Why I Love Japan!

So, as some of you may know, I wasn't really feeling being in Japan the past couple of weeks. I missed home WAY too much, my job situation became up in the air (more on that someday), and I just felt out of it and hermit-like. But, you may ask yourself, pray tell, then why is this post called, "Why I Love Japan"?

Cos I had the best weekend ever!!! While I think we've all tried hard to get involved with Japanese people (not in that way...ok, maybe for some people...) but we also tend to hang out with other foreigners and observe Nihon-jin like we're at the zoo. "I find it crazy how Japanese women walk like they have broken limbs!" or "What is up with these teenage boys and their magenta hair clips?" And the majority of Japanese people I come into regular contact with are between the ages of 15-18 and 35-60.

But three totally different situations allowed some interaction with some people my own age (and a little older!):

On Saturday afternoon, I took a long-arse train ride to Ibaraki, which is a town halfway between Osaka and Kyoto. I did a presentation on "Life in the U.S. of A." and "A 20 Minute version of the History and Culture of South Africa" for about 40 retirees. I was kind of dreading it, as I had been slammed at work and putting together a 90 min presentation kinda sucked. But they were AWESOME!!!! They totally reminded me of my parents and their friends- their English was fantastic (all of them were well traveled and the majority had lived several years abroad) and they were so cool. They even asked questions about politics and cultural differences and they were so up for talking about themselves and not shy. It definitely made me miss the 'rents though- and chats with my dad about whatever he heard on Larry King/read in our 1981 Encyclopaedia Brittanica.

Then after that, I went to Otsu (the biggest city in the Sheegs, our capital, not far from Kyoto) to hang with a new friend- who is a gaijin (short of "gaikoku-jin" which means "foreigner"- apparently it's a bad word- they can't say it on television! but I'm allowed to say it because it's "our word") but not a JET. Her boyfriend is the trombonist in a Japanese ska punk band called Cutie Pi! We went to a show with them and a bunch of other bands (including Ska Freaks, who I also adore!) and it was AWESOME. It was so cool to see people in their 20's getting into the music- the same people go to the shows, so these are serious fans. Both Cutie Pi and Ska Freaks are local bands, so a bunch of the members went to the high school I work at! Which was awesome. It was kind of weird being among the only foreigners, but the people there were super friendly. It was actually nice to be at a place that wasn't packed to the gills with fellow...dare I say it...gaikokujin-san! And I saw my student's best bud again! We had another awkward encounter (me: super excited him: pretending he doesn't know English) but it was memorable enough to warrant a "Hey, I heard you went to see Cutie Pie this weekend! OOOOOO!" from my student Monday morning. He also asked me if I "burned" which apparently is the Japanese word for "skanking" (if it's the American word too, this goes to show that I am lame). Tara the Brit said he probably meant I seemed like I was on drugs since I was way too genki (excited/happy).

Then the next day, I went to a break dancing show in Hikone (renowned for its "ancient" castle... hey, the one in my town is almost 20 years old, dagnabbit!) with fellow teach Katie P, which was excelente! The people there were crazy good!!!! Despite the fact that I had dressed completely wrong- I mean, where the heck did I leave my good yellow Adidas track suit and mismatchingly matched trucker hat? - it was amazing watching people our age (and younger, sigh) do these crazy acrobatic type moves. We went to see her friend from Michigan compete but when we decided to stay after he left he goes, "Hm...can't resist the eye candy, huh?" So yes, this show definitely debunked the myth that J-boys (or even J-men?) are not hot. These guys were jacked! I have a video of it, but it's too big to load, sigh.

OK, this is the end of my "I love Japan" ramble.