親友永久に (Best Friends Forever)
At yakiniku the other night, Erika and Tetsuhisa gave me this super dope going away present. It's a photo album chronicling our friendship.
In case you didn't know who it was for.
In 2010 we went with Erika and Tetsuhisa to the Sakura Matsuri at Nakijin Castle. Afterward we drove around the north, stopping at this super touristy omiyage destination. Their claim to fame was sweet potato deserts and shit, like this thing MaryAnn and Erika and pretending to munch on.
I tried one of those things...and it was nasty. Beware. The smiles from the ladies are only because they didn't actually eat the shit.
Awwww, the 2010 Yonabaru Matsuri. It was the first time I wore my jinbei out in public. I remember some Russian dude spilling beer on my Wallabees, but it was totally cool because they were beer proof (true story). On the other page you've got a pic from one of my many 27th birthday celebrations. MaryAnn was out of town on my bday that year (again), so Erika, Mazuru, Tetsuhisa, and Tetsuji took me out for bowling at the Round 1 in Haebaru. Best thing about that night may have been the pre-bowling dinner at Coco Ichibanya, where I ate some ridiculously spicy, tear and sweat inducing curry rice and almost shit my pants.
New Years 2011, a day that will live in infamy. Goddamn it was cold that day. We went out with Erika and Tetsuhisa to the illumination in Itoman before spending the rest of the night at Tetsuji's old house. Someone decided it would be a good idea to stay up all night and watch the first sunrise of the new year. I was down, but to keep myself from falling asleep I started shouting out ridiculous shit. It was then than the phrase "Sunshine Power!" was born. Sunshine Power was all I had to look forward to...I shouted it so much I think Tetsuji wanted to throw me out. MaryAnn accidentally got hit in the head like 50 times. In the end, morning came...and the fucking sun was obscured by clouds. So we went to Kira Kira Beach, took this photo, then went to the mall to buy shit we couldn't afford. The end.
Truer words have never been spoken. In 2011 MaryAnn and I decided one Sunday to drive up to the Sakuri Matsuri in Nakijin again. In the parking lot we ran into Erika and her friends. Then we ran into some people I knew while waiting in line for tickets. Then we ran into made JETs as we made our way through the castle ruins. I even saw my old Nikkei students, who I hadn't seen in a couple of years. Small world indeed!
Totally.