but I was genuinely disappointed by seeing Radiohead there.↩</sup>

Everything In Its Right Place pt.1

Tired. Moist. And euphoric. That's how I was two years ago after seeing Radiohead and its the same again. The reason for moistness is different, where at South Park it was because the heavens opened, here it was all about Hell being angered by all the happiness being spread by some band from Oxford.
Summersonic is a newish festival in Japan which is twinned in Tokyo and Osaka. The headliners this year were Blur and Radiohead - probably my two favourite bands going.
It was very hot and ridiculously humid. And a very long day.....

It all started on Saturday. I went into school and whacked the air conditioning up to full and then found out that, although my last lesson was cancelled, I had been given another one. This was a little annoying as there was a festival in Koshigaya that I wanted to go to. Fireworks, people, fun (maybe). It was gonna be great. What was annoying about it was that he didn't turn up anyway and i was warned he might not aswell. Grrr.

I got to the festival a little later than I wanted and the fireworks had started already. And the streets were totally packed - such that moving was tricky. Paul^[A] was meant to be coming at night so I had to be home to take any phonecalls to direct. This meant I could not see much of the fireworks as they were a little far away and also because I had to get back. The festival seemed fairly decent with a nice family feel to it but madly busy. Fireworks display went on for about an hour and a half.

I got home and waited for some Paul based contact -his flight was meant to land in Tokyo at about 830. I got a call at 910: "I'm still in Osaka, my flight was delayed".

As I have explained, the trains in Tokyo don't run that late so there was a definite possibility he could get stuck. A definite possibility. And I thought that was what had happened....until about 1245 when I got a phonecall. Paul, being the jammy little blagger that he is, managed to get to Koshigaya on the four last trains on each line he needed. That's mighty impressive for a first train trip in Tokyo^[B]. It was definitely a high risk manoeuvre though.

Anyway, we grabbed some food^[C] and then went back to mine for we had an early start - Chiba is not that close. Obviously sleep was a tricky one so we went for a walk once it got light. I wanted to leave the house by 730 so we grabbed some food and then went back to get ready.

[tbc]


---All lettered footnotes were written in 2015---

<sup>A. Paul was (and depending on what has happened since, still is) a friend of mine from secondary school that had, through an element of good fortune and sacrifice, managed to get a free flight from London to "Asia" - and he selected Japan so that he could visit me. I mean visit Japan and stay with me.↩

B. I am not sure that even he knew what trains he got but from Haneda to Koshigaya would require the monorail to the main JR network and probably two JR trains followed by the Tobu line. That is hard enough for a newcomer in the daytime but he managed this at night although he tells me that he was made to run a few times!↩

C. For some reason, this is quite a strong memory of mine - possibly due to still being a little woozy with the awe that I had that he made it. We went to Matsuya - a gyudon chain which I personally preferred to Yoshinoya. Looking back, it must have been a strange experience for Paul to find a chain restaurant open at 1am and the simple service and great food (for not much money) that we got. I have a memory of him putting a lot of pickled ginger on his gyudon and telling me how much he liked ginger. Another teacher also popped in (by chance) and so, I guess from Paul's perspective, I looked pretty settled. I might be wrong, but in hindsight, I think I did settle and find things more comfortable than I had when I went to other places in the UK, for example university in Southampton.↩</sup>

Parting Shots

Busy day. I had to wake up early (for me anyway) to walk down to Amalia's place to get a futon (to have while she is away) for Paul to sleep on. Rather harshly, she has to move out by 11. Her flight, however is on the next day so she has plenty of time to kill. She loves it down Roppongi (see first week) way so I, a while back, suggested she could spend the night there and get an early train to Narita. It was a joke. Some people take me too seriously. Anyway, she was meeting people in various places in Tokyo. I spent a bit of time with her, helping her move out and all that jazz. We met up with someone else (Manjit who I had never met before) and did some eating. I took the futon back and got me hair cut. This was slightly bizarre as I booked an appointment but had no real idea of how to get what I wanted. Sign language is a great thing but it is difficult for details. And doesn't help after the event!
I went in at 3 (after dropping the futon back home) and was invited to sit down. And then they left me for 15mins with a magazine with loads of haircuts in. They mainly looked a bit cack (for me anyway) so I thought I'd look for the closest to what I wanted and then get them to vary it. What I thought was quite funny was that they had a little black and white section on famous footballers' haircuts. I contemplated going for a "Maldini" but ended up with a "Michael Owen". See if you can spot the difference below.

