Sex and the City Kameoka style....

Today I was invited to go to lunch with my coworker, Fukuchi-san, and boss, Koshio-san. The boy was supposed to be working outside but that was cancelled so he was available, but I had already made plans with them.

I think one of the most fascinating things about Japan is how people have the ability to have more than one personality without actually having multiple personality disorder. My coworkers are like different people outside of the office. Even going from the office into the hallway there is a marked difference. They chat and ask questions and pry into your personal life…

Which brings me to lunch today. We went to the Chinese restaurant that is just next to city hall. There were a lot fewer people than I had expected. I don’t really know much about Chinese food in English, let alone in Japanese, so I took the safe route and ordered the daily set menu.

The conversation started out sort of bland…they asked questions about how to tip in America: who do you tip? How much do you tip? Why do you tip? What happens if you don’t tip? Etc.

Then all of a sudden my boss looks at me and says:

“This is a totally different topic of conversation, but I hear there are a lot of gays in America…are there a lot of gays in America?”

…

…

…

To which I responded: “I doubt it is about the same proportion as Japan.”

To which SHE responded: “But there aren’t really any gay people here.”

!

!

!

Then it was question after question: How do you feel about gay people? Are there more gay boys or more gay girls?

?

?

?

Finally they got off this topic and moved on to the one I knew they were dying to get to: the boy.

I knew that they both knew about my daily lunch trysts etc. with the boy. Fukuchi-san had seen us several times and my other boss told Koshio-san who told Fukuchi-san who told me. (I have to say I somewhat enjoy being the center of this gossip wheel…thought I wish I weren’t the subject. Everyone tells me everything. Coworkers tell me when they see the boy, boy tells me when he sees coworkers, ALTs tell me when they see boy, boy tells me when he sees coworkers…so I know where everyone is.)

So Fukuchi-san went to the bathroom and Koshio-san sat across from me, poised and ready to strike like a cobra.

K: “So, Margaret, do you think you want to get married and live in Japan?”

M: *internal roll of the eyes, here it is* “Well if I meet a guy and fall in love, sure, I wouldn’t mind.”

K: “But…don’t you have a boyfriend?”

M: *quick internal deliberation: deny everything and claim we are just friends or go with the truth?* “Well, he’s technically not my boyfriend. We haven’t had that talk so I don’t really know. But we spend a lot of time together.”

K: “But you like him.”

M: “Yeah. I do”

Then it was all these questions about him and then about who invites who out, along with many exclamations of “oh that’s great” “oh it would be wonderful if it worked out.”

I was actually glad to get it out in the open sort of. I also found out that Sasabe-san in my office also knows because he saw me and Atsushi walking down the street one Saturday and he told the two women….gossip!

It is really only just beginning to hit me what it means to work for a city hall, ie. the building with the largest number of employees, in a small town. Everyone knows you. Everyone sees you. Everyone talks about you. Even if you aren’t the foreigner (though that just makes it worse).

Weekend on the Island of 4 Country (4th Country? 4 Countries? Shikoku?)

I spent this weekend visiting my friend Marty in Shikoku. Now I just have one island left before I have visited all 4 of the main islands (ie. Kyuusyuu).

I left on Friday right after work. Caught the train out of Kameoka at 12:30 and was on my way! While waiting for the train to get me to Osaka I got a text from my colleague, Fukuchi-san. She sits next to me and is the one I feel closest to. She took the day off and wanted to tell me about Michael Jackson's death (which by the way totally took me by surprise..and I was sad that I first heard about it on facebook and then at the office before I actually read about it in the news) so she texted.

At the end of her text she added a little P.S.

"So who are you going to lunch with today? I don't need a response...(^_~)"
The little sneak.

So I responded saying I ate lunch alone today since I was on my way to Shikoku.

Everything went quite smoothly. The bus was comfortable and I started reading The Great Gatsby, which I found at the library at the Center I work at on Thursday (yeah I discovered the English library!)

When I arrived in Shikoku at Takamatsu station Marty was there waiting for me. She took me up to the top of a tall building with a great view over the city and then took me to a really nice little restaurant with great nachos. Yeah I know, I'm gonna be in America in like a week so why nachos? Because it's been a year people!

They also had Bass beer on tap. Sweet mother how I have missed good beer (look what you have done to me dad).

It was good to catch up with Marty. She and I met in Chicago at orientation a year ago and have seen each other a few times since then. We actually keep in touch fairly regularly and I took advantage of her living in Shikoku to get a trip out there.

After dinner we went to the purikura photo booths and took some silly pictures and grabbed Starbucks before heading home (there isn't one in my town...don't judge).

