Ooh... we just had an earthquake!
Nothing big, but the bookshelves just rattled and the desk wobbled for about ten seconds...
Saturday, April 03, 2004
Well, I have finally arrived in Sendai - where I am supposed to be spending this entire year. After Tohoku (the uni over here) told me that I had to turn up before the end of the first week in February at the latest, and (in a different sentence) that I would have a room in the International House, I made what turned out to be a very foolish assumption.
I assumed that the room in the International House would be for the whole time I will be here. Oh, no, that would only be logical, and the single most important thing I have learned about Japan since arriving is that logic is never permitted. Japanese uni's start in April, so so did the 'year' that I can spend in the International House. Also because of this, I was not able to join in any classes before now, since starting mid way through a semester is rather pointless. So, for the last two months I have been expected to be in Japan, but doing nothing.
I also asked why I had to be here from February, given this case, and apparently that was because I could not recieve any scholarship unless I came at the start of February. This makes very little sense, because the scholarship, though funded by the federal government (of Japan), is paid to my bank account directly by the university, so it stands to reason (my reasoning, at least, not Japanese reasoning) that the uni can start paying it whenever they choose...
Oh well, Im here now and theres not much that can be done about that. At least no more ANU students will have to go through the farce I have had to put up with, being offered a 'cheap' place to stay (a thousand dollars a month rent PLUS utility charges on top of that, plus food costs does not meet my definition of 'cheap') until able to move into the place they really should have put me in when I arrived, plus finding out eventually the details of precisely what I need to study has just been exhausting,
The trip up here was reasonably smooth, though going out the night before I left Saitama for a 'farewell party' (I'd only been there six weeks..!) for me meant that I didnt finish packing until about four in the morning, then having to get up at nine to still be in time to do everything else I wanted to do that day meant I was rather tired.
Mr Shimada from RAYs doesnt come in on Thursdays, so I guess I was supposed to say goodbye to him the night before, but he left in a flash as soon as the lessons had finished, so I didnt get to see him. He's a funny old bloke with bad breath, so if you see him tell him I said 'bye'. Gregtheamerican 'inspected' my room, which was basically to make sure I hadnt removed a wall while staying there, and returned my deposit, which I had forgotten about, so that made a nice little bonus while waiting for my scholarship to pay for March (looks like, if I sign any time after the 5th, they make me wait until the last day of the month before they pay out). Tomtheamerican and Larrythecanadian dragged themselves out of bed to see me off, and even walked up to the train station with me.
Remember I told you about the lack of lifts at Urawa station? That makes it very difficult to carry a 30 kilogram suitcase and a 20 kilogram bag, plus a backpack, down the stairs to the walkway, then back up another flight of stairs to the platform. Normally I had been able to make the trip from the ticket gate to the platform in about thirty seconds, but it took me about five minutes, trying not to break my computer, nor strain any muscles.
Transferred to the shinkansen, and sat in peace and had a coffee while being whisked across Japan at, quite literally, over a hundred miles an hour. At least getting off at the other end was easier - Sendai station being busy enough to warrant both lifts AND escalators. I was stunned. Flagged down a taxi and told him precisely where to take me.
Triumphantly the taxi driver pulled into a place that claimed to be the Sendai International House, but something about the kanji across the door told me it might in fact not be Tohoku University International House.
It was, in fact, not Tohoku University International House. The place I should have been was, thankfully only about a seven hundred metre walk away, but it was still uphill. So, off I plod, shoulders being dragged to the ground by my backpack, and my arms being lengthened behind me by pulling two suitcases. Remind me to thank the caveman who invented wheels next time I see him. I think he might live here - there are cavemen running the beauracracy in this country, they just wear suits instead of sabre-tooth tiger skins. Anyway the Japanese often claim to have invented most things... the most recent I heard was that the Japanese invented the internet about five years before those Americans did.. but apparently they just didnt tell anyone, so no one knew.
Back to the story... I made it into the right place, told them who I was, they gave me a key and proceeded to show me to my room. Under strict instruction, I left my suitcases in the foyer where they promised to watch them for me, and I was showed to my room, taught how to operate the light switch (its a little bit of plastic on the wall near the door; you push one end of it and the lights come on, you push the other end and they go off! It takes most people three or four tries to get the hang of being able to operate it correctly... I did it in only two, I must be above average), the gas stove, the hot water tap. I was also instructed to never leave the gas stove on and go to sleep, with or without a flame.