Apparently. To be fair, I am quite happy with it as it is a lot more even than I thought. they try to use scissors as much as possible so it feels more personalised. Takes longer though. Then I met up with Amalia again who had gone shopping (under duress it would appear) and was waiting for someone else. Except she couldn't be bothred. So we grabbed something to eat and said oour goodbyes. Its a little annoying on a selfish level as she is the only other teacher I actually work with in my whole week. Its always possible that her replacement will become my best friend ever. Its also possible that he or she won't^[A].

I went and tried to buy a phone after that but I got a little confused and forgot about it. I did buy those trainers though. They are football types but in a beige and red colour scheme. Should be good for kickarounds. Trainers aren't too expensive here and these were on sale too. So its all good. Again, I'm pretty happy with them. Will need to be worn in but they are decent.

After that I just went and tried to tidy my flat a bit. Its a little tidier but not much. I did, however, work out how to finally play Playstation games on my PS2 so those cheap PS1 games can now be played. I reacquainted myself with Rage Racer and Ridge Type 4^[B]. MMmmmmm. Sweet. Though I am using the Negcon now which I am terrible with. Practice makes perfect.

(note: it was me on the right)
---All lettered footnotes were written in 2015---

<sup>A. As it happens, I felt that I got on quite well with Amalia's replacement - a Canadian chap that had been in Japan for a while already. We had a number of interesting conversations and it was always pleasant - we went bowling for his leaving "event". He left to return to Canada not so long later but he did give me an NTSC N64 upon departure, so I can't complain.↩

B. I really loved Ridge Racer and what it stood for - as you can see in my games A-Z section where it is my "R"...(link)↩</sup>

July... all of it, (motivation was lacking?)

Feisty

I'm gonna "talk shop" for a bit but it all relates to the Japanese psyche. Possibly. Read into it what you will.
Its the holidays here (not for me...yet) and the difference is definitely there with my younger students. So much more feisty. Its good in a way as they seem well up for the lessons but they are getting louder and louder. I could hardly get myself heard in my lessons. My 7-8 year olds today were so loud. It does mean that there are a fair few absences too which is a real shame in some cases. A real shame. What's even worse is that some of my students are leaving! Maybe its my fault, maybe not - I cannot help but feel a little responsible. But I have a few kids who have left so they can go to "cram school" and its sickening. One of my 7 yr olds left today so he could join a cram school. He's SEVEN! Its a little frustrating to see them leave^[A]. And I can't express any sorrow or anything because they do not understand the words. I'm gaining adults though. I am still enjoying the teaching and I seem to be getting a little more into the students now. Maybe. There has been a definite improvement with some and that is beautiful^[B].
The company is annoying me a bit now though. Or maybe just the guy I report to - my DoS. I mentioned those summer schools and I had another one today. Four adults at a school I do not go to, about an hour away. Not that bad (was "at work" for 13hrs today) but I keep getting given the wrong info. I was told it was a different lesson today so I spent time preparing for a different class. Nice. I had another observation scheduled today (not parents) by my DoS. I am meant to give him a neat copy of my lesson plan and it has to be a little more detailed than normal. So I spent my lunch doing it. Did he turn up? Did he ****? Second time in a week he has cancelled on me without telling me. Muppet.
Weekend was the usual (for now hopefully) quiet one. Watched a bit of anime ("Cowboy Bebop" is my anime of choice at the moment, interspersed with "Ghost In The Shell: Standalone Complex") and "Crazy Beautiful". Not a great film and terribly clichéd. Its just about OK. Had a bit of a kickaround on Saturday, which was nice. I tried to buy a football but most shops sell small balls - not size 5^[C]. Slightly odd I think. Was gonna buy some nice new trainers too but decided against it for a while......