Marty actually lives an hour outside of Takamatsu in a small, very rural town. Then she is a 15 or so minute walk through the rice fields away from the station.

The next morning we got up early and took off on our adventure to the onsen (public bath) and fertility shrine.

Now I did not realize this at first but we were going from Kagawa Prefecture to Ehime Prefecture which was going to take us about 4 hours...

But we made it fun. At one of our train changing stations this old man came up and talked to us...I mean mumbled at us...with gestures. I wish I had a video because I was just sitting there drinking my juice when the man comes up and points at me. He smiles his toothless grin and starts babbling all the while making gestures at his chest. More exactly, he was imitating boobs...or so it seemed. Then he'd point at me and gibber on. Now, I understand Japanese. But this guy was not speaking Japanese. He was speaking (probably) drunk old man Japanese...which sounds like this

Him: "mmmmhhmgfmamdm ne." *points at me*
Me: "I'm sorry, what?"
Him: "mmmhmgfmamdfm mmmhhmgfmamdm!" *makes lewd gesture at his own chest*
Me trying not to laugh in his face: "Yeah ok...thanks?"
Him: "mmmhmmagalmsdkfm. hmm. ne." *makes lewd gesture again...shrugs and walks away*

Ah a day in the life of a foreigner.

Then 2 hours later we grabbed lunch at our next change over station. 2 hours after that we arrived at Uwajima, the city with the fertility shrine. We really didn't know where to go so we grabbed a couple of maps and looked up the kanji we needed and set off.

We found a different shrine first and decided to go in. It was huge and set up at the top of a hill. It also seemed to be the main tourism site in the area. It was really beautiful.

Then we wandered down the street in search of the fertility shrine...famous for it's large wooden phallic statues. It was actually a pretty interesting shrine. It also had a museum attached with artifacts about sex from all over the world...

We then headed back to the train station for another 2 hour trip back the way we came to get to the onsen. We took a tram through Matsuyama. The tram really gave Matsuyama a very Western feel. The tram is really convenient (something I have also noticed in Strausburg and Zurich) and offers a great view of the city...which makes it much better than a subway in my opinion. Because we took the tram we found a beautiful park where we went after the onsen.

The onsen was actually a bit of a disappointment. There is an amazing one near my town with like 10 different baths, but this one only had 1.

After the onsen we walked around looking for a place to eat but couldn't find anything good so we walked through the really beautiful park was saw on the tram ride to the onsen and then went back to the station.

We grabbed a bit of ramen before boarding the 2 hour train back to Marty's hometown.

The next morning we had to head back into the city so I could catch my bus. We also stopped by a beautiful Japanese garden. I had left my camera in my bag in a locker at the station so I have no pictures of it, unfortunately, but it was the most amazing garden I have ever been to. It had ponds with giant lotus blossoms and waterfalls. It was huge. We were there for over an hour but didn't make it around the whole thing. I had a 2 pm bus so we couldn't stay very long. So we made sure I got some of the area's famous soba and walked around until I had to get on the bus.

I spent the bus ride finishing The Great Gatsby (which was much sadder than I had expected) and made it back home by the mid afternoon.

Nasal violation

I had some comp time saved up so I took it today. It turned out to be a good thing, because the cold I have been fighting for a few weeks actually started to seem more like a sinus infection so I needed to visit the doctor.

The nice thing about being a CIR is that I can go to the doctor by myself. My friend Liz was sick last week and she had to have 2 people go with her and then the whole office heard about her being sick and ugh. It's just so frustrating when everyone has to know everything about you. So I both love and hate that I can go alone. Love because my diseasedness stays private. Hate because I sometimes have no idea what I am doing (though when Matt gave me scabies last fall it was quite nice to not have to tell anyone about it...(^_~) )

So I went to the doctor this morning. I looked up the word for sinus infection and went and gave it my best shot. I got a Q-tip stuck up my nose and had to go get head X-rays (but I saw what the inside of my head looks like) and then I had to take this weird medication that involved me sticking a small tube up my nostrils and inhaling...keep in mind this is in a room full of other patients. There are no private rooms here. Everyone is all in there together.

The doctor gave me some meds and warned me that since this was my first sinus infection I will be more susceptible to them from here on out. I have to take 12 pills a day for a week but by the time I hit the states I'll be good as new.

After that I met the boy at the cafe for lunch. He lent me a DVD of Japanese contemporary dance that he got from a friend and told me to watch it with Liz since she is a dancer. Seriously...he gets huge points for listening.

After that I went to Mister Donuts and read and then went to taiko. Other than the nasal violation it was a nice day off.

