Round eye.

This video sums up clerks in Japan

I am very in frequent with my blog, but now that it's colder outside I guess I will be in doors more so perhaps I will be writing more. Last year was a fantastic year for me, best year in Japan hands down. I am looking to make this year even better, as I exercise both my mind and body. But one thing I want to talk about is my experience in Japanese stores...

In America if you asked a store clerk where something is they would either tell you where it is or page someone who does know where the item is. In Japan things work a little differently. You ask a store clerk if the store cares a particular item and one of two things will happen:

1. They will walk you to the area where the item is and show you where it is.
2. They will immediately say NO.

Situation 1 happens maybe 20% of the time, and the other 80% of the time I find myself in situation 2. And guess what in situation 2 about 90% of the time they DO have the item! Now if your going to lie to a customer at least make an effort to deceive them, buy immediately saying "No" sometimes before I even finish asking the question, I immediately think this man/woman isn't even trying. Just say you aren't sure and apologize.

The worst situation was when I went to やまや which I was told was a foreign food mecca but is actually just a glorified liquor shop. I wanted to buy taco shells to make for me and a girl that was coming over for dinner (ohhh yeaa!). I asked a lady at the front register do you have taco shells, in Japanese of course and to clarify I actually pulled up various pictures of taco shells on my iPhone to show her, so that there was no confusion. She didn't even really bother to look at the picture or anything. She just glanced and said "we don't sell this sorry". Skeptically I said thanks and set about to search for the item myself. I searched exhaustively because I really wanted to make some tacos. After looking for a few minutes I gave up and just bought some salsa and some Corona, next best thing I guess. I was checking out and the lady at the register bent down to get a bag to put my items into. And when she bent down lo and behold sitting on a shelf directly behind here were. . .*GASP* taco shells. I mean WTF, does she just not want me to buy taco shells? Is she trying to keep them hidden so she can buy them all when she gets off work?

Another similar situation happened with my friend he went out to a bar with his co-workers and he wanted to introduce his co-workers to his favorite beer. He asked the bartender for 3 of the beer in question. And he replied sorry we don't have anymore tonight. Later on like probably 30 minutes later same bartender comes over and says "would you like to try this new beer? It's on special tonight." Guess which beer it was.

Another situation is if you have to buy anything that requires a specific size. Like for example I need some pedal parts for my bike cranks. I went to buy the part which requires english threading of a center diameter, it only takes ONE size there aren't other sizing options it's very specific. The guy at the bike shop I went to informed me he didn't have any parts in that size but offered to sell me some parts they not only weren't english but were wayy too small. And if that wasn't bad enough when I pointed these obvious things out to him he said "you could wrap rubber bands around the spindle ends and just jam it in there." Not only is that dangerous that is irresponsible things for a bike store clerk to be saying. I mean what happens if I did that and while riding my bike my pedal comes clean off the crank? I have a racing style bike so I am going as fast if not faster than cars on the streets here! Is there just no sense of liability in this country?

And heaven forbid you want to make changes to an order... Just try to order a hamburger with no cheese at some places. The worker just freezes in place and panics, with a deer in headlights look like OMG WTF do I DOOO NO CHEESE!!! One guy even went so far as to recommend another type of burger, I don't want an alternative I just want the burger I had with no cheese it's not that hard honestly, at the point when you make the burger where cheese is required just don't pick it up.

Tiger Year!

Last night was interesting, I didn't realize how interesting it really was until now...

A girl, Tsubasa, I had previously met at Club Triangle in Osaka, called she wanted to come by my house to pre-game with her little sister before they went to the club. Initially I agreed. But as the hour drew closer I was kind of dreading the whole ordeal. But I waited to the last minute to even have time to raise my protests over the idea. They were already on the way at that point.

Of course the Tsubasa forgot, where exactly I lived and went to 心斎橋駅 and ended up having to take a cab from their to my house. Some how I was able to give her directions to my house! I can barely give people directions to my house in America, yet I gave perfect directions, (in Japanese), to my house in a foreign country. Had this been America I would have just said something arbitrary like I'm near the park and that would have been it, no street names, no good discernible landmarks, just "I'm near the park".

Any way the Tsubasa and her sister made it, and we began pre-gaming. We were having a good time, but the hour to start our night approached fast. Time flies when your having fun.

