The Famous Gaijin Have Arrived
Gaijin is the Japanese word for foreigner. It is not meant offensively (though they did at one point refer to foreign enemies with this word).
Anyways, the Thais and Americans living on Aikiyo took pride in being Gaijins (though we still prefer Thaimericans or The Unbelievables). Now is the point in the season, however, when all of the famous gaijins are rolling in to change and clean the show.
Before I got here, one of the big selling points on coming to Japan was that I was going to meet some really important people in the drum corps activity! Mitch Rogers, Michael Gaines, and Marty Rhees were all people I wanted to meet...and, not only would I meet them, but I'd be living on the same complex with them for a few weeks!
Even though, it turns out that there was A LOT more to look forward to than I could have ever imagined, meeting these guys has been a really great thing! After speaking some sort of 15% English/10% Japanese/75% Body Language and Jibberish for two months, I had never been so nervous about speaking english in my life!
Chris and I have sort of become the Gaijin Welcoming and Farewell Crew. Anytime someone comes in or out of the country, Coz takes Chris and I to greet or wish off. Yesterday was a "busy day" as Mitch was leaving and Michael was coming in.
The morning started off with a quick stop at a favorite hub of Chris, Mitch, and myself...Mr. Doughnut. We had been there so often over the last few days that we started to refer to Mitch as Doughnut San (Mr. Doughnut).
If Mitch saw this blog, he would probably want me to tell you that all of the doughnuts on the tray were not his. This in fact, is true...Mitch only had one doughnut, to Chris' two, Coz' zero, and my three (plus a vanilla milkshake).
After Mr. Doughnut, we went to several toy stores in search of presents for Mitch's two daughters.
Being the thoughtful father that he is, it took Mitch awhile to pick out the perfect gifts, so Chris and I entertained ourselves by trying out the unicycles.
The second toy store happened to be in a mall. My search for a yellow tshirt had taken me 9 days at this point, through 2 Asian countries, 4 cities, and well over 40 clothing stores. I had found yellow sneakers, yellow fuzzy turtle necks, yellow hats, yellow lowcut women's t-shirts, etc etc....but NO yellow crew neck t-shirts. UNTIL "Right On." I walked in and, at the sale rack, I found the ugliest t-shirt I had ever seen in my life. It's one of those Japanese t-shirts that have lots of english writing that makes absolutely NO sense at all.
Something along the lines of...
Listen to the animal, because the animal can make you happy by brushing the POWER'S teeth.
Seriously...if that's not on a t-shirt somewhere in Japan...it will be soon.
Marty was telling us a story about how when his brass group was playing in the Tokyo area one time, one of the guys saw an old woman walking through the park with a shirt that read...
F*$k Me Doggy-Style
He said they all ran out to see it and take pictures and whatnot.
Anyways...I turned the t-shirt inside out and now I have a perfectly functional yellow undershirt!
Next up...we had to take Mitch to the airport. We were also dropping off Tetsu, Coty, and Moy (all three were going to American drum corps camps...two Vanguard and one Cavalier).
Yoshea: "Coz wants to know if you guys are hungry?"
Matto: "Ummm...always."
So lunch it was, where I enjoyed some excellent fried pork curry!
We said goodbye to the four of them and then realized we still had two hours and 15 minutes until Michael's flight got in.
I was prepared for the most boring two hours of my life (I had failed to bring my book) when Coz said..."Bath house?"
I didn't really know what that meant...but it wasn't "Sitting in a chair doing absolutely nothing for two hours??" so I was satisfied.
We followed Coz into a store which is when we realized that he was taking us to a spa in the airport!
I obviously couldn't take any pictures...but for the next two hours I alternated between jacuzzis (which were overlooking the runway...kind of cool and weird at the same time as I conversed in two languages with a naked stranger next to me about the how nice the planes taking off were), man-made "hot springs", and the sauna.
I had never been in a sauna before, so I was most excited about this. The sign said that we should go in three or four times for eight minute intervals. Ok, here goes nothing.