Once I had practised operating the light switch once more, I returned to the foyer to collect my bags from the watchful gaze of the receptionist.
No bags.
I pointed this fact out as calmly as I could to the staff who promised to watch them, who promptly went into a panic. They tracked them down pretty quickly - turned out an oompa-loompa had taken them to someone else's room instead of mine. Bags recovered, I carried them to my room myself, for safekeeping.
The room is quite good, and you could fit the nest I had in Saitama three or four times into it. Its even longer door-to-window than the rooms at Ursula, though the far end of the room is triangular, which gives an illusion of more depth. Its a little narrower than college rooms, and the big wardrobe along the wall makes it feel narrower. Still no carpet, but at least the walls are solid, not that weird squishy stuff I had before. I will put some photos up on my photo page soon.. have to wait til my posters properly unsquash (I put a textbook on each corner to hold them down overnight, theyve been rolled up tightly for far too long) then I can put them and some photos up on the wall and make it look more lived-in. First decoration that did go up was of course framed photos of Sarah, which now live on my desk.
Theres a fridge, which is very useful, a sink, a desk and a separate eating-bench, two chairs, a bed with a futon on top (makes for the most comfortable sleep I have had since arriving in Japan - theres a bonus to this place!), plenty of wardrobe space, and two gas burners on the stove. No oven, of course, so I will have to track down probably a little toasteroven for making... well, toast, I guess.
Eugene left me some stuff thats handed down from one ANU student to the next - though it differed a little from what he said he had. He said he had some pots and pans, plates and the like, a rice cooker, and a coffee maker. What he actually left for me was a CD player, extra speakers, a video deck, and an old towel.
Close enough.
These will be of great use anyway (well, maybe not the towel), especially if I can find a cheap TV to go with the VCR.
Once moved in and familiar enough with the door to be able to find the place again later, I set off to find the uni. Having not a clue where it might be, I set off, stopped in at the bank on the way for some stuff (which was hard to explain to them, so I had fun squeezing another oompa-loompa) (not literally), and kept a-wandering. Things must have been going all right, because just when I began to think I might actually be lost, I walked around a bend in the road and saw the university right there in front of me. Headed in, had some lunch, meandered across to the kenkyushitsu (place im supposed to be studying in this year), and said Hi to people.
Uchiyama san (the fellow who wears polar fleeces in primary colours) (he's also the fellow supposed to be helping the students there - maybe he does, he at least tries) gave me the keys to a bicycle that one of the previous students had left behind for me - so now I have a real live bike, which I plan to start using whenever I need to go anywhere... otherwise its a forty-five minute walk to uni from my burrow.
I have met about nine people who also live here so far ... one Aussie (Sydney), one Korean, and about seven Americans. Have seen plenty of people speaking Chinese, plenty speaking Hindi/Urdu, but other than that English is the other great superpower of language groups here. Hopefully as time goes on I shall meet more people and the like, but it seems like an OK place to live for now.
As long as the futon is this comfy, Im going to enjoy being curled up in bed.
96
I assumed that the room in the International House would be for the whole time I will be here. Oh, no, that would only be logical, and the single most important thing I have learned about Japan since arriving is that logic is never permitted. Japanese uni's start in April, so so did the 'year' that I can spend in the International House. Also because of this, I was not able to join in any classes before now, since starting mid way through a semester is rather pointless. So, for the last two months I have been expected to be in Japan, but doing nothing.
I also asked why I had to be here from February, given this case, and apparently that was because I could not recieve any scholarship unless I came at the start of February. This makes very little sense, because the scholarship, though funded by the federal government (of Japan), is paid to my bank account directly by the university, so it stands to reason (my reasoning, at least, not Japanese reasoning) that the uni can start paying it whenever they choose...
Oh well, Im here now and theres not much that can be done about that. At least no more ANU students will have to go through the farce I have had to put up with, being offered a 'cheap' place to stay (a thousand dollars a month rent PLUS utility charges on top of that, plus food costs does not meet my definition of 'cheap') until able to move into the place they really should have put me in when I arrived, plus finding out eventually the details of precisely what I need to study has just been exhausting,
The trip up here was reasonably smooth, though going out the night before I left Saitama for a 'farewell party' (I'd only been there six weeks..!) for me meant that I didnt finish packing until about four in the morning, then having to get up at nine to still be in time to do everything else I wanted to do that day meant I was rather tired.