Hana-Bi
A classic film title and Japanese for fireworks. The film
starring "Beat" Takashi Kitano is alright but many consider it his best film. I don't.
Anyway, Summer is very much fireworks season in Japan (Tokyo at least). What happens is that on a Saturday or Sunday night, the wards (or towns as they are called here) around Tokyo have BIG fireworks displays. I haven't actually seen any yet but I plan to very soon. I work on Saturday evening so its difficult to get to the fiery skies in time.
Anyway, on Tuesday, I taught pretty solidly for once. Although I usually get a little bored at the mammoth break I get, I wanted it this week because my fellow teacher is leaving this week so I wanted to speak to her. Oh well. We also had new air conditioning but it was installed a little shoddily. Cue an insect invasion. I had to take one of my lessons outside into the reception area because it was all too much.
Anyway, the kind of good thing about summer is there are a lot of cancellations of lessons. I do like my students, the actual lessons are fine but the time between is frustrating. Anyway, it means I get to go home early sometimes. Wednesday was a 6:30 finish!
I went out after that to some Italian restaurant for a meal. I got a smoked salmon pizza and, most importantly, some melon soda^[D]. Mmmmmm. After that, we went to the local convenience store and bought some fireworks. I've never bought fireworks before - never really seen the point. But it was Amalia's do so we did what she said. Went to the park and lit a few. Was quite fun. But I had more fun on the swings! And laughing at the others playing with the fireworks. It was a good night actually, met some new people and had a bit of a laugh. Nice. The fireworks were pretty but more scary than anything else. Seemed a little uncontrolled. Most un-Japanese.

---All lettered footnotes were written in 2015---

<sup>A. I have mixed feelings about cram school as it is treating the children like sponges of schooling but they do provide a different social environment and it seems to show the taking of education seriously. But, at the same time, it is not a style of education that I am a fan of - Japanese schooling is like the dream of Conservatism. Generally, it is children sitting in rows (each with their own individual school desks) being spoken to by the teacher. Interestingly them the Japanese word for "tell" sounds very similar to that for "teach" and the reason they sound so similar is that they are the same word, oshieru. Unsurprisingly, this has resulted in a very "straight" culture within work of seniority and devotion to the cause. From what I have heard, the Japanese schooling system is not so great - hence why so many hours are used for teaching and the crams schools are necessary to counteract this. This may just be conjecture though it does seem to match with my experience.↩

B. I have to say, in retrospect, that I really enjoyed teaching. It may have been tiring, annoying and sometimes worthless, even so I think it raised at least one smile from me every day. Whether that was from the teaching or just the interaction with people, I cannot rightly say, but it was a pleasure quite often. In terms of my teaching skill, I am not sure, and I did get a few complaints about speaking too quickly in class and so not really getting my point across. I taught a number of different levels and my philosophy was to try to be naturalistic - I spoke to everyone as if they were adults but with graded language. Actually, I "grade" my language with everyone - it is just about using the right words with people so that they understand. One of my non-native English language friends told me that this was patronising if I did this but I did not think so. As I said, if she had not realised it (which she hadn't) and there were quite a few times when she asked what certain words meant, then maybe it was the right thing to do. What I found difficult to get across to her was that I do it with native speakers too - I use certain bits of terminology with some people and not others. That is just being conscious of difference isn't it? Incidentally, I met one of my ex-students in London recently and she told me that she realised the naturalistic style may have been of benefit to her. She was sitting next to someone on the flight that had a very high TOEIC score (much of English teaching to adults is around the idea of increasing your TOEIC score - it is an international English test and different bandings of score show your level) but he complained that he could not understand what was actually being said yet she could. When I met her that time in London, she did also refuse to speak in English with me so maybe it wasn't that good then to teach her like that...↩

C. Futsal, which is effectively 5/6-a-side, is quite popular in Japan and so the equipment is often around this form of the game. Culturally, Japanese people see dedication and perfection of a single art to be a great aim and so you will often see Japanese footballers being very adept at ball control or the technique elements of the game. I think the thing that this does not lend itself to, however, is a little touch of genius which is so important in the world of football (and work). The Japanese football team is very neat and effective but they often lack a "gamechanger" and I think this may be due to these parts of their game and culture. ↩