OH MY GOD...it was 190 degrees Farenheit in there! Really! In seconds, I was dripping sweat. Everything was great and relaxing until I got out and read the sign. "After each eight minute period, take a short break in cold bath." Hmmm...ok, where's the cold bath. I found it...and looked at the thermometer above it. About 60 degrees Farenheit (and it actually said 16 degrees Celcius which sounds even more terrifying).
So imagine going from 190 degrees to 60 degrees in about five seconds. I was doing the whole "dip one toe in the water and pull it out like a wuss." That's when my SECOND naked japanese friend of the day comes up to me and waves his arms away from his body towards the water (the international sign for..."Come on, go in...it's ok!"
I then said "Sero wa honto ni samue des," which means, "It's cold," like the total panzy that I am. He laughed and pointed to himself before he proceeded to just jump into the water like it was nothing at all! 60 degrees is cold, especially when you were just in a suana...but ok...here goes nothing. I lumbered into the cold bath, shivering and battling shrinkage as naked Japanese friend Numbers 1 and 2 both chuckled (along with several naked Japanese "friends" I had not yet had the pleasure of meeting.
Back in the sauna...back in the cold bath..and so on! My second time into the cold bath was masterful. For eight minutes I had been thinking about how I was going to show everyone up and walk staright from the sauna without pausing, right into the bath. I did...it was one of my finest and coldest moments.
My favorite part of the spa was how there were women employees walking freely around the locker room, jacuzzis, and saunas changing towels as they darted around a dozen naked Japanese men (as well as two Americans) barking the phrase "Onei geishmas," over and over again! "Onei geishmas" is one of those Japanese phrases that has a million different phrases. You say it to the driver before you go anywhere in a car...you also say it before you play a sports game or before you start a rehearsal. Pretty much, it can be used when you're doing anything as a group. This seemed funny to me in this situation. What exactly were we doing as a group here? I thought of sitting in a jacuzzi butt naked as more of a personal time thing and less of a team effort. Obviously, I was mistaken. "Onei geishmassssssssssss!" I excitedly blurted back.
It wasn't until the last half hour I was in there that I realized it was polite to make sure your hand towel was covering your penis when they walked by. For the majority of my stay, I had just stood there with this stupid ass grin on my face, towel at my side, penis and balls fully exposed.
Ok! Spa is over and we picked up Michael. Did the whole introductory thing...he asked how rehearsals were going...talked about shows he's written and things like that.
We went to rehearsal, came back to the dorm house, and that's when the fun began. The designers had just finished a meeting for the winterguard show and they were sitting in the living room. I had to make a phone call to an American company for one of the Japanese girls, so I ended up in the same room Michael and the rest of the meeting was in. When I finished on the phone, Michael turned to me and said, "So, Coz bought me lots of beer...do you want some."
I will forever be in debt to Michael Gaines.
It was 11:30PM and there was LOTS of beer...so myself, Cazue, Coz, Yoshea, and Michael got to work (joined by Chris at about 2AM).
Most of them lasted until about 2:30 or so...but Chris, Michael, and I had just begun. We decided at about 3AM when we restocked the beer fridge, that we were not going to stop drinking until all of the beer was gone.
Finally...at 6:05 AM...it was all gone! If you don't believe me...look at the clock above us in this picture.
The first Church service of the day starts at 6:15 AM...this was a terrible coincidence. We decided..."Hey! We've never bee up for the 6:15 service...let's try it out!" We put on our shoes...walked out the door...thought about it...had one single moment of clarity and decided this was maybe the worst idea we've ever had. Rather than getting deported, we decided to turn around and go to bed.
Chris couldn't really get up the stairs, but he eventually made it. He was in especially bad shape because we were all giving him such a tough time for starting to drink 3 hours after Michael and I had.
In order to prove his manliness, he drank a bottle of sake a little faster than he should have.
I don't really remember getting into bed. Oh wait...that's because I didn't. I woke up at 12:30PM, on the floor of my room, with the tin foil wrappers of about 30 pieces of gelt (chocolate coins)- that my mom had sent - scattered around me. She is an avid reader of this blog and will be thrilled to see that her present brought me much such joy. Thanks mom!