Mr Shimada from RAYs doesnt come in on Thursdays, so I guess I was supposed to say goodbye to him the night before, but he left in a flash as soon as the lessons had finished, so I didnt get to see him. He's a funny old bloke with bad breath, so if you see him tell him I said 'bye'. Gregtheamerican 'inspected' my room, which was basically to make sure I hadnt removed a wall while staying there, and returned my deposit, which I had forgotten about, so that made a nice little bonus while waiting for my scholarship to pay for March (looks like, if I sign any time after the 5th, they make me wait until the last day of the month before they pay out). Tomtheamerican and Larrythecanadian dragged themselves out of bed to see me off, and even walked up to the train station with me.
Remember I told you about the lack of lifts at Urawa station? That makes it very difficult to carry a 30 kilogram suitcase and a 20 kilogram bag, plus a backpack, down the stairs to the walkway, then back up another flight of stairs to the platform. Normally I had been able to make the trip from the ticket gate to the platform in about thirty seconds, but it took me about five minutes, trying not to break my computer, nor strain any muscles.
Transferred to the shinkansen, and sat in peace and had a coffee while being whisked across Japan at, quite literally, over a hundred miles an hour. At least getting off at the other end was easier - Sendai station being busy enough to warrant both lifts AND escalators. I was stunned. Flagged down a taxi and told him precisely where to take me.
Triumphantly the taxi driver pulled into a place that claimed to be the Sendai International House, but something about the kanji across the door told me it might in fact not be Tohoku University International House.
It was, in fact, not Tohoku University International House. The place I should have been was, thankfully only about a seven hundred metre walk away, but it was still uphill. So, off I plod, shoulders being dragged to the ground by my backpack, and my arms being lengthened behind me by pulling two suitcases. Remind me to thank the caveman who invented wheels next time I see him. I think he might live here - there are cavemen running the beauracracy in this country, they just wear suits instead of sabre-tooth tiger skins. Anyway the Japanese often claim to have invented most things... the most recent I heard was that the Japanese invented the internet about five years before those Americans did.. but apparently they just didnt tell anyone, so no one knew.
Back to the story... I made it into the right place, told them who I was, they gave me a key and proceeded to show me to my room. Under strict instruction, I left my suitcases in the foyer where they promised to watch them for me, and I was showed to my room, taught how to operate the light switch (its a little bit of plastic on the wall near the door; you push one end of it and the lights come on, you push the other end and they go off! It takes most people three or four tries to get the hang of being able to operate it correctly... I did it in only two, I must be above average), the gas stove, the hot water tap. I was also instructed to never leave the gas stove on and go to sleep, with or without a flame.
Once I had practised operating the light switch once more, I returned to the foyer to collect my bags from the watchful gaze of the receptionist.
No bags.
I pointed this fact out as calmly as I could to the staff who promised to watch them, who promptly went into a panic. They tracked them down pretty quickly - turned out an oompa-loompa had taken them to someone else's room instead of mine. Bags recovered, I carried them to my room myself, for safekeeping.
The room is quite good, and you could fit the nest I had in Saitama three or four times into it. Its even longer door-to-window than the rooms at Ursula, though the far end of the room is triangular, which gives an illusion of more depth. Its a little narrower than college rooms, and the big wardrobe along the wall makes it feel narrower. Still no carpet, but at least the walls are solid, not that weird squishy stuff I had before. I will put some photos up on my photo page soon.. have to wait til my posters properly unsquash (I put a textbook on each corner to hold them down overnight, theyve been rolled up tightly for far too long) then I can put them and some photos up on the wall and make it look more lived-in. First decoration that did go up was of course framed photos of Sarah, which now live on my desk.
Theres a fridge, which is very useful, a sink, a desk and a separate eating-bench, two chairs, a bed with a futon on top (makes for the most comfortable sleep I have had since arriving in Japan - theres a bonus to this place!), plenty of wardrobe space, and two gas burners on the stove. No oven, of course, so I will have to track down probably a little toasteroven for making... well, toast, I guess.
Eugene left me some stuff thats handed down from one ANU student to the next - though it differed a little from what he said he had. He said he had some pots and pans, plates and the like, a rice cooker, and a coffee maker. What he actually left for me was a CD player, extra speakers, a video deck, and an old towel.
Close enough.
These will be of great use anyway (well, maybe not the towel), especially if I can find a cheap TV to go with the VCR.
