This post is late, but the videos were finally uploaded yesterday.
As part of the wind ensemble's yearly activities, we usually volunteer at something called a "day service." (For a really local reference to use on my readers, it's like Gladeview but without the live-in residency.) This involves all the members that can make it going over to the day service center, setting up, playing a few songs, and then going home. Because we had a lot of new members this year, the band that participated this time was larger. I went separately in my own car, mainly because even with two vans, there wasn't a lot of room considering the number of people and the equipment. (I actually broke from the barricade to take a shortcut, and ended up arriving at the place about five minutes ahead of everyone else.)
This time, we played three songs. The third one was an encore. I doubled this time on bari for the main songs, and soprano for the encore because the arrangement of the song didn't have a part for bari. (There wasn't a soprano part, either, but there was a second clarinet part.) We jumped right into the encore, before I was even ready to start playing, and as I played the first note, I realized that I was playing on a dry reed, which I couldn't understand as I had a cap over the mouthpiece. I could still play, but it was like blowing bubbles in a milkshake; lots of resistance all the way through. Still, the doubling experience was fun, and I hope I can do it again for the regular concert.
(The video below is a playlist that will automatically play all three.
The performance went well, and the crowd was warmly receptive. I also brought along my Olfi and filmed the concert. Once we were done, we packed up, helped ourselves to some cold tea provided by the staff, and headed back to campus.
Next event with them is the overnight camp like last year, and another gig at a "traffic safety parade" the following day. So, uh, 楽しみに！
Arguably, this was an entertaining weekend. In between the festival on Friday and one of Saitou-san's drinking parties on Saturday night, I got the opportunity to learn how to make soba. Aoyama-sensei invited us to the class a few weeks ago, and because I usually have nothing better to do during the weekends, I decided to go. The same people from my class who went to the festival on Friday night also joined us.
The class was at the Jonan Community Center, and we were the only foreigners to attend, as well as the youngest of the participants. Because of Aoyama-sensei's position in the local International Association, he has made a lot of friends in the city, and the instructor was one of them. We were told to put on head scarves to prevent hair from getting in the food, and washing our hands all the way down to the elbows.
Making soba, as it turns out, is a labor intensive process. First there's the sorting of the actual buckwheat using a strainer. A very fine white powder comes out of the strainer while the darker particulates stay in it. Then, when the straining is complete, the remaining contents are dumped...into the same bowl as the powder.
Next is the addition of hot water, followed by lots of mixing. Cold water is also involved in the mixing process. Soon, the mixing turns into kneading, and a single slab of dough is produced.
The next part is flattening it. White flower is sprinkled onto the flattening surface and dough, and then flattened first by hand in a circular formation. The roller is added in, first to make it flatter, and then to make it square, with occasional pinches of flower thrown in.
When the dough is flattened enough, it's folded into quarter-size, and then it's time to bring out...the knife.
The knife had to be held a certain way. Imagine making the metal symbol (\m/) with your hand. The handle goes in between the two fingers that are folded in, and the remaining two fingers are pressed against the side of the blade. The knife goes up against a guide board, and the trick is to push down and out into the dough, then lean the knife to the left to advance the guide board. The result is about 7-8 servings of soba, which are then boiled, cooled, and strained to become edible. (It's also possible to eat them hot, but not in August.)
We all took turns at the different stages of the whole process. Everyone was knocking each other over making mistakes in the process, and on their turn, they'd make the same mistakes. Our noodles were especially thicker than the others', mainly because of our collective inability to use the knife properly. There was also the issue of keeping the dough free of cracks and tears.
Some of the other participants put aside their portions to take home, but everyone got to eat some of their creation today. Another gentleman from the group brought watermelon with him. It had lots of seeds, but considering that Japan's watermelons are a third of the size but three times the price of American ones, it's not a good idea to be picky.
I hadn't really had a chance to go to activities like this, mainly because I didn't know about what was going on in the local community as much. I try to read the monthly city bulletins, which are provided by the city and come in English, but I usually don't have time as a lot of those events are during the week, when I have other things to do. But now, with my time at Aizu (and Japan unless I figure something out in that department) winding down towards the end, and my budget otherwise limited for travel, I need to experience more in the area as much as I still can. Time is a much more precious commodity this case.