D. Melon soda is a common drink in Japan and is a lurid green in colour. It tastes so sweet and artificial that I am not sure I could ever notice the melon flavour in the hundreds of times I drank it. I liked the fact that there were different types of soft drinks and I am constantly disappointed in the lack of choice in the UK of soft drinks. I particularly liked the coffee, the ice teas and the sports drinks like "Dakara" but I wonder how much of that was the novelty of having that choice.↩</sup>

Is this a normal weekend around these parts? pt.4 （引越し）

Sunday (01/06/03)

I woke up a little…jaded. I was moving into my flat today which was a bit exciting but I was shattered. And before check out I had to get all my crap together and fit it into my suitcases. Surely not too difficult as, apart from the camcorder, it all came in them. You'd think so anyway.
My nearest station is "Koshigaya", Elin is coming to the same station and Steve is one stop earlier at "Shin Koshigaya". I had always thought "shin" meant evil^[A] but I guess that's wrong. Anyway, we have to change lines at Shin Koshigaya so Elin and I go to a café whilst our housing person from Shane (Junko) shows Steve to his flat. I have a nice iced coffee because it is a bit hot but I need the caffeine. Badly. The thing is, when I say change trains, I mean it. It isn't just the train and line we change, it's a different company so we need a totally separate ticket for one stop! It's actually really annoying and we have to walk across the road to get into ANOTHER station^[B] too. I guess this is privatisation in action. Fight it!

After Elin is shown her flat (and we decide to meet at the station at 4) and Junko has sorted her out briefly (she gave me the thumbs up from her balcony so she must be OK with it) I am taken to mine. Its not too far, and I am welcomed by the old tenant - Iain and his girlfriend Yoriko. They give me the lowdown on the place and some of the little things that are particular to it. Once Junko has gone, Iain fills me in on a few other things about Japan and stuff whilst Yoriko looks a bit bored. He has left Shane after 8 months and is off to Sapporo (might remember from the world cup - indoor stadium where we beat Argentina) on the north island to open a pub with a few mates. Sounds pretty long term to me!
Once they have gone, at about 1, I really regret organising that meeting with Elin at 4 because I just
 want to sleep and I have no alarm clock to wake me up.
I go off to meet Elin and actually see her in the McDonalds so I pop in (though don't buy anything). She has had a brief look around already and wants to go to the next station (Shin/Minami Koshigaya) to get a hairdryer. I wasn't going to do that so I walked around Koshigaya for a bit and then went home.

---All lettered footnotes were written in 2015---

<sup>A. Shin usually means new and it seems it was used to differentiate the two main Osaka stations when the bullet train, or “shin”kansen started operating to Osaka. It seems to be used in a few places in a similar way.↩

B. We had come through on the "JR" line which was the state railway company until 1987 and needed to use the TOBU lines. Being able to buy one ticket for a journey is called through ticketing and had not been introduced at this point. Ticketing did get smarter in the time I was there with pre-paid cards and then electronic tickets like oyster becoming more prevalent. It was not long until you could pay using your phone (which is part of the reason why I am confused at the innovation of NFC when it has been around for a while) but I never did this as I preferred keeping things separate. I think you could through ticket in terms of having a single ticket on the private lines but the fare was still two separate ones.↩</sup>

Is this a normal weekend around these parts? pt.3 (Shibuya)

[cont..]