Once moved in and familiar enough with the door to be able to find the place again later, I set off to find the uni. Having not a clue where it might be, I set off, stopped in at the bank on the way for some stuff (which was hard to explain to them, so I had fun squeezing another oompa-loompa) (not literally), and kept a-wandering. Things must have been going all right, because just when I began to think I might actually be lost, I walked around a bend in the road and saw the university right there in front of me. Headed in, had some lunch, meandered across to the kenkyushitsu (place im supposed to be studying in this year), and said Hi to people.
Uchiyama san (the fellow who wears polar fleeces in primary colours) (he's also the fellow supposed to be helping the students there - maybe he does, he at least tries) gave me the keys to a bicycle that one of the previous students had left behind for me - so now I have a real live bike, which I plan to start using whenever I need to go anywhere... otherwise its a forty-five minute walk to uni from my burrow.
I have met about nine people who also live here so far ... one Aussie (Sydney), one Korean, and about seven Americans. Have seen plenty of people speaking Chinese, plenty speaking Hindi/Urdu, but other than that English is the other great superpower of language groups here. Hopefully as time goes on I shall meet more people and the like, but it seems like an OK place to live for now.
As long as the futon is this comfy, Im going to enjoy being curled up in bed.
96
Wednesday, March 31, 2004
Despite it being two weeks before easter, I was employed today to be the Easter Bunny - and despite Sarah's insistence, I did not have to dress up.
I was recruited on Saturday night at RAYs English Party, and had to travel to another english school - one full of bratty little children. Japanese ten year old boys are the rudest, most obnoxious life forms I have ever encountered on the face of this planet. None of them ever stopped talking, the volume in the room was almost at painful levels the whole time. The teacher, or so she seemed to be, had convinced herself that the children were not talking, and simply talked over them at a normal level, so I doubt there was anyone in the room who could hear what she was saying.
I gave each child a coloured hard boiled egg (taking special care to leave the kids reaching out and snatching until last), and they were instructed to colour them in and draw patterns all over the eggs. I also had to explain to the children that this is what we do at easter... no matter how many times I told the woman that we do not, she insisted that I did. I think when I was in grade 2 I may have done that, once, at school, but I dont know anyone who regularly does this at home. I tried to explain that easter eggs in Australia are made from chocolate and covered with coloured aluminium foil (they dont have these in japan at all... hint hint...).
Rule number #826 of teaching children: Do not give them food that can be thrown, squashed, sprinkled on the floor, or smushed into other students hair.
Theres a photo of the floor after they had finished drawing on the eggs - I have no idea how so much came to be on the floor so soon. I missed getting a photo of the kid with egg through his hair, and also couldnt take a photo of the egg jammed into the exhaust pipe of the car parked out the front (someone else's car - owner unknown). They are in for a surprise when they try to start the engine. I told the woman not to try and poke it with a stick - all it would do would be to push the egg further inside.
She pokes it with a stick about a centmetre thick.
The egg goes further inside.
She exclaims in surprise "Oh, it went further inside!"
Sigh...
Its been raining all day, but slacking off now. Time to go and eat some ramen then go to the internet cafe and post this. Will probably be the last time I go to this internet cafe....
99
I was recruited on Saturday night at RAYs English Party, and had to travel to another english school - one full of bratty little children. Japanese ten year old boys are the rudest, most obnoxious life forms I have ever encountered on the face of this planet. None of them ever stopped talking, the volume in the room was almost at painful levels the whole time. The teacher, or so she seemed to be, had convinced herself that the children were not talking, and simply talked over them at a normal level, so I doubt there was anyone in the room who could hear what she was saying.
I gave each child a coloured hard boiled egg (taking special care to leave the kids reaching out and snatching until last), and they were instructed to colour them in and draw patterns all over the eggs. I also had to explain to the children that this is what we do at easter... no matter how many times I told the woman that we do not, she insisted that I did. I think when I was in grade 2 I may have done that, once, at school, but I dont know anyone who regularly does this at home. I tried to explain that easter eggs in Australia are made from chocolate and covered with coloured aluminium foil (they dont have these in japan at all... hint hint...).
Rule number #826 of teaching children: Do not give them food that can be thrown, squashed, sprinkled on the floor, or smushed into other students hair.
Theres a photo of the floor after they had finished drawing on the eggs - I have no idea how so much came to be on the floor so soon. I missed getting a photo of the kid with egg through his hair, and also couldnt take a photo of the egg jammed into the exhaust pipe of the car parked out the front (someone else's car - owner unknown). They are in for a surprise when they try to start the engine. I told the woman not to try and poke it with a stick - all it would do would be to push the egg further inside.