I missed the Iwaki Fireworks Festival due to the drinking party, but I'll still be going to the festival in Yanaizu this Thursday. All of the fireworks festivals are happening at around the same time, which sucks because I can't possibly go to all of them. There will be, however, other festivals in the region for August. Here's hoping I can go to them all.
Two nights a week for the past three months, I've been attending a Japanese class held at the University. The lecturer, Aoyama-sensei, was a retiree living in the city who volunteers at the Aizuwakamatsu International Association (AWIA), and the University asked him and a few other teachers to come teach classes to the graduate students and faculty.
Yesterday was our last class, which was the same day as the Shinmei Jinja Festival. There's a small temple nestled away behind the tall commercial buildings on Shinmeidoori, aka National Route 118, aka Aizuwakamatsu's "Main Street." The city was making a big deal of it; they were closing off the road to vehicular traffic so that people could come, and there were going to be vendors selling wares and booze for cheap. Therefore, the last lesson for the class would be about shrine etiquette. We learned about how to properly wash our hands at the purification fountain, which is called 禊 (misogi), and how to make an offering and "pray" (any other atheists reading this blog?) at the temple itself.
After class, we all met up at the Washington Hotel, travelled to City Hall to take advantage of the free nearby parking, and then walked to the festival, which was already well underway. There was a long line of all sorts of people: retirees, families, freshly liberated salarymen and OLs, students, etc. We did the misogi and the offerings, and I tried to get video footage of both, although the lighting sucked, and the Olfi doesn't come with any flash features.
We took some pictures near the 神輿 (mikoshi, or Shinto deity transportation vessel) and took a brief stroll along the street to check out the vendors. Aoyama-sensei wanted to leave at this point and go to dinner as planned, but then I noticed various people in festival garb crowding around the mikoshi. He inquired with one of the helpers, and it turned out that they were about to have another procession with it. Therefore, we decided to stick around and watch it before dinner.
The mikoshi
One of my classmates, Chen
Aoyama-sensei, trying not to throw out his back
As we were waiting, I felt a few slight taps on my right knuckle bone. I turned a looked down to see this little boy staring back up at me with sheepish awe, who then said 「ハロー」to me. I said hello back, and then he said 「ハロー」once more, this time a bit weaker, before turning around and heading back to his family. I've been in Japan for about 17 months now, and that's the first time that that's happened to me.
We watched the mikoshi being hoisted down to the traffic blockade and then headed out to dinner at a nearby izakaya. I got to have a very fun experience in Aizu that I otherwise would not have known about. (The festival was not advertised in the city bulletin, so I would've had no other way of knowing about it had Aoyama-sensei not told us.) There will be other festivals in Aizu this month, and I intend to go to those as well. I'll keep you all in the loop as to how those go.
In retrospect, the accident was my fault. At the time of booking the car, I had the option to add additional drivers onto the rental, for free. However, I didn't want to be too much of a bother to anyone else, so I elected to drive the entire time. I could've also put my foot down at the service area and said that I would like to rest for a few hours. But once again, my try-to-be-a-good-先輩 portion of my brain decided to kick in. Regardless of these missed opportunities, it happened anyway, and I only have myself to blame.
It was around 0230 hrs, and we were in Shimogo, about 20 minutes south of Aizuwakamatsu. I wasn't necessarily falling asleep at the wheel, but the fatigue was slightly starting to kick in at this point. As we were rounding a slight curve in the road, I took the curve way too close. Next thing I knew, I heard a scraping sound, and felt the car move up slightly to the left, so I pulled the car back onto the road and stopped the car immediately, then reversed it off of the road into the parking lot of a defunct restaurant. As it had turned out, I had not only clipped the curb, but I'd also knocked into one of the reflector posts lining the side of the road. The post was still standing, but the reflectors were knocked out of the post.