A New Guinness World Record: Longest Date...well, at least there was Guinness involved

Today the boy and I went to see the movie "W." He came up with the idea because I had brought it up after seeing a flier for it when we went to the art gallery a few weeks ago. He found a theater playing it and invited me to go with him this morning. It was a 10:30 showing so we had to meet up around 9:20 am.

When he invited me to the movie I made him promise to laugh with me. Japanese people rarely laugh in movie theaters because they are "reading the air" and trying not to annoy the people around them. Whenever I go to the movies here my friends and I are always the only ones laughing. I talked to the boy about that and he said he agreed with me that people should laugh in movies...but when I told him he had to keep me company in my laughter he said he can't.

The theater was on the top floor of a building full of these really nice furniture shops. That's something that always strikes me about Japan...they can do so much with the little space they have. And they all seem to know where everything is. I can walk down the same street a thousand times and I will never notice everything there is to notice because there is just too much.

He paid for our tickets (I really need to stop letting him pay for so much...somehow it just never seems to even out). This theater didn't have assigned seats, but it was already kind of full (more than I expected) so we grabbed a couple of seats near the back. The lights were up and nothing was on the screen, but it was silent. The theater was silent....that is except for me. Because I'm never silent. So boy and I sat in the back of the theater laughing at how no one was talking and talking about random things.

And the lady next to me got up and moved.

And the movie hadn't even started. ＼（－－）／

Once the movie started, Atsushi stopped laughing.

I laughed. I laughed by myself. In a crowded theater I was the only one laughing (I was the only foreigner). Actually that isn't true. I should give him credit. He did laugh a little. Just quietly. And my laughter was loud enough to cancel his out.
(￣▽￣)ノ＿彡

Now part of the reason for this was probably in the translation. The translators didn't quite capture the uniqueness of Dubya's speech patterns. And no one else groaned or got embarrassed when our good old VP started talking about how we should invade Iran.

Overall I quite enjoyed the movie. I wasn't sure if I would. I thought it was a bit biased, but as I mostly agree with the director, I enjoyed it. But I think it did do a very good job of pointing out the pressures on Former President Bush and the other people that were involved.

After the movie we walked off to find a place for lunch, and ended up at a cafe called the Red Bouncing Ball or something like that. It was a cute place but what I found the most amusing was the sign out front that said, in English, Dog OK. And a few of the customers took advantage of that.

The table next to us brought in a dog that was really interested in me and the boy. The dog kept trying to get on our laps....it was a bit weird.

So turns out the boy enjoys people watching as much as I do so we ended up sitting at this cafe, as we were seated in the veranda section abutting the street, and chatting for nearly 4 hours. I was able to show him why most Japanese boys look gay...by pointing out various examples. And we made fun of the women walking around with parasols and long sleeves to avoid getting tanned (turns out he likes to playfully make fun of people just like me).

When we realized we had been at the cafe for 4 hours we headed out. We didn't want to go home yet but didn't have a place to go next and he seemed uncomfortable with that. So at first I just started us wandering around...then asked him if he ever just wandered around. Apparently he doesn't....so I made him.

But he actually ended up taking me to this store he visits a lot, with books on artists and architects. It was pretty interesting. It is sort of a hobby of his. He was showing me some stuff by Jackson Pollack, who I am not very interested in...being the type of person who doesn't really think of paint splatters as art...but I was impressed with his knowledge of it. He explained that it was kind of like organized chaos. There were patterns within the paint even if they weren't obvious at first.

Then we went back out and walked down to the river. I really love going to the Kamo so this was nice for me. We walked along the banks and talked. At one point I asked him if he plans to ever move back to Kyoto City. He said he wants to...so I told him he should. He's a very different person in Kyoto City than in Kameoka. I think 5 years of living in a big city gave him a sense of independence and privacy that he misses living in Kameoka. Being foreign I never really feel a sens of privacy here, but he did and now that is gone. Kameoka is small. People notice him. All of city hall knows him. And when he hangs out with me...it's even worse. And I think he misses that privacy. And you can see it in how he acts. He tries not to draw attention to himself in Kameoka. He's much quieter. But when we are out together in Kyoto he laughs a lot more and his gestures get bigger and he seems much more at ease. Maybe he'll get more used to being in Kameoka, it really is a great place...but for a young guy used to living in a city, it's certainly not ideal.

He was surprised when I pointed this out. He told me about how when he was a kid he used to be a bit more like me...more open with his emotions...laughing loudly and talking a lot in school, but his teachers and parents would get angry at him so eventually he stopped. That really made me sad. Japan has a tendency to do that to people I guess. "The nail that sticks out gets hammered down" and all.

We sat by the river for a bit. He suddenly looked at me and said, in English, "I have a question for you."

"Which do you think is worse: jealousy or pride."