She pokes it with a stick about a centmetre thick.
The egg goes further inside.
She exclaims in surprise "Oh, it went further inside!"
Sigh...
Its been raining all day, but slacking off now. Time to go and eat some ramen then go to the internet cafe and post this. Will probably be the last time I go to this internet cafe....
99
Sunday, March 28, 2004
My time in Saitama is drawing to a close - I will be pleased to leave here because, for one, it is a mark that time here has passed and is getting me closer to leaving for good. Also, I get up to Sendai now and hopefully can talk some sense into people connected with the exchange program... Nahh, who am I kidding?
On the real positive side though, I will have a room bigger than the burrow I've been sleeping in this past six weeks, with my own cooking facilities that I can use any hour of the day, and a landline telephone!! This is exciting because it is cheaper for everyone to call me on a landline than it is to call my mobile.
Also means I can get to the university for free, and in less time than it takes me to travel from Saitama. It did rather annoy me that travelling to Sendai the two times they needed me to since I left to find somewhere to sleep, cost more than six times my monthly rent in Sendai.
Another positive to moving to Sendai is my phone bill can now be sent to me directly, instead of having to rely on Watanabe - kun, the fellow actually paid by the university to help me out in Japan, who has so far been almost completely useless (he did show me where to find food on the university campus, an act that would have taken at least five more minutes without him, so I must be thankful for that). Watanabe - kun posted me my phone bill two weeks after it arrived at his house (which was the first Id heard that it had even arrived at all), and it arrived here for me to read, the day AFTER it was due.
Thanks, Watanabe - kun.
I ask you, would it have been that difficult for me to move into an empty room in the college two months ago? They said it was impossible, then when I squeezed they said there were no empty rooms... but I have my doubts. Sounds far more like a case of "Chotto muzukashii desu ne" (always accompanied by the loudest sound they can manage of sucking air in between their teeth), literally translates as "Thats a little bit difficult" but in fact means "The operating manual does not devote a chapter to this very action, therefore I can categorically state it is impossible".
Had another RAY English Party last night.... wasnt that bad, there was free food and drink at least. I still find it a little surprising that people are willing to pay almost $50 for the privilege of talking to other people interested in doing the same, or to English speakers, who may or may not be there. Greg and Tomtheamerican both disappeared hours beforehand and conveniently showed up half an hour after it was all over. I wonder what Shimada would do if none of his pet gaijin showed up?
102
On the real positive side though, I will have a room bigger than the burrow I've been sleeping in this past six weeks, with my own cooking facilities that I can use any hour of the day, and a landline telephone!! This is exciting because it is cheaper for everyone to call me on a landline than it is to call my mobile.
Also means I can get to the university for free, and in less time than it takes me to travel from Saitama. It did rather annoy me that travelling to Sendai the two times they needed me to since I left to find somewhere to sleep, cost more than six times my monthly rent in Sendai.
Another positive to moving to Sendai is my phone bill can now be sent to me directly, instead of having to rely on Watanabe - kun, the fellow actually paid by the university to help me out in Japan, who has so far been almost completely useless (he did show me where to find food on the university campus, an act that would have taken at least five more minutes without him, so I must be thankful for that). Watanabe - kun posted me my phone bill two weeks after it arrived at his house (which was the first Id heard that it had even arrived at all), and it arrived here for me to read, the day AFTER it was due.
Thanks, Watanabe - kun.
I ask you, would it have been that difficult for me to move into an empty room in the college two months ago? They said it was impossible, then when I squeezed they said there were no empty rooms... but I have my doubts. Sounds far more like a case of "Chotto muzukashii desu ne" (always accompanied by the loudest sound they can manage of sucking air in between their teeth), literally translates as "Thats a little bit difficult" but in fact means "The operating manual does not devote a chapter to this very action, therefore I can categorically state it is impossible".
Had another RAY English Party last night.... wasnt that bad, there was free food and drink at least. I still find it a little surprising that people are willing to pay almost $50 for the privilege of talking to other people interested in doing the same, or to English speakers, who may or may not be there. Greg and Tomtheamerican both disappeared hours beforehand and conveniently showed up half an hour after it was all over. I wonder what Shimada would do if none of his pet gaijin showed up?