The car took some cosmetic damage. The corner of the front left bumper had a dent in it, with the black plastic piece covering the fog light hole knocked in. There was also a slight gash on the front left hubcap, and the rear left hubcap was gone, along with the rim slightly bent in one area. Normally, this would be a cause for a serious meltdown, but I had already thought of this ahead of time. I booked the rental car with the "Super Safety Package", which meant that in the event of an accident, I would pay absolutely nothing for the repairs to my car, another party's car, or any property damage. There were, however, two major caveats involved for the insurance to kick in. The first was calling the police and the rental company hotline to report the accident. Bit of a bummer for me as this will now give me an accident record on my license.
The second was that all of the car's hubcaps had to be present. We'd checked along the side of the road, where the impact had happened. It was gone.
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At this point, I was starting to get very nervous. Oono-san kept trying to calm me down as the police took down our information and asked us questions. I told one of the policemen that I was not falling asleep at the wheel, as I wasn't in the first place. All I did was take that corner too close. He had no objections to my testimony, and told me to be more careful next time. While we were outside waiting, a neighbor came outside to check out the commotion. As we had learned from her, I wasn't even the first person to have an accident on that particular corner. Apparently a truck driver also had an accident there a few years back.
The policemen took various photos and measurements in the road and of the car. At each of these locations, in what I thought was a shaming attempt, I was asked to stand next to the damage and point at it as they took three different pictures. Thankfully for us, another policeman found the hubcap, which had somehow made its way deep into the yard of someone's house on the other side of the street. However, because he'd found it there, we had to wait first until the owner got up to confirm that the hubcap was indeed ours and not his. (It was the same size and design as the other hubcaps; we were sure of it.)
At one point, my friends decided to take over for me, offering to drive the rest of the way back to Aizu. I agreed to it, and retreated to lie down in the third row while one of my friends got into the driver's seat to start the car. It didn't turn over. The battery had died due to us using the defroster and wipers without running the engine. We had to wait for JAF (Japanese AAA) for a jump start , which just added to the shame of it all. We then went back south a bit to a convenience store so that some people could use the restroom, and then we drove back to the scene of the accident. The owner of that house had finally woken up and came outside to confirm what we kind of knew all along. From there, we went back to Aizu. Along the way, I got carsick, and ended up chucking in a separate convenience store parking lot.
Two of my friends parted ways with us there. From there on, I felt confident enough to drive us back to campus. While the others waited in the car, I went back to my room and slept for about an hour and a half. Then I got back in the car, drove it to a nearby gas station for fuel, and then drove back to the rental agency. My friends explained all the details that weren't included in the news from the main office, and the shop attendants assured me that because I had done the right thing, I wasn't going to pay anything extra. I messaged a colleague at work to come get us, and he came and picked the three of us off, dropping the other two people off at home first. As we were leaving my friend's apartment building, I had to chuck again.
My colleague dropped me off at Somei House, and I went inside, collapsed on my bed, and proceeded to sleep for the entire day. I mean this literally, as I woke up once in the afternoon, and then once late at night to shower. Even getting up this morning was a challenge. I was physically and emotionally drained, and I made myself look like a fool in front of my friends, who kept patient looks on their faces while probably internalizing their rage towards me for making them late to return home.
The damage, in better lighting
Thank God I was paranoid enough to book the top-end insurance
All I can say now is that I've learned my lesson. Take longer rests, and/or book extra drivers on the rental. As it had turned out, I am not as endurant of a driver as I'd originally thought I was. I've decided since then that I will be cancelling my plans to go to Hiroshima this summer, as I just don't think I have the capacity to go on a trip like that anytime soon. I could drive halfway and rest a night on my way there and back, but I just don't have the time or money. I'll just stay on campus and work on my research for my vacation. At the very least, I'll be less of an inconvenience then.
In the meantime, the next challenge is being able to look my friends in the eye again. That part may take a while.
Monday was the big trip to Tokyo. I, Oono-san, and two freshmen left Aizu shortly after 0600 hrs, with the goal of meeting a fifth person in Ochanomizu. I was responsible for driving us into the largest metropolitan area on the planet, navigating a network of different expressways and complex streets.