So I walked until I could see no more neon and it was pretty dark, it took a while but I still couldn't see any stations. I continued walking for a while and just looking around. I guess I was in some business district or something but there was not much to do. So I walked. Eventually I decided to head towards Shinjuku as that was really busy so I thought that there would be something to do there. I knew it was a bit near Shibuya so I headed in the general direction according to the train map^[A] I had. About 2 o' clock, and I came across some road signs and headed towards Shibuya after grabbing some nifty convenience store food and chocolate. Genuinely convenient. I continued walking and saw the road was R246. This was actually pretty damn fantastic, because I recognised it! It was a track on Gran Turismo 3^[B] and I could actually see where I was! I was basically on the start /finish straight (I think) so I carried on walking (past the little kink in the road). Walking it takes a lot longer than it does in a souped up Nismo Skyline, that's for sure. I continued walking straight (past the GT3 right-hander that leads into a chicane) until I got into Shibuya. Now Shibuya I had heard a bit about from Steve so I knew it'd still be awake at 2. As I walked through, I was constantly reminded of another of my favourite games - Jet Set Radio^[C]! In that game (a pseudo-futuristic, cartoony, rollerblading/graffiti 'em up set in an alternative Tokyo), there is a level called Shibuya-to. There are loads of footbridges to grind off and the real place had loads of footbridges that looked just like the ones in the game. It might sound a bit sad but it was pretty exciting actually to put the place to the name. While I walked around Shibuya^[D], I could see a fair few kids just "hanging" on the steps and chatting. It seemed like a really decent place and I really wish I could have just sat down and had a chat - it looked like that kind of place. But my Japanese skills are not really up to it. It was about 250 - still another 2-3 hours before the first train so I continued walking until I saw some guy in a smart suit with a megaphone and people walking into a building. It was a cinema and there was a showing of Matrix Reloaded at 330. I'm not the biggest fan of the Matrix but I had expressed some interest in going to see the sequel at the cinema with the intention of totally switching my brain off. It was expensive JPY1800 but a better way of spending three hours (in an air-conditioned room and seated) than anything else I could think of.

It was a 330 showing but I walked inside at about 255 to see what the place was like and the entrance to the theatre was rammed. Everyone was waiting there and there was a real buzz in the air. This was at 330 in the morning, remember, so I was a little weary but I actually perked up a bit. We were let in at 310 and I walked in to see a pretty full auditorium and any empty seats seemed to be reserved. I found some seats near the front but a lot of seats appeared to be empty until you got close and saw bags on them. Unattended bags. People were so secure that they left their bags there and got their food and drink without telling someone to wait. It was really refreshing but I don't think I'd do it!
I watched the film (though I think I fell asleep for about ten minutes in the middle) and thought it was OK. Not horrifically bad, just not great. I thought the action was a lot better than the first one and the fighting a lot more plausible. The acting was still crap though. And the plot a bit arse. But hey ho. I did kill three hours so I was not too displeased.

I walked out into the sun at 6am and made my way to Shibuya station which was still pretty busy with people that had been out for the night and those that were starting the day. What I was a little confused about at 6am on a Sunday morning was seeing smiling, joking schoolchildren (in uniform) on the trains. They work them hard here. Very hard.
I got back to the hotel at about 7 and caught about an hour's worth of sleep.

[tbc]



---All lettered footnotes were written in 2015---

^{A. Getting lost before instant access to Google Maps was really interesting. There was a genuine frisson of excitement as you realised that you had no idea where you were. At this point, I was not very well-travelled but many of my later trips take this unplanned feel to them although I look at maps a lot more now. As a result, I remember quite a bit about this particular episode, not location but the feel of an area at night.↩
B. Mapping out real locations in games is pretty common now but it was a rarity at this point and it was revelatory to suddenly piece together a game on to real life. The blogpost was written in 2003 as a website and I remember a friend of mine laughing about the fact that I remembered it from a game. I was always rather defensive about my gaming knowledge and I did justify it to him. Nobody seems to think it is odd to recognise, or even visit, locations from films yet it is seemingly odd to recognise game locations. This is not logical, especially as within a gameworld, you have the agency to explore that environment and so have a greater connection with it. He agreed, but said it isn't about logic - it is about the fact that he didn't know anyone else that would say it (or maybe admit to it...).↩
C. This is one of my favourite games and I wrote about it here: [link]. It really was a beautiful and evocative recreation of the concept of Shibuya.↩
D. Shibuya is a very well-known area in Japanese youth culture and so has been used in lots of games, since, as a stylistic backdrop with a number of well known items of scenery such as the Shibuya scramble (crossing) and hachiko statue..↩}

Is this a normal weekend around these parts? pt.2 (Roppongi)