102
Almost 50% of orangutans have broken bones from falling out of trees.
Last Thursday, we set the scene for the adventure of the week. The wombat and Larrythecanadian are preparing to set out on a trip to a nightclub - Gas Panic in Roppongi. Roppongi is famous in Tokyo, Gas Panic is famous in Roppongi. Many things have been said about Gas Panic, many people have visited. Tonights excursion will seek to find out the truth behind the legend.
See you tomorrow!
--
Leaving RAYs at eleven pm, we caught the train at Urawa into Shinjuku, where Gregtheamerican had instructed us to change to the subway for Roppongi. (I figured it would be better to go a different route, but we followed Gregtheamerican's advice).
Found the subway station, but the roller door was pulled down and locked, so we spent another fifteen minutes blundering around Shinjuku in the rain to find another entrance. Eventually got on, and arrived in Roppongi.
Larrythecanadian knew where to go next, having been there before, so I let him lead, and sure enough we arrived promptly at Gas Panic, about seventy minutes after leaving RAY.
Well, having heard so much about the place (Jack, was that where you went that time?) from so many people, I must admit I was expecting something a little bigger. The club was on the third and fourth floor of a building (and I hope that the other floors were used as offices or something, not residential), each floor being about ten metres square. Take about a fifth of this as bar space on the fourth floor, and take over half as bar space on the third floor, and you start to get very crowded very soon. That, and there would have been about 80 to a hundred people at any one time.
There was a sign on the wall that I tried to take a photo of a few times, but it was too dark (and I didnt have my camera with me, so all the photos I did get are courtesy of my phone), reading " Everybody must be drinking to remain in Gas Panic ", and sure enough there were roving staff members checking everyone all the time to make sure we did in fact have a drink in our hands, else they would ask us to leave. It was an exercise in holding onto drinks for as long as possible - especially as they flatly refuse to serve water. Being Japan, everything was hideously expensive, but it could have been much worse - the reason Larrythecanadian wanted to go when he did was it was Thursday, and everything is 400 yen all night, at least half price and then a fair bit more as compared to their normal prices. I guess nowhere in the world could compete with Shooters, though... oh, Canberra....
Quite possibly this was the single largest concentration of foreigners I had ever seen in Japan in the one place (though I expect to see more in the International House in Sendai). About half the population looked definitely unJapanese, although as the night wore on that figure dropped and more Japanese people seemed to come to replace them. Larrythecanadian was having fun, though personally I dont believe that a nightclub is the place to try looking for the love of one's life. One suspects though, that he wasnt looking for anything long term. We did almost get into a situation that had potential to be difficult to extract himself from; he was enjoying talking to three rather attractive girls, might have been in line for more than just a conversation, when it was revealed to him (courtesy, i think, of one of the staff members who was aware of these three) that the three girls were not, in fact, girls...
After calming down, and an hour or so later, Larrythecanadian was once again charming his way into a group of more girls, just two this time, and seemed to be having a great time. (I sincerely hope he didnt ask them their gender, but maybe he did, because he was calm enough this time.) All is not so normal though, for it turns out that this pair were a mother and daughter who go out to places like this together... riight.
What was the wombat doing during all this, you may ask? Well, apart from providing Larrythecanadian with the occasional bit of Japanese language help, not much really. Trying to conserve money and retain the ability to hear took most of my concentration all night.
We left Gas Panic at 5am when the noise stopped, the fluroescent lights came on, and everyone left. Larrythecanadian knew a little curry place around the corner that was open 24 hours, so we called in there at ten past five in the morning for a breakfast of curry rice, replenished fluids by drinking almost a litre of iced water each, then navigated the trains to get back to RAYs.
Thanks to following MY nose instead this time, we made it back in just under an hour, almost fifteen minutes quicker than Gregtheamerican's route (though this may have something to do with the ten minutes we spend blundering Shinjuku in the rain on the way), and crawled back into RAYs at seven in the morning. Tomtheamerican had just woken up, and wanted to hear all the details of the night, but Larrythecanadian curled up in the shower cubicle and slept, while I stretched out on the couch, decided it was uncomfortable, so had another couple of glasses of water and crawled into bed, not to emerge until well after dark.
The verdict? Yeah, it was an interesting experience. Would I go there again? No. Do I ever plan to spend that amount of money in a single day and not have anything to show for it in this country again? Not unless its involving buying a plane ticket or something similar to get me away from here.
Oh well...