As it had turned out, it was the best driving experience in my life so far.
The expressway drive was something else. Elevated roads and tunnels snaked around tall business buildings and apartment complexes. There were reminder signs everywhere reminding people to, above all else, drive quietly at night to avoid waking the people below and around. All the signs were bilingual, so I was never really confused as to where we were.
We arrived in Ochanomizu a bit behind schedule, and while one of the group stayed behind to wait for the other person, I started looking through the stores on the main street. This section of Tokyo is home to many musical instrument stores, especially guitars. They were also much more narrow on the inside as I had originally thought; every single square centimeter was accounted for. I purchased some sax accessories here.
Akihabara was located right next to Ochanomizu, and I decided to head back there before lunch to try to look for a PS2 game that I have been wanting to buy for a long time. This was not my first trip to Akihabara; two years ago, when I first came to Japan to look at colleges, I went through most of the vintage game stores here looking for the game, but could not find it. But I was able to take a look at some of the game stores and electronics resellers around the area. Even with all of the branch locations for major media retailers like Sofmap, the side streets still had that same hardware and computer component spirit that was to be expected of the area.
For lunch, all of us [with the exception of one person who went to meet another friend for lunch] met up at a restaurant called Hero's, located in Akihabara, which was a recommendation from Saitou-san. The restaurant sold steaks sized by the pound, including a three-pound sirloin which was advertised as a dare to the patrons on the street and in the restaurant. A former member of the wind ensemble, Nagasaka-san, met us here, and treated us at the end. As for the steak, my time in Japan has reduced the amount that I can eat at once, so instead of the three-pound steak, I went for a two-pound chuck steak. I said to my friends after I swallowed the last piece of that steak, in Japanese, "Don't mess with an American's stomach." When Oono-san asked me if I could eat a three-pound steak in one sitting, I told him that unfortunately, I couldn't, because I wasn't from Texas.
After lunch, we went to one more electronics store called Mandrake to see if the game was there. Alas, it was not. That makes me 0 for 2 now, which means I'll have to order it online. But we still saw the rest of the video game floor in the meantime, and take a look at the ridiculously overpriced game collection that they had to offer.
~$320 for Battletoads. Battle. Fuckin'. Toads.
Following that, we walked back to the parking garage in Ochanomizu and drove to our next destination: Ginza. Ginza had a lot of high-end stores, including Abercrombie, which I especially wanted to go to. We drove to the parking garage I had planned to go to, only to find out that it was for adjacent hotel guests only. Luckily, the attendant pointed us to a larger parking lot down the street.
After walking over to the station in Shinbashi to meet up with our missing friend, we all took off to do our shopping again. In addition to the Abercrombie, I stopped at an additional two music stores in the area. One was a Yamaha-owned store, that sold both its own and competitor's products [at retail], and the other was Yamano Music, a higher-end music store with, to my surprise, a huge selection of flutes. Also on the street was a Nissan "outpost" showing off a GT-R NISMO and two different concept cars, complete with a marketing-overdosing lecture about Nissan's take on the future of driving. The main street was closed off for pedestrians due to the holiday, but reopened at about 1800 hrs, just as we were leaving the area.
As we were pulling out of the garage, we noticed that it also offered rental spots for long-term use, mainly for people who lived in the area but needed a place to store their vehicles. A man was washing his green Porsche 911 as we were driving out. We also saw a Jeep Grand Wagoneer, an early 2000s Escalade covered in dust, and yet another Mercedes G-Wagon. Truly, Ginza is where the wealthy go to live.
We were running behind at this point, so we axed our plans to go to Shibuya and went straight to Shinjuku for dinner. On the way there, we ended up passing the Diet building, which is where the Japanese version of Congress meets. There was virtually nobody on that street with us, due to Monday being a national holiday. The streets of Shinjuku were very cool, and even though we missed the turn to the garage, we still got to see the roads off of the main one when turning around. That in itself was pretty cool.