[cont...]
So we walked off to the station and waited on the moderately busy platform. As two random girls walked past, Steve said "You're nice" (in English) which made them stop. I don't know what happened here but we all ended up talking on the train. They were called Nana and Noriko (who I kept on wanting to tell had the same name as the girl in Battle Royale) and Nana was studying English at Nova whilst Noriko had studied there before. Steve and Andy worked their charms but I took a step back (or maybe I was pushed?) and joined in every so often. Unfortunately, my joining in was usually just laughing at what I saw which is always going to make people uncomfortable. Anyway, they said Roppongi was a bit cack and told us not to go (as had Allan and Walid yesterday) but we got them to go to Roppongi. They were going to "show us" the way but we ended up on a train in a different direction. I thought we were going to get shafted but I should have had more faith in Japanese people and we did end up there via another station and a short cab ride.

Roppongi is very busy and there is loads of neon all over the place. There are a lot of foreigners too (or gaijin as they are known here) - far more than I have seen elsewhere so far. We end up at this place called Gas Panic - a club that Andy had heard of. I only knew it as an Oasis song but the place was nothing like that. In fact it was just the kind of place that I don't like. The style was like a rubbish, cheesy, small club back home with crap music to match. It was also full of American guys - apparently navy or other armed forces. There were a few Japanese girls there too but it felt quite far from Japan to me. Roppongi attracts a lot of gaijin^[A] apparently, which also attracts a certain type of Japanese woman - those that want foreign boyfriends. Supposedly, there are loads of girls in Japan that want foreign boyfriends for whatever reason. Anyway, this place was gash and pretty expensive. I bought three drinks (one of which was soft) for JPY 2100, which seemed quite steep to me. Maybe the worst thing about it though, even worse than the music (which was now "pretty fly for a white guy" - with navy, shouty accompaniment), was that there was a massive sign that said that you must be drinking to stay in the club. And they had a load of bar staff that went around and checked that you had a drink! It was not the kind of atmosphere that I wanted to be in but I stayed for a while until I could hack it no more - about 1130. I was tired from the whole week to be honest and we were moving into our actual flats the next day and check out time was 10am. But this was just the start.

Everyone looked a bit pissed off in there so we all left but Andy and Steve wanted to stay out but only decided this at the station exit so I went in without them for my journey to Akabane. I had missed the last train. Even though Tokyo runs on trains and everywhere is open late, the trains stop running at a ridiculously early time - and run no later on a Saturday! So I was stuck. Totally stuck. I legged it outside on the off chance that Steve and Andy were outside but obviously not. And I had no chance at all of finding them in Roppongi either. Slightly panicked, I called Allan (the only Tokyoite I know) at about 1215 and asked him what the deal was. He said that there was no option back other than a taxi^[B], which would be madly expensive. The only other suggestion was find somewhere to drink or eat and stay there for a while! Six hours! Hmmmm.

I really wanted to get out of Roppongi so I just walked. I walked from the station east (at a guess) and thought that I would get to another station soon and then work it out from there. I just wanted to get out of Roppongi as it was doing my head in. It reminded me a lot of that bit at the beginning of "The Beach" (film version obviously)^[C] where he looks around at all the western tourists around Bangkok and feels very out of place. It's a flawed film but the start is decent.

[tbc]

---All lettered footnotes were written in 2015---
<sup>A. Gaijin means, literally "outsider" and I came to saw it less as a term for foreigners and more as a term for unwanted foreigners. There is a more polite version which was printed on my ID card "gaikokujin" - the extra character refers to country and so is closer to "foreign person". Over time, I realised the difference in the contextual meaning of these words - at the time, I knew but the one word. Interestingly, the word gaijin was used much more regularly by those foreign people that spoke little or no Japanese themselves.↩

B. The lack of public transport at night was genuinely surprising and I have heard it be said that this was due to effective lobbying by the taxi trade. I don't know if this is true - but they do gain quite massively by it.↩