Both Tsubasa and her sister already had tickets to the Slum Village show we were all planning on going to, I didn't. So that means I would have to wait in a long line to get in, so I decided I would leave separately on my bike so I could get there and wait in line while they were coming up, and hopefully by the time they got there I would have my tickets. I gave them directions from my place to the club. This time they didn't understand so well, and Tsubasa was getting annoyed. I rode my bike over to where they were, and showed them which street to take, then I headed off rapidly to the club.

When I got to the club I was surprised to find there wasn't a super long line, like I had been anticipating. I paid and went in, and waited for Tsubasa and her sister or Slum Village, which ever happened. On a side note one of the members of Slum Village was standing next to me and asked me some questions about Osaka, I wasn't sure what he said and couldn't really tell if he was really talking to me so I didn't respond, and he walked away.

Tsubasa and her sister came we got drinks and went straight to the front of the venue right near the stage. After awhile I started dancing with Tsubasa's younger sister Haruka. We locked fingers and the dance was getting pretty heated, she wasn't nearly as good of a dancer as Tsubasa though. Every once in awhile she would pull down sharply on both of my arms, I had no idea why at the time though. Meanwhile Tsubasa was laughing at what was happening, had no idea why at the time. But now I have an idea. Obviously Tsubasa brought her sister over to meet me, because she thought I was a nice catch (not like we are even dating though). But I mistook the situation as hey I want to hook you up with my sister lol. Imagine it like this you are talking to a girl off and on and she is like hey you should meet my mom, in that situation any normal person would take it as just that meeting her family. But not me, apparently I would take that as "Ohh shit she is about to hook me up with her mom".

Obvious I wasn't able to read Haruka's body language well at all at the time. And I am sure I made myself look like a creep. EXCEPT that I did start to back away from Haruka, several times in fact, and each time she would turn around see where I went then back up as well. So I think that more than anything confused me, but what ever, at this point I could care less about any of this. I know Tsubasa's view of me as "an amazing guy" is shattered, and I honestly don't care.

That first day we met was amazing though. Just casually went up to her at a club and started dancing, and man she can really dance. Wayyyy better than any other girl I have met in Japan, so I was definitely impressed. We talked after and hit it off well, an then returned to the dance floor to dance the night away. Before we parted ways in the early morning light. Each time we meet after that got progressively worse, and less magical. But that is a story for another day.

Unprofessionalism at its finest

どとんぼり川の祭り

明日デリックは大阪市に来る。彼が私の新しいケイタイーがある！ここから英語書く〜

So my friend Derick is coming tomorrow, and he is bringing me an iron. That's how unprofessional I am, don't even own an iron! This reminds me of an interview I had recently. I woke up early and dressed up in my best, and had a bit of breakfast. Time was running short so I had to rush to the train station. About halfway into my trip I realized I didn't have my resume! I left it in my apartment on my counter. No sweat there was a menu from McDonalds on the floor of the train I picked it up and grabbed a pencil from my pocket and hastily wrote my resume down.

Got to the hotel where the interview was to be held, and man was it nice! Talking about a 5 star hotel in Japan. Super sleek yet elegant looking with all the stainless steel and huge windows and plants hanging around. The interviewer bought me dinner at the hotel restaurant and we started the interview. First order of business he asked me for my resume. I handed him my handwritten resume. He glared at it, and was said, "WOW! Makes me hungry!"

"Great", I thought we are off to a good start the rest of this should be smooth sailing. so we chatted and he said he would like to do everything to get me a job with his company. As the interview progressed, I got more and more relaxed. So relaxed in fact that I loosened my tie, and then later took it off completely. The interviewer was kind of taken back by this. And he was like would you be this relaxed around your co-workers? He was like I would need to maintain a level of professionalism at all times. I commented that this interview just made me feel relaxed.

The interview concluded, so I went back and went back to sleep. Didn't get that job unfortunately :(

hmm

Dotombori祭り taken from my balcony!

Alot has happened, so much stuff that I don't even remember anymore. One thing I can say is that Osaka is bad ass! Definitely my favorite place in Japan, wish I had been living here the entire time, seems like the other years were a waste of time compared to my time here in Osaka. Anything I couldn't do in Gunma or Yamagata I can do easily here! Which explains why I never have time to blog these days, because I am always super busy. I will try and do a blog once a month, but it remains to be seen going forward if I can stick to that. As of right now I am counting down the days until I am finished with my current job and move back to being an ALT. Working in an 英会話 was okay at first, definitely made more money then when I was an ALT, but everyone just got a pay cut, and more work. So yea screw that shit, Japanese people might be willing to accept that kind of treatment but not me.