Anyways, the Thais and Americans living on Aikiyo took pride in being Gaijins (though we still prefer Thaimericans or The Unbelievables). Now is the point in the season, however, when all of the famous gaijins are rolling in to change and clean the show.
Before I got here, one of the big selling points on coming to Japan was that I was going to meet some really important people in the drum corps activity! Mitch Rogers, Michael Gaines, and Marty Rhees were all people I wanted to meet...and, not only would I meet them, but I'd be living on the same complex with them for a few weeks!
Even though, it turns out that there was A LOT more to look forward to than I could have ever imagined, meeting these guys has been a really great thing! After speaking some sort of 15% English/10% Japanese/75% Body Language and Jibberish for two months, I had never been so nervous about speaking english in my life!
Chris and I have sort of become the Gaijin Welcoming and Farewell Crew. Anytime someone comes in or out of the country, Coz takes Chris and I to greet or wish off. Yesterday was a "busy day" as Mitch was leaving and Michael was coming in.
The morning started off with a quick stop at a favorite hub of Chris, Mitch, and myself...Mr. Doughnut. We had been there so often over the last few days that we started to refer to Mitch as Doughnut San (Mr. Doughnut).
If Mitch saw this blog, he would probably want me to tell you that all of the doughnuts on the tray were not his. This in fact, is true...Mitch only had one doughnut, to Chris' two, Coz' zero, and my three (plus a vanilla milkshake).
After Mr. Doughnut, we went to several toy stores in search of presents for Mitch's two daughters.
Being the thoughtful father that he is, it took Mitch awhile to pick out the perfect gifts, so Chris and I entertained ourselves by trying out the unicycles.
The second toy store happened to be in a mall. My search for a yellow tshirt had taken me 9 days at this point, through 2 Asian countries, 4 cities, and well over 40 clothing stores. I had found yellow sneakers, yellow fuzzy turtle necks, yellow hats, yellow lowcut women's t-shirts, etc etc....but NO yellow crew neck t-shirts. UNTIL "Right On." I walked in and, at the sale rack, I found the ugliest t-shirt I had ever seen in my life. It's one of those Japanese t-shirts that have lots of english writing that makes absolutely NO sense at all.
Something along the lines of...
Listen to the animal, because the animal can make you happy by brushing the POWER'S teeth.
Seriously...if that's not on a t-shirt somewhere in Japan...it will be soon.
Marty was telling us a story about how when his brass group was playing in the Tokyo area one time, one of the guys saw an old woman walking through the park with a shirt that read...
F*$k Me Doggy-Style
He said they all ran out to see it and take pictures and whatnot.
Anyways...I turned the t-shirt inside out and now I have a perfectly functional yellow undershirt!
Next up...we had to take Mitch to the airport. We were also dropping off Tetsu, Coty, and Moy (all three were going to American drum corps camps...two Vanguard and one Cavalier).
Yoshea: "Coz wants to know if you guys are hungry?"
Matto: "Ummm...always."
So lunch it was, where I enjoyed some excellent fried pork curry!
We said goodbye to the four of them and then realized we still had two hours and 15 minutes until Michael's flight got in.
I was prepared for the most boring two hours of my life (I had failed to bring my book) when Coz said..."Bath house?"
I didn't really know what that meant...but it wasn't "Sitting in a chair doing absolutely nothing for two hours??" so I was satisfied.
We followed Coz into a store which is when we realized that he was taking us to a spa in the airport!
I obviously couldn't take any pictures...but for the next two hours I alternated between jacuzzis (which were overlooking the runway...kind of cool and weird at the same time as I conversed in two languages with a naked stranger next to me about the how nice the planes taking off were), man-made "hot springs", and the sauna.
I had never been in a sauna before, so I was most excited about this. The sign said that we should go in three or four times for eight minute intervals. Ok, here goes nothing.