We met up with Kaneta-san, Gunji-san, and another person from our wind ensemble in Tokyo for an internship at a restaurant on the top floor of one of the many high-rise buildings in Shinjuku. There, we reconnected over Italian food, and I was able to get caught up with Kaneta-san. While he's okay with his new job, he misses his Civic, and hates the train rides to work during the day because they are always packed. I asked him where, if I were to move to Tokyo, the best place to live would be. He recommended Ikebukuro.
At the end of dinner, we were already 45 minutes behind schedule, and I still wanted to go to Tower Records to pick up a Super Eurobeat CD, as well as get gas while we were still off the expressway. (As it turned out, gas is still cheaper even in Tokyo compared to Aizu. Tokyo! Who would've thought?) It was going to be a four-hour drive home, so we had no time to waste. By 2300 hrs, we were back on the expressway, headed home. We rested for a few minutes at a service area shortly before our exit off the expressway, and then continued onwards.
I had had a fantastic time in Tokyo. I still, however, would not want to live there, because of the overall magnitude of the city. Surprisingly, Oono-san agreed with me, which caught me by surprise seeing how his hometown is not far from Tokyo. It's a good city to stay in, and certainly drive in, but I just don't think I'd fare well there. I'd had my fill of the city, and now I was heading home, making my way along the dark national roads on my way back to Aizu.
Lighting and phrasing: two things I need to work on while creating reviews.
Tomorrow I'm taking a day trip to Tokyo with friends, so we will be heading there and back together by car. I've rented this Mazda Biante to take us there and back. A one-way train ticket from Aizu to Tokyo is around $90. Five people sharing this van is about $85, roundtrip. And we won't have to worry about adhering to any bus or train schedules.
While the car is in my possession, I decided to give it a review like I did the Hijet. This time, I actually used voiceover for explaining details and features. I did the driving on the fly. In my opinion, I've gotten a bit better, especially now that I can plan out some of what I want to say before I actually say it. However, I've still got a ways to go.
Anyways, enjoy. I'll have a trip recap (and possibly action camera footage?) later in the week.
It was time for my biyearly teeth cleaning, but because I wasn't going home for it, I had to figure out something here. The lab secretary, Hoshi-san, was able to arrange an appointment for me at Ikki Dental Clinic. The clinic is literally a three-minute walk from the school, and they had English assistance available. Everything about the arrangement screamed convenience, so I arranged to take a Friday when I wasn't going to work to get it done.
I walked here every time because it was so close. And I hate walking far!
The clinic was nice and clean, and the paperwork was bilingual, which was the only useful English available. However, even with my shit Japanese, I was able to get by. Thankfully, the doctor spoke some broken English as well. I was called into a common room with a few other chairs setup, separated by dividers. The doctor put me in the chair and took a look in my mouth. I also got an x-ray inside a cramped chamber that used plastic tongs to hold my head in place. The last time I got my teeth cleaned, in December, the doctors didn't find anything unusual with my teeth. I was, in their books, pretty healthy.
But this doctor was different. This doctor told me that I had not one, not two, not even three, but six cavities, all in the molar region. One of my fillings was also due for a replacement as the metal was getting dull. The cavities themselves were in the center crevices of the teeth, and
about hairline width, so the doctor did some grinding and coating to protect the teeth. Before the actual cleaning, he did two of the molars on one side of my mouth. I'd have to go back for the rest on two separate occations.
Another two teeth were treated the second time. It was done in a separate room this time, although the same dental assistant was with me. Like most of the dental assistants I've known in my life, she was peppy and happy the entire time. The doctor came in to do the grinding, and she took care of all the rest. (As she said the last time, these teeth as well この歯もキレイになった。)
The third time was back in the common room, and with a tag team effort. When they took out the old metal from my filling and replaced it, they made sure to put the new coating over it so that you couldn't tell I had the metal in the first place. After that I was finally done.
While I would've appreciated having it all done at once, I was very impressed by the facility and staff, and the fact that I took non-work days/time to do it made it less stressful. The cost was also fantastically low. I had the cleaning and all cavity work done for about $90. For reference, a cleaning back home is almost twice that with no insurance. (Don't tell me that single payer isn't worth it.)