I thought about it for a few moments and answered "jealousy."
He broke into a huge smile and said "I knew you were going to say that."

Apparently I am obvious. But also he explained that most Japanese people would say that pride is worse. But he thinks jealousy is worse. Much like Mr. Darcy would say, pride can be justified. I added that pride really can only hurt you whereas jealousy affects other people.

Damn this boy is smart.

We were enjoying the river when suddenly it started raining. Sadface. The rain destroyed the romantic moments. Ah well.

But he had a plan. Instead of going home, though it was 7 pm already (remember we have been out since 9 am), he took me to a bar. Not just any bar...a non-sketchy non-foreigner filled Irish pub with Guinness, and to my surprise, Kilkenny, on tap.

Major points to him. The boy listens.

I couldn't decide which beer I wanted so we got one of each. When he told me to choose one I took a sip of Kilkenny...took a moment to consider...then took a sip of Guinness...and thought...

And he starts laughing at me.

Apparently he had never seen anyone think so hard about beer before. To which I responded "That's because all Japanese beer tastes the same."

We ended up staying at this bar until he suddenly noticed it was after 11 and we had to head out to catch the last train. It was a lot of fun. When Americans were sitting next to us we spoke Japanese...when Japanese people were sitting next to us we spoke English with some Japanese thrown in. It was pretty hilarious.

When we got back to Kameoka, after some singing on the train (apparently a Guinness gets him tipsy enough to sing a bit...which is adorable and he knows the lyrics to Sting's music far better than I do), he walked me home.

The key point here is that I got him past that imaginary wall. I got him up to my apartment. I had to give him the next disk of Friends and I wouldn't let him wait at the bottom of the stairs. (^_^) Ah progress.

Oh, and our date ended up being about 15 hours long.

Korean Samurai...Duck Duck Goose....Fiddles..All in a days work

This week was mostly just me trying to survive. Now that my trip home is getting closer I am getting more and more homesick. It seems like all I can think about is American food and driving a car and my friends.

I went to lunch with the boy Monday-Wednesday. And today he came with me to work (^_^)

This morning was a Global Session, an event where a native English speaking guest writes a short essay and then discusses it with Japanese people in English. Atsushi is working on his English so I invited him to join. Usually it's a pretty fun event. This time, however, it was a little bit different. The Center was hosting another event today, for a delegation from a Tennessee university. We had the professor leading the group write the article for the Global Session and he wrote a very academic, very long article about a Korean who was kidnapped by Japanese and brought over to Japan and eventually became a samurai himself.

The article was interesting but it was a bit too difficult for the audience. A range of people usually attend the Global Sessions. The conversation was fairly one sided, because the topic and the article itself was so difficult. The boy said it took him about 4 hours to get through all 8 pages of it...which is impressive considering it takes me about that long to get through 8 pages of Japanese.

It was one of the first times I had heard him speak complete sentences in English. Up until today we would use English words to fill in what I couldn't do in Japanese. I was really impressed. Maybe it's bad that I feel that way...maybe it means I don't give him enough credit. He is really smart and I knew that, but more than just being able to put sentences together, his English sounded natural. I think I am just used to Japanese people speaking katakana English (ingurishu instead of English) that when I hear someone who can actually pronounce English properly I am impressed. I think I was just nervous for him because he is shy.

After the Global Session, Laurel and Atsushi left but I had to stay around to help out with the next event. I was actually kind of jealous because Atsushi was going to see the speech being given by Oe Kenzaburo at the Galleria (he was the second Japanese author to win the Nobel Prize and I studied him in college).

I ate lunch with the students and then I took them on a quick hike around the Center. At 1:30 their event started. I translated the welcome speeches, etc. and that went well except that the professor who was with the students is pretty much fluent in Japanese so I was more nervous speaking in front of him than I usually am when I translate at these events.

The event was really fun. One of Kojima-san's friends was the leader and she taught the students some Japanese kids songs and games. I am still blown away by how even if the culture is different kids are the same no matter where you go. One little boy didn't win at duck duck goose so he burst into tears. Other kids ignored the rules and just played their own games.

There were some fun moments where I had to translate a game where the take the person who is "it" and stand in a circle around him or her. The "it" person is actually "beans" that you are cooking. You hold hands in a circle and then creep in to check the beans. When the beans are done you take them outside the circle and lock them up (?). Then the "beans" knock...

Knock Knock
Group: "What's that noise?"
Beans: "It's a cat getting into the trash can"
Group: "Oh, good"

Knock Knock
Group: "What's that noise?"
Beans: "It's an owl landing on the roof"
Group: "Oh good"

Knock Knock
Group: "What's that noise?"
Beans: "It's a ghost (obake)!!!!"
Group* "AAAAAAAHHHH"

Then the beans/obake chases the group to catch the next "beans."

