Six Months In

After six months of living in Japan, I must admit that everything seems a bit more normal. This has caused our updates to be fewer. Things are still exciting, I still find myself bursting out laughing as we walk around the heart of Osaka. We often turn to each other and exclaim 'I can't believe we live in Japan!' and I still can't. Everyday events have become much more normal and average. Our weekends are becoming busier with less time spent at home. It's been almost, but not quite, strange making a transition back into social beings. Though things are becoming more mundane they still excite me and make me giggle. I don't ever want to forget how unusual, special and silly this experience has been and continues to be. Even a taiko drum performance at school or a relaxed picnic in a park with some new friends is something unique. Every single day is filled with so much adventure and allure. Every experience is new and often confusing. The amounts of things we are learning is growing exponentially every single day. I feel much more like I belong here and sometimes forget that I stand out like a sore thumb.

Even when we first arrived, as I was describing to someone what life is like in Japan I said that it's not so different from life anywhere else I've been. People are still people; doing the things they have to do in order to survive and be happy. They fall into whatever routine is custom; they go to work, play, eat, sleep, and reproduce just like everyone else. It's the smallest details that make the largest differences. It's the fashion, mannerisms and language that are so different and interesting.

A few weeks back we went to our friend Shinobu's apaato for a takoyaki party. This is a dish special to Osaka usually sold as street food. It's little fried balls with pieces of tako (octopus) on the inside and very delicious. A special pan is needed to make them and most own their own. Shinobu's was an electric one and we were able to sit around the table and eat as we cooked more. She has a two year old son, Rantaro, who quickly adopted Rob as his new best friend. He would only scowl at me when I tried to win his heart.

That same weekend we met up with a couple we had met this summer at one of Harry's concerts for a night of karaoke in Umeda. This was ridiculously fun. It felt so perfectly normal that this is what we would be doing on a Saturday night. Next Wednesday I have a day off due to another National Holiday and we are going to Kobe with them as our tour guides. 

The Saturday night before Halloween we met up with Nami in Dotonbori for a Halloween party. The safest thing one can do while in Japan, and traveling in general, is to drop any expectations so of course we didn't know what a Halloween party would be like in Japan. Turns out they're not so bad. We went to a 5-story night club called Giraffe in the hippest neighborhood in all of Osaka. The party started at 6PM and we were ushered out the door by 10 so that they could start admitting the second round of patrons. Everybody was dressed up, though not as creatively as in the U.S, and there were the most foreigners I've seen since being here. We made a few friends and were quite popular on the dance floor, mostly just because Japanese people don't dance very much. It was the perfect first night in a club.

Speaking of Dotonbori I have to admit that we are some what addicted to that place. It is the most interesting block of city I have ever stepped foot on. Last weekend we went to Osaka to check out the History Museum and had quite an adventure locating a yarn shop, which we eventually found in a different location by complete accident after we had given up the search. We ended up staying until the last train because we could not tear ourselves away from the epic people watching. It is a popular spot for meeting up with friends before going out with tons of people shopping, gawking and promoting. In particular, there are young men dressed in suits, pointy snake skin boots, umbrellas placed like canes, and long blonde straight hair styled in a sense that reminds me of David Bowie in Labyrinth. (I actually refer to the men of this fashion as David Bowies) Lord knows how long these men spend primping and priming themselves for a Saturday night. I became suspicious of these guys as I noticed them approaching people who would stroll by. I thought they might be drug dealers but that seemed like a big stretch based on how strict laws are of such things. After speculating for some time, we finally asked some other Japanese boys who had started talking to us and they told us they are hosts.

A host is a young man who works in a host bar which is the type of place that you go when you are lonely and want to pay the opposite sex to hang out with you. After learning this we watched the captivating documentary, The Great Happiness Place which is available for streaming or on DVD from Netflix. Turns out this is a very complex and riveting industry that is also completely legal, even if it sometimes steps foot over the blurry line of prostitution. These are bars that employ attractive young men who are payed on commission depending on the amount of drinks and services they can convince women to purchase. The majority of women who attend such bars also work in the industry as hostesses and prostitutes. The patrons often 'fall in love' with these men because they are told all the things they wish to hear and are treated in all the ways they desire to be treated. This is all done in order to make the big bucks and that they do, sometimes making as much as $10,000 a month. I am intrigued and will never look at a 'David Bowie' in the same way again.

On a completely different note, we have been taking Japanese lessons every Sunday morning and I feel that it's finally improving. I still cannot hold a conversation in the slightest which makes me feel half retarded, but I can decipher more of what people spit to me. Nami told me she thinks I am understanding more when students speak to me, which was refreshing to hear when it feels like I'm not making any progress. I did get really excited on the playground when a student asked me 'Nan sai desuka?' (How old are you?) and I was able to answer 'ni juu roku sai desu'. I know that it is absolutely ridiculous that after six months of living in a country I still can't have a conversation in the native tongue but please understand how extremely difficult Japanese is. When I am at school I only use English because, well, that's what I was hired for and until recently we weren't spending too much time with Japanese people. When we are with our friends everyone is so eager to practice English that we aren't often in situations where Japanese is a necessity, but I am trying really hard to master this complex language.