So I'll be back there for another cleaning in December. In the meantime, I should be much more careful with my teeth.
I arrived at the Roadster Meeting at around 0830 hrs, as half of the parking lot I was assigned to was already filled. On the way, I passed by countless other Roadsters going all over the city. My default greeting to these people was the pop-up trick. The is one of the features that I love about Tackawanna. Instead of fixed headlights on normal cars, Tackawanna's headlights flip up from the edges of the car. This usually happens only when you turn on the lights, but there's a button on the dashboard that will raise and lower the headlamps without necessarily turning them on. I even made sure to do this trick as I passed the many Roadster-owning photographers that parked on the shoulders of the main road going towards the ski area parking lot.
The parking lot was divided into two areas. I was in the first parking lot, which was closer to the main event and tents but had less shade. The actual event started at 1000 hrs, where the organizers gave opening statements in both Japanese and English. (The English, most likely, was for the Miata club from the Philippines, who came to participate in the event, sans car, of course.) There was also a small race about an hour later involving pedal cars and crying toddlers. That was what the Internet likes to call "unhappy adorable." At around 1200 hrs, there was a "talk show" involving certain ambassadors from Mazda who have had experience with designing, building, and marketing the car.
On display under the tents were two different cars. The first was the one-millionth Miata that was carted around Japan and North America for fans to sign, but although there were still open spaces available, no one was allowed to sign it. (Bummer; I guess my name won't be on it, then.) The other car was a totally factory-restored NA Roadster, complete with new everything. In Japan, Mazda is offering a "restoration service" for existing NA models, which is essentially a Mazda-approved restoration and refurbishment back to showroom condition. Representatives for the project were present, and distributing application forms for people who were interested. Mazda is not the only company to take interest in their older cars like this; Nissan is also resuming OEM parts distribution for its R-32 Skyline GT-R, a Japan-only model that is considered to be one of the greatest cars that ever rolled off a production line.
I got a chance to walk around the lot to see the other Roadsters that assembled for the meeting. Over 1300 vehicles participated. I was also assured to see that my car was certainly not the ugliest. Roadsters of all conditions and from all over the country littered the meeting. The people there were also diverse. I pulled up and parked next to a man and his daughter, who looked no older than five, and I overheard him saying that their mother was coming to meet them. The drivers were mostly male, but there were plenty of females, too, including one driving a hot pink NA with those god-awful headlamp eyelashes. (Interestingly, out of all those cars that I'd seen, only one was a Fiat 124 Spyder. Even the Hokuriku meeting had more Fiats there.)
There were various vendors selling parts as well, and some owners laid out blankets in front of their cars to sell parts. The goal was to get a new passenger driver-side mirror. Unfortunately, none of those were for sale. I did, however get my toy car for my Roadster! (Yes! Now I can make the joke!) I also picked up a new oil dipstick, as the old one's ring broke off at some point.
Here's my toy car...
I saw most of my Roadster friends. I met up with Shimizu-san, whom I'd met at the Tohoku meeting in October, as well as Matsuda-san. Fujimoto-san also attended the event, but I didn't see him or run into him. Mizuochi-san was an event organizer, and was too busy to be in one location for a long period of time, so I didn't get to talk to him, either. Regardless, I had fun at the event overall.
Shimizu-san and I in front of his car. He brought his girl with him.
The drive home was nice, too. It rained the day I arrived in Karuizawa, but not going home. The plan was to use my action camera to get the whole trip back home. However, the camera kept acting up because I was using the iOS app to control the camera and not my usual camera remote, which I had lost at some point during my trip. Chalk that one up to a glitch. (The surviving video will come later, after I edit it. You can check out the pictures here.)
So. Many. Group. Photos. Taken.
As for whether or not I'd go to the next meeting: if I stay in Japan longer after graduation, then yes, I'll go again next year. Next time, however, I'm only going for one night. Karuizawa has obliterated my leisure spending for a few months, and I've already seen most of it. In the meantime, there's research and work to keep me busy.