I dunno.

After the event ended I got a ride back to the station from Asada-san, who used to be the head of the Center. He is a really nice man but I have rever really been able to understand him. He is what we call the "old Kansai man": a guy who mumbles and speaks in very rural Japanese making him impossible to understand.

I got home just in time to brush my teeth and run out the door to meet up with my taiko group for the concert we were going to. Laurel, Paulette, Dara, and Atsushi were coming along as well.

The concert was for a guy from Kameoka who plays the fiddle. He used to live in the southern US and really came to like American folk music. He was putting on a small concert with a friend who plays guitar and another who plays the harmonica.

I rode in Nanba-san's car with Atsushi and Dara went with the other girls in Murakami-san's car. In my car was the older lady (who's name I STILL don't know) from my taiko group and her grandson. Her grandson is this adorable little 5 year old...and it turns out that Atsushi is very good with kids.

Kids are great at making what could be awkward situations more bearable. I was sitting just behind the little boy so I started trying to steal his baseball cap. Whenever he would turn around I would pull my hand back and point at Atsushi. Seriously...I've been reduced to this. ＼（－－）／

Well it was stifling in the backseat so I went to pull my hair back. I had a piece of paper in my hand from the gum the lady had given me so I held it between my teeth as I pulled back my hair. No sooner do I do this, than the little boy turns around and screams out

"There's a goat in the backseat!!!!!"

That would be me, apparently.

Smart kid though. I'm pretty sure that when I was 5 I would not have thought "goat" when someone put paper in their mouth.

Nanba-san, being the driver was really confused and kept looking back to look for the goat in the backseat.... (￣▽￣)ノ

Me, I was a tad bit embarrassed at being called a goat while sitting next to a boy I like...thankfully he has a good sense of humor and when the boy turned around Atsushi played along and put his paper in his mouth too.

He spent half the car ride laughing at the members of my taiko group...not in a mean way. He is a fairly quiet person. He doesn't talk if he has nothing to say. (I'm sure a lot of your are wondering exactly how that works with me...the one who never shuts up:　it balances out quite well since he doesn't mind listening to me). But he was amused at how Kansai my taiko group really is...they just kept talking about random crap. Even I thought their conversations were a bit frivolous...

"Oh look how green the grass is" etc.

We kept playing games with the little boy, making faces and just being goofy. When we arrived, Laurel became the boy's playmate of choice, as she has no problem running around pretending to be an anime character.

Dara took a video of Laurel's antics which prompted my taiko group to start talking about the music video us Kameoka JETs made earlier this year for Laurel's composition "Love Love." To which I kind of made some very jumpy movements and was like "stop stop stop" because the boy has yet to see it and I would like to keep it that way. It was fun to make and Laurel and Liz are incredibly talented, but it's not something I really wanna show him. He already thinks I'm weird enough.

We got some soba for dinner at the attached restaurant. We were way out in Nishibetsuin, up in the mountains. It was a pretty rural area and they were selling homegrown vegetables and stuff.

I was with a whole group of my friends but tried to stick pretty close to Atsushi. He doesn't really know them that well, though apparently after the Global Session this morning he had a decent conversation with Laurel.

The concert itself was really fun. I'm not a huge folk music fan, but something about listening to it was really 懐かしい (best translation is nostalgic...)

In the middle of the concert a wasp attacked the harmonica player. Of course the Americans were the only ones who laughed...Atsushi is trying to teach me how to not laugh when things are funny. I can't get the hang of it. I am doing much better at teaching him TO laugh when things are funny.

After the concert ended we walked over to this light up they were having near the pond at Nango Kouen but they were just ending it so we went to Mister Donuts.

This is where I showed the boy my true colors. Poor thing...he had no idea what he was getting himself into by hanging out with me. I taught him about velociraptors, also known as Japanese women.

Japanese women tend to wear high heels and walk pigeon-toed. To top it of they carry their purses in the crook of their elbows so they hands end up out in front of them. Their feet hurt from a combination of the high heels and the pigeon-toed style of walking so they have a very specific gait....which reminds me of a velociraptor. Now, he already knows that I have noticed the fashion of walking pigeon-toed and decided that I will not be adopting that trend...but he did not know that I call the women of his country dinosaurs.

Now he knows. And he has seen the wonderful picture that Paulette drew to help me explain what a velociraptor is.



Thankfully I think he thought it was funny.

Eventually, after closing down Mister Donuts we all headed home.