C. I do not read very often so the film version of The Beach is what I referred to. The relevant scene is about how Richard wants to escape the beaten track and I felt a bit like that at the time. I realise now that escaping the heavily beaten path is also the beaten path but this was also a little about wanting to escape the identikit nature, sometimes, of nightlife in these areas.↩</sup>

Is this a normal weekend around these parts? pt.1 (1st karaoke)

Saturday (31/05/03)

What a messed up day!
Today was the last day of training; we have Sundays off and start on Monday. There was a bit of a chat in the morning to make sure we had everything in our heads and also a few administration tasks that needed doing. The real work was in the afternoon - lesson planning^[A]. Our training so far was, apparently, sufficient to start teaching all ages and we had to plan the lessons for that whole week in the afternoon. Two hours later and I had still not quite finished one lesson. And I was no slower than anyone else! This was the point everybody started getting worried and frantically photocopying all the books so that they could plan at home. I knew my photocopying skills (honed by years in non-gainful employment) would come in useful one day. I photocopied two days worth and then thought I would come in during the week to do the rest. This was a popular idea as everybody looked shattered after 4-5 hours. We left at 6 because the company had offered to take us all out, which would have been great except we were all shattered. And it was only 6.

We all got taken to a karaoke place^[B]. Karaoke is apparently nothing like what I, and all of the newcomers, thought. Karaoke on a stage in front of everybody is supposedly a western creation (or bastardisation) so we were all a bit surprised when we walked in. Shoes had to be taken off and left in nifty little lockers and then we were shown to our room. The room had a table that was "in" the ground and we sat on the floor. It was pretty comfortable actually and the ambience was nice. Everyone got their drinks in and then we started getting food. Our "bosses" ordered all the food with a couple of requests but I was not too fussed as long as it was pigless. I can't remember exactly what we ate but it was all fairly decent. There was definitely a selection of meat, fried potatoes, salad, sushi and genuinely raw fish (called sashimi). I tried some of that and thought it was merely OK. The shrimp, however, was especially fantastic.

After food came the music. It was not exactly flowing but my boss started it off with an old Rolling Stones number. The choice of songs was vast but, unsurprisingly, most were in Japanese. The English selection was slightly smaller and restricted to really famous songs^[C] (or those that have done well in Japan - stand up "Girl Power" by Shampoo). The set up was two microphones and this weird karaoke machine (a TV that you put numbers in) that it was connected to. You could put all kinds of effects on the mics and adjust the levels and stuff. Eventually more people sang but it was a limited choice to be honest. There were a few Beatles tracks, like "Hey Jude" and "Eight Days A Week", and I managed to get a bit of "Girls and Boys" by Blur in too. It was a laugh and I think everyone enjoyed themselves. 

We were chucked out at 9 though it felt so much later. This was where the party got split up, inadvertently. Steve made a call to his friend Mark and I was having a chat with Andy. Whilst we did this, the others walked off without a glance back (they "thought" we were there).
Steve and Andy wanted to go to a place called Roppongi^[D] that they had heard of. This was a place with loads of bars and clubs that was a magnet for foreigners. I was not too keen but I knew I would go there eventually so I thought, "why not now?"

[tbc]

---All lettered footnotes were written in 2015---

<sup>A. Lesson planning is really hard and requires a lot of effort - so I have great respect for teachers. The biggest issue is that you have to plan for a number of eventualities too, until you have some experience and a better understanding of the students you have in the class. Trying to work out the timings and to keep focused was pretty hard at first but I learnt a lot from the processes over the years.↩

B.This was not really a karaoke place - but actually an izakaya. Karaoke places have a greater focus on the songs although it seems, ostensibly the same. Karaoke "booths" or "boxes" are the normal way in Japan now although there are a few places where you can sing with lots of strangers too.↩

C. The choice of English (and Korean and Chinese in many places) songs at proper karaoke places is vast and greater than I would expect in the UK. I have been a few times in the UK too, and the selection is not as good as even the sunset in Japanese karaoke places. They take it seriously.↩

D. This means 6 trees and has some beautifully simple kanji,六本木 , for the name. Later, Roppongi became better known for the Roppongi Hills complex but at this point, it was known for US armed forces having a good time.↩</sup>