Questions of Science… Science and Progress…

Do not speak as loud as my heart
Nobody said it was easy,
No one ever said it would be this hard…
I’m going back to the start.

Hoooo boy, another blog, I’m sorry. I’ll try and keep this condensed as possible. And I’ll put the most important stuff first, since I imagine you CJPers are bored (or will be) of reading all the other Gion blogs.

So first of all, I Saw Azrael!!! He was on a train, I recognized him from his picture online. I asked if it was him for sure, and said that me and my friends all liked his blog. He was with friends so I felt a bit bad interrupting though. And I’m sorry to my friends who thought it would be a good idea for me to shout "Breasts!" at him and teleport away.

Oh yeah, if you don’t know, Azrael (or Jeff, his real name) is a 6’6" black guy who lives in Kyoto teaching English to junior high students. He’s been chronicling his adventures on his blog for many years now, and is one of the funniest things on the web. You can find his editorials on www.gaijinsmash.net, or it’s the first link if you type "Japanese school teacher" into Google.

Another interesting thing that only one other person will blog about… I saw Coldplay!!! Woohoo!!! Took 5 trains and an hour trip to make it down to Intex-Osaka Saturday night, where Coldplay was playing. After spending a fortune on a ticket at the door (unfortunately far to the back), and waiting in line to go in, I got to see the concert. No opening band, which was disappointing, in 2003 they had the awesome Brit band "The Music" open for them. But the concert was quite impressive, opening with Square One and Politik, and playing some of the most important songs, Don’t Panic, Swallowed in the Sea, and the best song ever, The Scientist (which was extremely well done, much better than their 2003 version). Very cool stage though, they showed video of the band playing on the background, and had some laser effects too.

And I could write it down
Or spread it all around
Get lost and then get found
And you'll come back to me
Not swallowed in the sea

I was kinda hoping they would play some new or some less popular songs though. I would have loved to hear Sparks, or A Message, or For You.

But anyway, back to chronologicalness… What a fun weekend! Basically the first large scale CJP reunion, as many people came down to Kansai (Kyoto/Osaka/Nara/Kobe) from Kanto (Tokyo). Oh crap, (was gonna say another word but Bush already said it), forgot about Thursday. Anton and I went to pick up my very sexy Yukata from Kinsho near his house. I chose the light brown one, which meant I stood out a bit compared to everyone else in their blue/gray/black ones. Then we stopped at Mister Donut, I got a double chocolate donut, expecting it to be tasty and sweet. It was neither… like 0 sugar at all, bleh… on a double chocolate donut! Gosh!! Then we met up with Uncle Masa and went to an Isakaya. Wasn’t too bad, only stayed for an hour and a half, and Anton did most of the talking since I’m maybe shy (sorry Anton). And then I went home just in time to miss shower curfew.

Accordion Friday, then I met up with Anton and then Billy at Kyoto Station. We went for dinner at the nearby isakaya (the one with the supercool owner and the two nice waitresses). Good meal, and we talked for quite a while. The owner remembered us, and Billy signed his gaikokujin book. Then we went back to Anton’s flat in Nara.

Saturday morning we met Clement, Neil, and Victor at Kyoto Station and went Yukata shopping. Along the way we were stopped by our obligatory old man, who gave us directions, even though we weren’t lost and didn’t need em. Not the most interesting old man experience, but with Uncle Masa on Thursday, I think we filled our quota for the week. I left the group around 2 to go to the concert.

Went back to the dorm first to figure out how to get to the concert, with a complex route involving 5 trains, and tried to buy a ticket from Lawson using my very limited language skills. That failed, mostly because Lawson stopped selling the tickets, since the show was starting in 3 hours, but at least I failed at speaking all by myself! So yeah, got to Intex-Osaka, ran around looking for the ticket selling place (veery hard to find), and saw an awesome concert, woot!

So I head back to Kyoto, and call Anton from Tambabashi station, to see if they’re still out at Gion Matsuri. We arrange to meet at Yasaka Shrine (basically the most important part of the festival, and about the easiest temple to find in all of Kyoto). When I get there… nobody. I call back, they say they’ll meet me between Yasaka and the train station… after running back and forth 3 times (and meeting Clarissa and her friends along the way, Random Encounter #1), we decide just to meet back at Anton’s… Turns out they were lost and nowhere near where I was… they needed my GPS abilities (but that’s later).

On the first train home I was standing beside someone who I swear was my arch nemesis from grade 7. Well, one of them at least… I had many. Stupid junior high. Anyway, if it wasn’t him, he looked identical. Then on the second train home, I was standing right near Mr. Azrael of OutpostNine! Three random encounters in under an hour, that’s a new record methinks.

Anyway, get back to Anton’s, and there’s about 11 of us total now… going to sleep in 3 rooms… with 2 futons… Yeah, not overly comfortable. Still better than camping last summer where it rained heavily for 3 days, man that was cold. What was I thinking… anyway… we had the door open between the two rooms, since there was only one AC… and Billy gets cold in the night, so he closes the door, leaving the other people to freeze. Clement wakes up and instead of turning the AC down (the obvious idea), goes to sleep and snore next to Billy! Interesting night.

Sunday we split up, and try to check out downtown, but we got caught in quite a storm. After me, Billy and Neil sacrificed ourselves to buy umbrellas for the group, we sheltered in a dessert place for dessert. Mmm large chocolate shake. Then we met with the others back at Kyoto Station for dinner at an Italian place. Our group now numbered 15, since the Osakans had arrived. After a lengthy changing process (some people wanted to wear their Yukatas), we headed downtown for the festival. Quite cool to see, massive crowds all over the place. We wandered around for a while, takin pictures, then using my mad GPS skillz I led everyone back to Kyoto Station for another lengthy changing process.

Another fun night, I gave up sleeping on the floor and slept with my head resting on the kitchen table. Oddly enough, it was an improvement. We got up too early and headed back to Kyoto to see the parade. Unfortunately it was still pouring, and we couldn’t get very close to the parade to see much, so we headed back to Tambabashi Station, met up with the Osakans for lunch, and headed back to Nara to change out of Yukata and to head home…

Ideas that you'll never find
All the inventors could never design
The buildings that you put up
Osaka, Japan... all lit up
The sign that I couldn't read
Or a light, that I couldn't see
Some things you have to believe
While others are puzzles, puzzling me

Gion Matsuri was a ton of fun, not really for the festival itself (which we were barely at), but mostly just spending time with so many of the CJPers again… Thanks to everyone who came down from Kanto and other areas, and especially to Anton and Tongxin for providing accomodations.

Looking forward to Pirates and surfin this weekend, too bad I have to work Saturday. And MIDI Wednesdays are almost as brutal as Accordion Fridays… I wonder what they play on Saturdays /cry.

And pictures will now be posted on my web album at http://picasaweb.google.com/keidan.link You can see me in a dress on there now!

Oh, weighed myself today, i've gained about 3-4 pounds since I've arrived here! Go me!

Until we meet again…