Almost...

In just a few days I'm leaving for America. Thursday afternoon we fly out of Tokyo and land at around the same time one the same day in Boston. So strange that time difference thing. I'll never really understand it.
First thing to mention is that back home you can call me with my old cell phone number: 570-574-0762 . Anytime from the 20th on should be free. I'll be in America until the 18th of August. My last leg will be in Florida though, not quite so accessible to the Northeast.
I don't have a very specific itinerary, but perhaps i'll give it a shot:
Arrive 19th and stay in Boston the night. 20th or maybe 21st go to New Yawk, unfortunately without Amber. She has to make the sacrifice of spending time with relatives in Nantucket and Martha's vineyard. Yah it's gonna be pretty hard.
If people are busy during the week in New York maybe I'll head to Pennsylvania by the ever dear Martz bus, and feel natsukashii (nostalgic) for my former home of so long. But I'll certainly be back in New York by the 27th to pick up Amber from the airport. From there we have a few days to wander between new york and philly, with my only specific desire to be in new york on the night of the 31st in order to see my long lost Bulgarian friend who will grace the city for a day. And if someone plans on having any gathering around then I'd like that too.
When possible I want to take amber to PA and meet my sister and stay around for a few days. From there perhaps onto Philadelphia again, where I can fly to Florida, my family's new home. This will be in early august sometime. I'm hoping at this point to steal a car and meet Jacob in Chapel Hill for a few days. Perhaps before and the early part of the weekend of aug 11/12, or the end part of it. Then maybe a stop off in atlanta for a night, and back to enjoy the intense heat and humidity of florida. I'd say i can take amber to disney world, but shes been to the tokyo one, which is apparently a near exact replica of the one in florida. but probably with less sushi (though still some).
If anyone has any specific party/events/obligations please let me know!

As for my life here, I still have been living it. Most exciting is that my cousin Ben is here with his buddy Eugene. In fact they're in the room right next to me! Ben has mostly been staying with a Japanese woman who used to stay with his family a few years back, but I've seen him a few times since his arrival at the end of June. First on July 4th, America's proud b-day when we took a boat around Tokyo Bay and ate a lot of sashimi and tempura and drank all we could drink (not much really). This was of course Asami's (Ben's main host) idea, as I have no idea about this nice (noice) stuff. I unfortunately forgot my camera, but ambah has lots o photies.

Then the following weekend we met again in Inokashira park (my fave tokyo park!) after they went to the Ghibli museum (devoted to Miyazaki, ya know, the guy who made Spirited Away and Mononoke and that castle movie). This time i didn't forget my camera!

This is an interesting gallery me and Amber visited in Harajuku while waiting for the boys and girl. Each room was designed by a different artist who hung around that room ready to talk about whatever. If only I could speak a little more Japanese...

This man is taking "performance art" to an ironic new level by actually performing famous works of art. This is the classic discus thrower pose from those old Greek days. This took me back to high school art history class when my teacher Mr. Karstadt tested us by having us memorize the "art dance," which was basically exactly what this guy was doing. I felt a little natsukashi.
Finally, here they are! My cuz's. As you can see they are from the Bronx. But in the background is the front yard of a nice yakitori (grilled chicken) restaurant in Kichijoji, near the park.
Here's Asami, filming us. She's Japanese, so she has to capture all happy memories in digital format. The same applies to my friend Alex, and to a non-digital extent my dad.

