(no subject)
Forgive me if this post is a little too disjointed - this is attributed to too much Asahi. Today we had a packed day from 9 to 9 of various orientations. So off went myself and the other dozen in my accommodation.
At the orientation we discussed many mundane details of the program, catered with traditional Japanese roast beef sandwiches from Subway. It was a tad overwhelming. There are about 80 students and everyone wanted to socialize and make a good first impression. In Philadelphia I felt to a degree that I was left without a chair when the music stopped socially, not getting in on the ground floor meeting people, a mistake I didn’t want to repeat.
Anyway we proceeded with a series of speakers, the first of which was a Sociology professor at the undergraduate program of TUJ who gave a more than subtle impression he didn’t want to give this presentation. Basically he talked a little bit about each city in Japan and how they are all lovely, and we should go visit all of them on cultural merits. He also advised against climbing Mt. Fuji, since doing so off season was a cheap ticket to a brutal, exciting death since rescue and support services were not available. I also could have sworn he made mention to oxygen tank vending machines. Bottom line though, I’m definitely going to Shinkansen (bullet train) around and try to see some of Japan during spring break. As well, despite red tape, they made Korea, China, and Thailand sound extremely appealing - as in under 150$ for a round trip with 2$ meals appealing.
What followed was a brief seminar on things we should be careful about. Suffice to say it was a short list. Most of the problems stemmed from others being afraid of us, and the propensity to be arrested and whatnot due to suspicions of the police. I’m a shifty minority now!
The other warning came about the famed core nightlife district of Tokyo, Roppongi. The story detailed a student being enticed by two attractive European women to enter a certain hole in the wall bar. Suffice to say that his next clear memory was awaking quite sick and quite cross on a train station platform. Don’t worry, he had all of his organs. His passport, wallet, and credit cards however were quite absent. Another story was substantially the same, but they gave the courtesy of leaving his ID and credit cards with him. On his credit card he noticed a 4,000$ bar tab, so very reasonably he canceled the charge. However this was followed a few days latter by a polite knock on the door by a few gentlemen in a black Mercedes, who must have taken the local address off his Gaijin ID. They strongly felt that the charge was legitimate, and ‘persuaded’ him to allow it. Everyone was okay in the end, albeit broke. While de facto Yakuza controlled, the area actually has some really nice clubs, shopping, and what not besides the good old vice. It’s frequented by a lot of foreigners, particularly hard drinking US military, so apparently the bring a bit of a frat house atmosphere too. This is not to mention the most epically huge apartment / shopping center I’ve ever seen. I’m miles away and its massive - it towers in the background dwarfing nearby tall buildings. None of the stories entail bodily harm, but the moral is that don’t enter Roppongi drinking with anything you’re not willing to lose. Is it weird that these stories make me WANT to go?
(updated w/ my own picture)
After all of this the 80 of us went out for dinner. We snaked to the restaurant, school field trip style in a huge mob. There the scramble started for the socially ideal seating. I ended up at the 35yr old plus table where I knew only one person. The food was out of this world, naturally. It was shabu-shabu. Its ultra-thin sliced meat, cooked in seconds by boiling in a pot full of tea. It’s about the most deliciously juicy and tender thing ever conceived of by man. Sides included the first sashimi I’ve had so far in Tokyo. The salmon was nothing to write home about, but the tuna is different there, deliciously different.
Luckily I eventually extricated myself and spent the bulk of the time with the LLM students that I had met at the dinner back home. I’ve become close with some of them and suffice to say we had a LOT of fun.
Notice the subtle increase in the bottles to person ratio.
Eventually drunk and weary I headed home and wrote this post. Note of course that I’m now finishing it and posting it this morning.
At the orientation we discussed many mundane details of the program, catered with traditional Japanese roast beef sandwiches from Subway. It was a tad overwhelming. There are about 80 students and everyone wanted to socialize and make a good first impression. In Philadelphia I felt to a degree that I was left without a chair when the music stopped socially, not getting in on the ground floor meeting people, a mistake I didn’t want to repeat.
Anyway we proceeded with a series of speakers, the first of which was a Sociology professor at the undergraduate program of TUJ who gave a more than subtle impression he didn’t want to give this presentation. Basically he talked a little bit about each city in Japan and how they are all lovely, and we should go visit all of them on cultural merits. He also advised against climbing Mt. Fuji, since doing so off season was a cheap ticket to a brutal, exciting death since rescue and support services were not available. I also could have sworn he made mention to oxygen tank vending machines. Bottom line though, I’m definitely going to Shinkansen (bullet train) around and try to see some of Japan during spring break. As well, despite red tape, they made Korea, China, and Thailand sound extremely appealing - as in under 150$ for a round trip with 2$ meals appealing.
What followed was a brief seminar on things we should be careful about. Suffice to say it was a short list. Most of the problems stemmed from others being afraid of us, and the propensity to be arrested and whatnot due to suspicions of the police. I’m a shifty minority now!
The other warning came about the famed core nightlife district of Tokyo, Roppongi. The story detailed a student being enticed by two attractive European women to enter a certain hole in the wall bar. Suffice to say that his next clear memory was awaking quite sick and quite cross on a train station platform. Don’t worry, he had all of his organs. His passport, wallet, and credit cards however were quite absent. Another story was substantially the same, but they gave the courtesy of leaving his ID and credit cards with him. On his credit card he noticed a 4,000$ bar tab, so very reasonably he canceled the charge. However this was followed a few days latter by a polite knock on the door by a few gentlemen in a black Mercedes, who must have taken the local address off his Gaijin ID. They strongly felt that the charge was legitimate, and ‘persuaded’ him to allow it. Everyone was okay in the end, albeit broke. While de facto Yakuza controlled, the area actually has some really nice clubs, shopping, and what not besides the good old vice. It’s frequented by a lot of foreigners, particularly hard drinking US military, so apparently the bring a bit of a frat house atmosphere too. This is not to mention the most epically huge apartment / shopping center I’ve ever seen. I’m miles away and its massive - it towers in the background dwarfing nearby tall buildings. None of the stories entail bodily harm, but the moral is that don’t enter Roppongi drinking with anything you’re not willing to lose. Is it weird that these stories make me WANT to go?
(updated w/ my own picture)
After all of this the 80 of us went out for dinner. We snaked to the restaurant, school field trip style in a huge mob. There the scramble started for the socially ideal seating. I ended up at the 35yr old plus table where I knew only one person. The food was out of this world, naturally. It was shabu-shabu. Its ultra-thin sliced meat, cooked in seconds by boiling in a pot full of tea. It’s about the most deliciously juicy and tender thing ever conceived of by man. Sides included the first sashimi I’ve had so far in Tokyo. The salmon was nothing to write home about, but the tuna is different there, deliciously different.
Luckily I eventually extricated myself and spent the bulk of the time with the LLM students that I had met at the dinner back home. I’ve become close with some of them and suffice to say we had a LOT of fun.
Notice the subtle increase in the bottles to person ratio.
Eventually drunk and weary I headed home and wrote this post. Note of course that I’m now finishing it and posting it this morning.