Fox...Kannon...and old friends

Today I met Lara and Ryan at Kyoto Station and we went together to Fushimi Inari. I have been to Fushimi Inari a bunch of times, but I really wanted to see Lara again before she went home. We hadn’t seen each other since we went to Hiroshima together last October.

It was really good to see them. I had forgotten just how much fun Lara is. We actually hiked all of Fushimi Inari, which I have never done before. Fushimi Inari is a huge shrine that runs up a mountain. It was made famous in the movie Memoirs of a Geisha. It took us about 2 hours to climb the whole thing but it ended up being worth it. It was good exercise at least and the view out over Kyoto City is pretty incredible. Mostly it was just really great to catch up with Lara and Ryan. The 2 hour hike seemed to be only 30 minutes.

After we finished the hike we grabbed lunch at Kyoto Station and then walked of to find Sanjyuusangendo which has 1000 statues of Kannon lined up in the main temple. It’s really quite a sight. I had never been there before so I really enjoyed it. It’s always a nice surprise when I am introduced to a place in Kyoto I have never been before...I mean there are tons of places I don’t know but I am pretty familiar with most of the tourist sites, so finding a new one is always really exciting.

It gives me more to do when people visit *hint hint*

After we finished wandering the temple we went our separate ways, and I, exhausted from wandering around temples and hiking, on top of yesterday’s 10 hour date, went home and fell asleep.

Samurai...Ninja...and the boy or dating in Japan: A Marathon, not a sprint

Last night I got a text from the boy giving me three options for our date today.

1. The huge aquarium in Osaka, famous for having a whale shark.

2. A temple/the area where he lived when he was in college living in Kyoto City

3. Movie Village, a themed museum/park about Japanese period dramas (TV and movies)

Anyone who knows me well knows I can never make decisions that affect other people. So I freaked out about which one to choose and finally made a decision to go with number 3 because we had discussed it on our last date. I had already been to the aquarium in Osaka so I didn’t want to disappoint him and also felt that I could hold more conversation about television than about fish.

I met up with Phil at about 11 to discuss the book we are reading together (a novel about Japan 20 years in the future, after the tension between Osaka and Tokyo escalates until Japan is divided into two countries by a wall). Then at about 12:30 I left to go meet Atsushi to head in to Uzumasa.

He had not been to this place either and neither of us knew what we were getting ourselves into…thankfully we both have a sense of humor…

It turned out to be this kinda cheesy theme park deal…though without rides…but it was a bunch of people dressed up in historical garb…I guess you could almost describe it as a Renaissance Festival only for Japan. And there were FAR fewer people there AND it was way lamer. But we had a good time together. That part was a bit awkward but we laughed a lot about it so it wasn’t too bad. We would point out things we thought were ridiculous and he would explain about different parts of Japanese history and what changed when we went from the Edo to the Meiji to the Showa sections of the park.

We didn’t stick around there for too long since there wasn’t that much to see and it was a bit too cheesy for us. We headed in to Kyoto after that and he came up with a place he wanted to go to eat. It was a restaurant/gallery but when we got there it was not open yet. We actually ran into Greg and Ian, two JETs I know fairly well, as we walked passed the Starbucks they were hanging out at but we didn’t stop and talk to them. I just heard Greg call my name and I stopped and waved. After we found out the restaurant was closed we decided to walk around for a bit til it opened. We didn’t know where to go at first so I suggested we just sit on the stairs and wait (mostly joking since I knew Japanese people never do that…). Luckily he knew of a small, free entry art gallery in a remodeled elementary school nearby so we walked over there.

It was a photography exhibit…something about pinhole photography. Being someone who has always enjoyed art but is not…oh what’s the English word…詳しい…educated on the subject, it was definitely fun to visit a gallery with someone who appreciates art AND knows about it.

There was a really funny moment when the woman who was “guarding” the exhibit approached us and asked him about his electronic dictionary. She was saying something about trying to travel or speak with someone who didn’t speak Japanese and how useful a “little machine” like that would be. So we just told her that we use it whenever we hit a snag in conversation but that it can’t make up for ability to actually speak the language.

After that we went back to the restaurant. I got really excited at first because it looked like they had Guinness on tap but sadly it came out in a bottle. I had to explain to him why I was disappointed in this…saying that Guinness is just so much better when it is on tap. He ordered one as well (first time he got a non-girly drink…I was impressed). I was going to show off my mad pouring skills but of course ended up spilling some on the table cuz I’m a bit of a klutz (totally thought that was spelled with a “c” til spell check told me otherwise). But either way he was impressed that I could pour a Guinness without making have the glass head….something he could not.

Dinner was probably the best part of the date. I was more relaxed than I have been in the past and we weren’t at this awkward theme park place that neither of us really had much interest in to begin with. At one point he told me that he had heard that in America if two men go out to dinner together other people will think they are gay.