I know that the closer it gets to that last day the lazier I will probably become, and I am not concerned in the least bit. I have been working so hard that I am usually pretty exhausted. The company went bankrupt and then got bought out, in the process I lost all my vacation days. Which sucked because I was trying to take some vacation days, and my manager was being a total bitch about it. So in the end I ended up not getting a vacation and losing the days.

On top of that I am sure this new company is going to try and screw me over, so I will have to attempt to stay one step ahead. They fucked over two of my co-workers, so whats to say they wont do the same to me. They found some bullshit reasons to withhold money from their last paychecks. And my friend Nao got screwed over as well (almost) they over paid her then demanded she return the money they paid her on accident. To make that shit even more ridiculous she would have to pay the transfer fee to correct their mistake! WTF is that shit? I don't think she paid the money back, because that is some weak ass shit right there.

I expect some similar treatment. My only saving grace is they don't actually know which paycheck will be my last. The pay period is from the 15th to the 15th. I told them I would stay until the 21st to "help them out" but I have no plans on doing that shit, but I cant tell them that. I find its best to quit after you have gotten your last paycheck, that way your previously employer cant do shit to you. And that is my plan exactly. The 15th of August falls on a Saturday, and it just so happens that I work on that day. So I am going to wake up early check my bank account, make sure I got my paycheck, and if everything is okay, I will give my current company the flying bird! That will leave me with a two week break before I start my new gig!

Until then I will keep my head down and be 元気！

3rd base!

A few weeks back I had an intimate encounter with an older Japanese man. It isn't at all what you are thinking. So without further ado let the tale begin. I was a Wednesday I believe and I was at the gym across from my job. I had a good workout, and was heading to hit the showers. Outside of the shower area I was looking for a locker to put my things in. The only one available was up pretty high I had to stand on my tip toes just to reach it. While I was reaching, some Japanese man slid in-between me and the lockers to get his things from a lower locker. When he bent down to get his things his ass collided with my thighs causing me to lose balance. I fell forward, and to break my fall I grabbed on to his sides. So here we were two men at a crossroads in our life. I am sure when he was a schoolboy he never imagined he would be straddled by a sweaty black man outside of a shower. In fact this gym was in the countryside he has probably never seen a black man in his life. So his first encounter isn't the best one. I am sure a handshake would have sufficed. Once I regained my composure he said the most common word ever in Japanese すごい, meaning among other things "wonderful". That didn't make the situation any better. Once we both entered the shower area he was talking excitedly about what had just occurred. It's not like he was talking about some other random black guy everyone knew exactly who he was talking about. As I was the ONLY black guy that was a member of this particular gym. Now the locker room is like a gay prison, as awkward as that sounds that is how it is. I guess to the Japanese it's some kind of glorified piggy back ride. Personally I would hardly think carrying a fully grown naked black man on your back as something as carefree as a piggy back ride. In fact if in your life you are ever carrying a naked man on your back regardless of where he is from or his creed, something serious has happened or is about to happen.

Hmm

Haven't been able to post in awhile haven't had a computer. Hopefully soon that will all change!

Wall painting at the Happy Mexican. Awesome Fajitas!

Came back to America on the 8th of December, and I am unable to do roughly half of the stuff I set about to do here. I am a person who likes to get their money's worth. And so far I can't justify the cost of the entire trip to America yet. I am keeping a tally of any value of whatever it is I am doing here.

I had one hell of a welcome home though! When I left Osaka the weather was pretty warm I was able to wear shorts on most days, and the skies were clear and sunny. When I came back to Memphis the weather was cold and dreary, and it rained hard my entire first day. Also I got sick on that first day, and I am still sick right now. I decided to not let the rain keep me from seeing my friends, I only had a few of their numbers written hastily on a napkin. And almost all the friends I called said they couldn't hang out either because they were working or because they just didn't feel like it. WELCOME HOME!

Actually it wasn't all that bad my mom meet me at the airport with Hummus and Pita Chips yummy. But she also told me some ridiculous news. But Hummus trumps all, especially spicy Hummus.

The things I wanted to do while visiting America, (Basil said not to say "visit" since I am America more on him in a later installment) are take my new projector and PS3 back with me to Japan, see my friends, eat food I can't easily find in Japan. Upon coming back I realized my new Projector is pretty large and there is no way I could take this on a plane with me, so that is a failure. I can still take the PS3 with me so I am probably saving like $50 - $100 shipping that to Japan, still doesn't make up for the cost of actually coming to America. And as far as seeing my friends, we will just get to that later. I have been able to eat some food that would either be impossible to find or needlessly expensive in Japan, so that is a success.