Alas I had to return to work for the week, and didn't see Ben for days! But that reminds me of an experience that took place in between these two meetings. I went for my Japanese Drivers License. I went to the DMV (they dont call it that here) with my enormous pile of documents and copies, and even one expensive driving practice course under my belt. I waited in line for many hours and took a ridiculous writtent test that is easy in content i suppose, but its incredibly poor english translation makes it a little tricky. Anyway I passed it. Next came the animal like frenzied hurry to push the foreigners (foreigners are tested separately from Japanese people, and in fact anything a foreigner does must be done at a separate window entirely, and only between 1:00 and 1:30pm) to the driving course. They are then hurriedly massed into a few cars lined up on this obstacle course that the Japanese use as their license test. I could go on for quite some time on how ridiculous the whole thing is, and how filled with sabetsu (discrimination) it is, and how I think the system exists specifically to keep Brazilians and Koreans from driving in Japan (they like Americans, but not a lot of other foreign groups). But I won't waste everyones time right now, and the end result is that I failed the test and upon my return to japan I can't legally drive anymore. I will take the test again and hope for the best. However I know people who took the test 3, 4, 5, 8, 12, or more times and simply never passed. Tricks I've heard rarely involve driving, but rather polite phrases, ways to dress, and so on. But I'll do all I can to pass, most importantly of which probably consists of convincing them that I'm not Brazilian, and that I'm a teacher.

Anyway that subject is probably the most frustrating problem I've encountered in Japan, and I'll stop myself. More happily, back to family! Ben came to Takasaki this past Friday (the 13th). I had to go to an enkai (formal work related drinking party) but Amber entertained the boys until I finished at about 9:30.

Here's my friend Shane at the enkai. He mesmerized the Japanese guys around him, who got him to drank a lot of sake. He then predictably got too drunk and started to make a little bit of a scene with his loud voice and somewhat exaggerated movements. His use of the word "Jew" and "socks" would've have warranted more attention if we weren't in Japan I bet. Good thing he's my friend!
The following day we didn't do much because of heavy rain. We had plans to go to Mount Fuji, but alas this is typhoon weekend, and we can think of more pleasant things to do than climb a mountain in dangerous winds and rain. This mostly just meant drivin around a bit, sleeping in, goin out to eat, playin some pool, and eating ice cream at this really really excellent gelatto shop in the next town over. A little more eventful was today (Sunday) when I drove us to Ikaho, a nearby old style town known for its onsens (hot springs) of which I am quite the fan. Here is Amber on this town's signature stairway.
Here we are at the top of really long stairway on our way back from the outdoors rotemburo (outdoors public bath) which was closed because of typhoon weather.
Umbrellas were quite necessary unfortunately.

There are clear skies in the background. I hope they stay for good.
When we told Asami that we were going to Ikaho, she looked up the name of an interesting sounding restaurant nearby. We got directions and headed out after a relaxing bath at the bottom of the big stairway. The picture is of deer sashimi. Honestly I didn't really like it. But we also ordered horse sashimi. And I know it sounds gross, but it really was delicious. I swear. To accompany these wild animals we had Inoshishi udon - a wild boar noodle soup. I actually thought that was quite good too. Overall one of the better restaurant dining experiences I've had in Japan for a relatively reasonable price. I don't think Ben and Eugene were terribly impressed with the odd assortment of animals, and maybe my incredibly positive assessment, or even the fact that I have much of an assessment at all, just goes to show how long I've been in Japan...

I think one could write a whole book on the way the Japanese think about food and going out to eat, and maybe that already exists. But take my word for it that they take food and eating and all the stuff that goes with it more seriously than most people. A lot more seriously. No kidding.

Anyway tomorrow is a public holiday (umi no hi - ocean day, haha) and so no school! So we're going to go into tokyo with Ben and explore some ridiculous area or two, becuase thats what you do in tokyo, a city of ridiculousness. I suppose New York is a big city, and in some sense Tokyo is even bigger. But really I still think of New York as a big city, and Tokyo as just billions of little tiny things clumped together haphazardly. But somehow organized and kept immaculately clean. And brighter than the damn sun. Another mystery that I will never be able to solve.

I'll sign off for now, but I will attempt to put one last post up before I head home for the holidays. If not though, rest assured my love is with everyone. I know I'm coming back to Japan for more after my stay, but my heart is still in my home. I just have a few more things to take care of here before I leave for good. I want to conclude my stay, and not just quit and go home. I'd prefer to not be away for so long again, and I'd like to get at least some pieces of my life on the move.

But not QUITE yet.

Stay well everyone, and see you soon!

Aaron