I told him that usually we can tell (and therefore had to explain gaydar) and also explained that it depends on the location. 2 guys alone at a sports bar and we won’t assume they are gay. 2 guys alone at a really fancy restaurant and they AREN’T doing business and we might assume they are gay.

He told me that he can usually tell when a Japanese guy is gay too. To which I had to tell him that foreigners can’t tell at all. I explained that if most young Japanese guys visited America the average American would think they were gay.

He thought that was hilarious. Ever since he has been pointing out guys and asking me “if he were in America…?” Usually the answer is “yes.”

I told him I was going back to Fushimi Inari Shrine tomorrow with my friend Lara and her boyfriend Ryan (friends of mine from college), making it my 5th time in 7 or 8 months…which led to a long discussion about how shrines and temples are great and all but you don’t really have to go to them THAT many times…and how I really only go because it is either for work or because I really want to spend time with the people who are going.

We took the train back after that since I had to get up early to meet up with Lara and Ryan (Lara is a JET in Hyogo and she is leaving to go back to the US for good next month so I really wanted to get the chance to hang out with her.)

He still can’t seem to get past the imaginary wall in front of my apartment…but I think he’s just a polite guy. At the beginning of the date I asked him why he waits down the street rather than coming to the door…he seemed surprised by the question and asked if he should come to the door. I said it didn’t really matter I was just interested in why. Something about there being a wall and therefore it was more convenient. I think he doesn’t want my neighbors to see? I have got to figure this out.

By the time I got home it was after 10:30, making this our longest date yet...10 hours.

My Girlfriend is a Cyborg

So they make weird movies in Japan.

Tonight Nanami brought over some of her homemade umesyuu to Liz's place and the three of us and Laurel all had an umesyuu party. She also brought with her the movie 「僕の彼女はサイボーグ」or My Girlfriend is a Cyborg.

It was an epic tale of this poor man who wants a girlfriend but just can't seem to get one. (perhaps he is an "insect guy" *see post for 6/11/09*)

So on his birthday one year he meets a beautiful woman who turns out to be a cyborg that was sent to him by his future self to save him from an attack. He falls in love with said cyborg and the story is about him trying to make the cyborg love him back.

She was created to save him and she does that throughout the film. In the end there is a major earthquake that demolishes the city and the cyborg "dies" while trying to save him...

Anyway...I thought it was hilarious. Laurel, Liz, and Nanami are apparently far more sentimental than I am for they got annoyed at me for laughing while she "died." Either way I thoroughly enjoyed the movie, though I took it for a comedy when apparently it was supposed to be a romance?

How do you spell awkward in Japanese??? M-A-R-G-A-R-E-T

So yeah. Today my brain died. It just stopped working. By the end of work I just couldn't think anymore. The amount of Japanese I have been using has tripled in the past few weeks thanks to the boy. This is a really good thing BUT it also makes my head hurt. Add in the new projects I am tackling (creating a book and web version of the foreigners living guide AND an online version/blog of my newsletter) and I am dead.

So after work I went to the supermarket to buy bread to make a grilled cheese sandwich. I walked in the door and who was there? The boy. Yep...the boy I like and I am brain dead.

Luckily he didn't see me so I just sort of ducked down an aisle and planned to avoid him til he left. He was in line so it shouldn't be a big deal.

I ran into Reggie and we stood around talking near the back entrance, by the salads. I'm in the middle of telling Reggie about my lunch dates with Atsushi when said boy walks over to the back entrance. CRAP. So I look at Reggie to tell him I will be back in a sec then turn back to Atsushi to say hello...but Atsushi is looking the other direction and going out the door.

We both saw each other...and both epic failed.

So, I sent him a message when I got home apologizing for acting like a spaz but explained that today at work was rough and my head was a disaster.

He was really sweet about it and sent me a long email entirely in English talking about how he is sorry he keeps me speaking Japanese all the time and that he should learn English faster to help me out (awwww).

Guess that means he expects to be around??

2nd lunch date this week...

Today Atsushi and I went back to the cafe down the street from city hall for lunch. He sent me a message last night saying he was sorry for not saying anything when he got off the elevator but that he couldn't in front of the other employees.

We had planned to meet in front of the Lawson's again but I got down there faster than last time and he was standing on the corner right by city hall. He saw me coming, but the light changed and there were too many people around for him to wait for me without being obvious so he started walking off slowly. I slowly sped up to catch up...though I was laughing the whole way. I swear... I dunno what has happened to me. If we were in America I would be so annoyed with this whole thing, but here I kind of understand it.