Now as far as my friends. Of course they change over time, people change in general it's part of life. But they have changed dramatically this time around. And just because change is a part of life, doesn't mean I have to like or accept these changes. The most striking change is that for the most part most of my friends have become angry alcoholics, there is a fine line between a fun loving drunk and a bitter alky. And frankly they aren't straddling that line very well, at least in my eyes. But allow me to elaborate on this, so I won't just be "whining" like my friends said I was (lol).

So since I live in Japan I decided that instead of just letting the stuff I leave behind sit around and collect dust why not let other people use it and get enjoyment from it. I let friends borrow tons of video games, DVDs, thousands of dollars worth of hi-end audio equipment, my old DLP projector, clothes, and shoes. I mean you name it, and I probably let people borrow it while I live overseas. In fact I have lent out so many things, to so many different people that I have lost track of a lot of it, and it doesn't bother me generally. Another thing that doesn't bother me is when some of my stuff is accidentally misplaced or broken. I learned in college that stuff will get broken a lot even if you take great care of stuff, electronic equipment will still break down or malfunction it happens. So why am I bringing this up? Well there is a difference between accidents and malicious actions. And this time around I am facing malicious actions.

This time when I returned I decided to get back a few of my games and DVDs to take back with me. No problem, I mean I actually knew who had the things I wanted back. I meet my friends and Huey's and told them that I wanted some of my stuff back, they told me they had pawned it. I laughed because I thought it was a joke, I mean why would they pawn it? They had both gotten new jobs and were making more cash, so it's not like they were struggling, plus Memphis is a cheap place to live. So we went to chill at their apartment, and I was like alright jokes over were is my stuff at? And guess what they actually did pawn MY stuff!?! I asked them why they pawned stuff I let them borrow, because it made no sense to me. One of them immediately started yelling at me, and his logic was that over a year ago I accidentally took their copies of two games. Which I apologized for years ago, and even gave them some gifts from my old city in Japan. So what did they do in return they got bitter over something insignificant, and instead of accepting my apology for a genuine accident, they decided to pawn my stuff off just to be dicks. And as if that wasn't enough they demanded that I replace the two games from a year ago. What I did was an accident their actions were deliberate.

And it doesn't end there either, they alluded to violence to get their motives accomplished. They explained how 1 year ago (that's one full year ago) they were going to beat my ass for a genuine mistake I made, on the information that I received from another friend. If they were going to beat anyone's ass I would say fight the guy who told me that they were my copies of the game. And it isn't even like I broke into their house and stole this shit either, one of the guys was there and I was like I think these are mine and he was like yea okay. So they were alluding to still trying to fight me today, which is crude and silly. I would expect people to automatically escalate things to violence in Atlanta but I was disappointed to see this kind of thing happening amongst my own "friends" in Memphis.

And then of course there is the shit talking that comes with excessive drinking. Several of my friends including some of the friends previously mentioned have decided to just flat out talk trash to me. Why? Because I refuse to just get shit faced drunk with them, and it's not like I won't drink with them at all, I will have a beer or two, but I don't really want to just sit around and drink a whole handle of whiskey with people who are bitter about their job but at the same time trying to impress their co-workers (who are usally around now too) at my expense. Talking shit to me to impress your co-workers is pretty low, in my book. I still have about 4 or 5 friends who are still the same easy going people I remember so that is great. But these days it seems that my really good friends are my friends in Japan. I appreciate their open mindedness and acceptance of all lifestyles. Only in Japan can I be a part of a large group of people consisting of: heterosexuals, bisexuals, lesbians, alcoholics, smokers, non-smokers, businessmen, hippies, people who don't drink and bar tenders. I would never dream of hanging out with such a varied friend base, ALL AT ONE TIME, in Memphis. Perhaps in California something like that is possible but not in Memphis, I have to keep separate groups of friends to avoid clashes whereas in Japan friends of my friends are my friends by default.

But this trip has some redeeming factors I am enjoying this time sent with my family. So that is value added! But man I would be super pissed if my family wasn't here showing me the love they are. There is more I want to say in this especially about all the chaos that is happening in Japan since I am not there to handle shit. But I will save that perhaps for later, getting ready to hit the gym.