I guess I'll go back to sleep now...
103
Last Thursday, we set the scene for the adventure of the week. The wombat and Larrythecanadian are preparing to set out on a trip to a nightclub - Gas Panic in Roppongi. Roppongi is famous in Tokyo, Gas Panic is famous in Roppongi. Many things have been said about Gas Panic, many people have visited. Tonights excursion will seek to find out the truth behind the legend.
See you tomorrow!
--
Leaving RAYs at eleven pm, we caught the train at Urawa into Shinjuku, where Gregtheamerican had instructed us to change to the subway for Roppongi. (I figured it would be better to go a different route, but we followed Gregtheamerican's advice).
Found the subway station, but the roller door was pulled down and locked, so we spent another fifteen minutes blundering around Shinjuku in the rain to find another entrance. Eventually got on, and arrived in Roppongi.
Larrythecanadian knew where to go next, having been there before, so I let him lead, and sure enough we arrived promptly at Gas Panic, about seventy minutes after leaving RAY.
Well, having heard so much about the place (Jack, was that where you went that time?) from so many people, I must admit I was expecting something a little bigger. The club was on the third and fourth floor of a building (and I hope that the other floors were used as offices or something, not residential), each floor being about ten metres square. Take about a fifth of this as bar space on the fourth floor, and take over half as bar space on the third floor, and you start to get very crowded very soon. That, and there would have been about 80 to a hundred people at any one time.
There was a sign on the wall that I tried to take a photo of a few times, but it was too dark (and I didnt have my camera with me, so all the photos I did get are courtesy of my phone), reading " Everybody must be drinking to remain in Gas Panic ", and sure enough there were roving staff members checking everyone all the time to make sure we did in fact have a drink in our hands, else they would ask us to leave. It was an exercise in holding onto drinks for as long as possible - especially as they flatly refuse to serve water. Being Japan, everything was hideously expensive, but it could have been much worse - the reason Larrythecanadian wanted to go when he did was it was Thursday, and everything is 400 yen all night, at least half price and then a fair bit more as compared to their normal prices. I guess nowhere in the world could compete with Shooters, though... oh, Canberra....
Quite possibly this was the single largest concentration of foreigners I had ever seen in Japan in the one place (though I expect to see more in the International House in Sendai). About half the population looked definitely unJapanese, although as the night wore on that figure dropped and more Japanese people seemed to come to replace them. Larrythecanadian was having fun, though personally I dont believe that a nightclub is the place to try looking for the love of one's life. One suspects though, that he wasnt looking for anything long term. We did almost get into a situation that had potential to be difficult to extract himself from; he was enjoying talking to three rather attractive girls, might have been in line for more than just a conversation, when it was revealed to him (courtesy, i think, of one of the staff members who was aware of these three) that the three girls were not, in fact, girls...
After calming down, and an hour or so later, Larrythecanadian was once again charming his way into a group of more girls, just two this time, and seemed to be having a great time. (I sincerely hope he didnt ask them their gender, but maybe he did, because he was calm enough this time.) All is not so normal though, for it turns out that this pair were a mother and daughter who go out to places like this together... riight.
What was the wombat doing during all this, you may ask? Well, apart from providing Larrythecanadian with the occasional bit of Japanese language help, not much really. Trying to conserve money and retain the ability to hear took most of my concentration all night.
We left Gas Panic at 5am when the noise stopped, the fluroescent lights came on, and everyone left. Larrythecanadian knew a little curry place around the corner that was open 24 hours, so we called in there at ten past five in the morning for a breakfast of curry rice, replenished fluids by drinking almost a litre of iced water each, then navigated the trains to get back to RAYs.
Thanks to following MY nose instead this time, we made it back in just under an hour, almost fifteen minutes quicker than Gregtheamerican's route (though this may have something to do with the ten minutes we spend blundering Shinjuku in the rain on the way), and crawled back into RAYs at seven in the morning. Tomtheamerican had just woken up, and wanted to hear all the details of the night, but Larrythecanadian curled up in the shower cubicle and slept, while I stretched out on the couch, decided it was uncomfortable, so had another couple of glasses of water and crawled into bed, not to emerge until well after dark.
The verdict? Yeah, it was an interesting experience. Would I go there again? No. Do I ever plan to spend that amount of money in a single day and not have anything to show for it in this country again? Not unless its involving buying a plane ticket or something similar to get me away from here.
Oh well...
I guess I'll go back to sleep now...
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