OH MY GOD...it was 190 degrees Farenheit in there! Really! In seconds, I was dripping sweat. Everything was great and relaxing until I got out and read the sign. "After each eight minute period, take a short break in cold bath." Hmmm...ok, where's the cold bath. I found it...and looked at the thermometer above it. About 60 degrees Farenheit (and it actually said 16 degrees Celcius which sounds even more terrifying).
So imagine going from 190 degrees to 60 degrees in about five seconds. I was doing the whole "dip one toe in the water and pull it out like a wuss." That's when my SECOND naked japanese friend of the day comes up to me and waves his arms away from his body towards the water (the international sign for..."Come on, go in...it's ok!"
I then said "Sero wa honto ni samue des," which means, "It's cold," like the total panzy that I am. He laughed and pointed to himself before he proceeded to just jump into the water like it was nothing at all! 60 degrees is cold, especially when you were just in a suana...but ok...here goes nothing. I lumbered into the cold bath, shivering and battling shrinkage as naked Japanese friend Numbers 1 and 2 both chuckled (along with several naked Japanese "friends" I had not yet had the pleasure of meeting.
Back in the sauna...back in the cold bath..and so on! My second time into the cold bath was masterful. For eight minutes I had been thinking about how I was going to show everyone up and walk staright from the sauna without pausing, right into the bath. I did...it was one of my finest and coldest moments.
My favorite part of the spa was how there were women employees walking freely around the locker room, jacuzzis, and saunas changing towels as they darted around a dozen naked Japanese men (as well as two Americans) barking the phrase "Onei geishmas," over and over again! "Onei geishmas" is one of those Japanese phrases that has a million different phrases. You say it to the driver before you go anywhere in a car...you also say it before you play a sports game or before you start a rehearsal. Pretty much, it can be used when you're doing anything as a group. This seemed funny to me in this situation. What exactly were we doing as a group here? I thought of sitting in a jacuzzi butt naked as more of a personal time thing and less of a team effort. Obviously, I was mistaken. "Onei geishmassssssssssss!" I excitedly blurted back.
It wasn't until the last half hour I was in there that I realized it was polite to make sure your hand towel was covering your penis when they walked by. For the majority of my stay, I had just stood there with this stupid ass grin on my face, towel at my side, penis and balls fully exposed.
Ok! Spa is over and we picked up Michael. Did the whole introductory thing...he asked how rehearsals were going...talked about shows he's written and things like that.
We went to rehearsal, came back to the dorm house, and that's when the fun began. The designers had just finished a meeting for the winterguard show and they were sitting in the living room. I had to make a phone call to an American company for one of the Japanese girls, so I ended up in the same room Michael and the rest of the meeting was in. When I finished on the phone, Michael turned to me and said, "So, Coz bought me lots of beer...do you want some."
I will forever be in debt to Michael Gaines.
It was 11:30PM and there was LOTS of beer...so myself, Cazue, Coz, Yoshea, and Michael got to work (joined by Chris at about 2AM).
Most of them lasted until about 2:30 or so...but Chris, Michael, and I had just begun. We decided at about 3AM when we restocked the beer fridge, that we were not going to stop drinking until all of the beer was gone.
Finally...at 6:05 AM...it was all gone! If you don't believe me...look at the clock above us in this picture.
The first Church service of the day starts at 6:15 AM...this was a terrible coincidence. We decided..."Hey! We've never bee up for the 6:15 service...let's try it out!" We put on our shoes...walked out the door...thought about it...had one single moment of clarity and decided this was maybe the worst idea we've ever had. Rather than getting deported, we decided to turn around and go to bed.
Chris couldn't really get up the stairs, but he eventually made it. He was in especially bad shape because we were all giving him such a tough time for starting to drink 3 hours after Michael and I had.
In order to prove his manliness, he drank a bottle of sake a little faster than he should have.
I don't really remember getting into bed. Oh wait...that's because I didn't. I woke up at 12:30PM, on the floor of my room, with the tin foil wrappers of about 30 pieces of gelt (chocolate coins)- that my mom had sent - scattered around me. She is an avid reader of this blog and will be thrilled to see that her present brought me much such joy. Thanks mom!
posted by Matt at 12:16 PM
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