I really think it is more of a small town thing than a Japan thing. Plus add in the fact that I am a foreigner and we would never get any peace if everyone knew.

I told him the story about Nakagawa-san after we got off the elevator and he laughed. He said that we probably won't be successful much longer, but it's better to try. Japanese people used to rely a lot on arranged matches and some of the older generations are still very stuck on that and it still plays a large role in Japanese society. Most of the time they meet the people they date through set date parties...

Anyway, today went really well. I ordered a smaller meal today rather than try to stuff myself full of omuraisu while talking to him. It seemed a lot more comfortable today. We are getting used to each other and there is never really any difficulty communicating. He has been watching my Friends DVD and found the English subtitles which he said is really helping him understand it.

We took the front entrance to city hall today. There was a very visible change in him as we approached the building. The closer we got the quieter he got. So I made fun of him for a bit and then played along. He took the stairs and I took the elevator and we pretended like we just happened to be walking near each other.

Later that night at calligraphy sensei had us make little hand held paper fans. We drew small characters on squares of paper and then put them on our fans. I drew the character for flower...mostly because sensei told me to. Though in Japanese my first name is the name of a flower, a daisy I believe, and my middle name is also a flower, Rose. So...I am flower flower man.

Lunch date...or how to hide your lunch date from your coworkers.

Well the boy had mentioned a few times about how it is better if no one at city hall sees us hanging out because we live in a small town and the news would spread like wildfire.

On Sunday I sent him a message taking him up on his offer to eat lunch together this week. I asked him what would work best for him and he said that we could get together Tuesday and if I wanted, we could eat lunch together Wednesday too (considering that I only eat at city hall Mon-Wed, that isn't too bad (^_^) ).

So on Monday during lunch I sent him 3 options...though I knew which one he would choose already...
1. Lunch at the Chinese place across from city hall which is usually full of city hall workers.

2. My favorite cafe

3. Bringing lunches and finding a place to eat outside.

So as I expected he chose the cafe. But at least I gave him options. And at least I finally did the inviting, which I haven't done since that fiasco of a BBQ.

We decided to meet at the Lawsons down the street from city hall. He offered to meet me outside the employee entrance, but he didn't really sound like he wanted to, and last time we met there, he kept looking over his shoulder and barely spoke to me til we got a bit further away so I just decided we should meet further away. He seemed to think that was a good idea.

He got there first and was waiting inside the Lawsons when I got there...This country really throws me off sometimes. He mentioned he had seen me that morning (and I had seen him too but pretended not too because I didn't wanna make him uncomfortable if he didn't wanna be seen talking to me.) So I told him that. And he laughed and said that it really isn't a big deal. He just doesn't want to become the topic of gossip, but if we do whatever.

So we walked to the cafe (I had double checked that we would have enough time to get there yesterday during lunch). For once I actually was able to order for myself...woo hoo...but yeah. I forgot that we only had like 30 minutes and I ordered my usual and it was big and was not easy to eat completely in that short amount of time....while talking...with insane butterflies in my stomach.

He told me some more about why men from Kyuusyuu (his home island) are so quiet; apparently being quiet is a sign of masculinity?? And we somehow got on to talking about Mama's boys and Daddy's little girls. It was pretty funny. They have similar concepts in Japan too.

Um I'm a slow eater and he, along with every other Japanese person, is a fast eater so he finished way before me. So of course he went to pay while I finished up (only having an hour to walk 10 minutes away, leaving you only about 30 minutes to eat once you factor in waiting for the food, makes things a bit rushed). So I said I'd pay tomorrow.

It was fun. I'm starting to feel a lot more comfortable around him and conversation comes much more smoothly now. We walked back to city hall and we were running a bit late. We got on the elevator and it was full of other employees. We were on the side that doesn't stop on the 5th floor because of the mayor's office but my friend Nakagawa-san was on the elevator and he has the access code so he punched it in for us. The boy got off on the 3rd floor and though I could tell he wanted to he didn't say anything.

When Nakagawa-san and I got off the elevator he looked at me really suspiciously and asked...

Nakagawa: "Did you go somewhere for lunch"
Me: "Oh I just ate outside."
Nakagawa: "Do you usually eat outside?"
Me: "Yeah. It's more fun when the ALT's are here so I'm not alone but yeah."
Nakagawa *pointing at elevator* "Oh you were alone? You didn't go out with anyone?"
Me: "nope just on my own."

I have no idea if he believed me or not...

Later that night the boy sent a message apologizing for not saying goodbye but that it was awkward with everyone around. I told him I laughed to myself about it.

Being here really changes the way you react to things like this. I can't see myself being ok with this back home...I guess depending on the situation.