felaffel lunch

blue zebra

日本語

Went south last weekend.

Trip started Friday afternoon, when Chris and I got out of town around 3:45. Between his knowledge of local shortcuts and his friend Tim’s town being an hour outside of Sapporo, we were there by 7:15-ish.

Went out for yakitori and drinks with Tim and Rob.

Conversation centered around the viability of a yakitori restaurant in the US, and artificial insemination.

On the first topic, Tim, Chris and I felt it was a shame and silly that a yakiotri place did not already exist. Playing the intelligent devil’s advocate, Rob raised valuable points about American consumer expectations [pay 7 to 20 for a meal. paying 5 for two sticks of meat, may not work for them], that it’s there’s a reason it doesn’t exist [i.e. some other people have probably had the idea too, and tried] and the insurance risks of giving americans pointed wooden sticks.

The second topic centered around Chris and my good friend and fellow Hibeki [the name of Hamatonbetsu's Taiko club] member – Kazuya. He runs the cow artificial insemination business in town [AI in Japanese]. Obviously with such a topic as this subsequent jokes were not tasteful, but we all agreed it was the type of conversation that could only happen in Japan.
Italics written June 12th on my train ride into Sapporo.

efficient subway ad. closeup.

Was thoroughly enjoying the conversation, but I’d made plans to meet a friend in Sapporo that evening, so I left. Got to the train station, deposited my bags in a locker and headed to Odori park, where we’d planned to rendezvous around ten. I was a little late, so perhaps I deserved it when after ignoring my first couple of calls my friend finally informed me around 10:30 she was busy.

Not feeling so good about myself, I commenced my walk into the heart of downtown. It was a special weekend in Sapporo, as the Yosakoi festival was underway. Dance teams from all over Hokkaido practice year round and then meet this one weekend in June to perform. It’s supposedly the 2nd biggest Sapporo event after the snow festival.

My town didn’t have a team and I didn’t know much about the event, but the city buzz was 5 cups of coffee as opposed to 3, there were hundreds of people out and about in incredible uniforms and make-up.

Thought about drowning my sorrows in McDonalds, but resisted temptation and went to a jazz bar I’d seen before but had never been to. Ordered a gin-lime and sat down to collect myself.

jazz street booze at Jazz Cafe Bossa.

Later the owner was kind enough to grant my request for “Solitude” by Billie Holliday. She nursed my bruised ego back to health and I was meekly ready again.

Before leaving the bar I got into conversation with an engineer who works for the Sapporo subway. Was a good guy. We discussed jazz, family, work, dreams and booze.

Next stop was “Precious Hall.” I’ve been to a few of the clubs in Sapporo, and while I’ve had some fun they have not really been my cup of tea. Clubs and dancing are my preferred stop after 1 AM, but at the ones I’d previously patronized it’s been mostly just bad American hip hop played. Precious hall had been described to me as having more electronically based tunes, my preferred dance beat, and I was eager to check it out.

Place more than delivered, easily the best club I’ve been to in Japan. As an icing on the cake they served a ridiculous assortment of free food, as it was their 5th anniversary.

Was crashing that night at my friend Katie’s house. We left around 3 to drive home – she hadn’t been drinking. Eventually met up with her flatmate Peter, who had just finished up work. He asked if we wanted to still go out. I was indifferent, and Katie seemed to want to go, but decided against it. At least, until we actually got to the car.

Ended up at their new favorite bar, “Nuts.” Place had a warm atmosphere. It is interesting going out with people who actually live in a big city. For example I was just bouncing around from club to club based on what locals I met told me about. Katie, on the other hand, went to a specific club because of an event they were having that evening and/or if she knew the DJ.

As we left Nuts it was dawn outside. Katie offered to drive me home, but I thought better of it. I had a 8:45-ish flight to catch, and from past experience of oversleeping flights, I knew if I went back to her place for some shut eye it was exceedingly likely I would miss my flight.

As such, I bid them adieu and then killed the time before the first train to the airport at an onsen. The bath recharged me and got me ready for my Saturday.

Woke up around ten as our flight landed in Tokyo. Before I’d drifted off on the flight I noticed the girl two seats away from me was doing something very interesting in her notebook. I sat next to her on the bus from the plane to the terminal and asked her about it. Turned out she was a graphic designer, and she was sketching down some ideas for work.

After a monorail, subway and cab ride I arrived at my destination: Nishimachi International School. It was their annual summer BBQ. As an old “alumni” – I’d gone for 2 years – I received an invitation. I went because I wanted to check in again with the people I’d met at the Shinnenkai,  network,  and spend some time at my old school.

not quite sweet home chicago, but effort was cute

Went well on all fronts. I got a chance to talk to most of the people I’d previously met, and made some new connections. Along the way I spent some time in the gym where I remembered getting scolded for crawling on the floor with one of my classmates during some event.

Crawling itself was not wrong, but our intent – to peek up girl’s skirts – was not looked upon so kindly. As a teacher now I can certainly understand.

BBQ could  not of asked for better weather. After much consideration over what to wear, I decided upon a Japanese jimbe. Was perfect for sipping on beers, listening to live music and chatting.  I feel confident saying I was the most comfortable man there.

The last group of people I spoke with were a group of three women and one man. When I sat down, the most talkative woman of the group asked what year I graduated. When I said I would’ve graduated in 2000 – Nishimachi stops at 9th grade – she remarked I should go somewhere else as they were all early 90’s graduates. I happen to like older woman, so I sat down anyway.

Conversation went well enough, that before departing we got tattoos in the same spot to remember eachother.

Around 4:45 I hopped in another cab and headed back to Hanaeda for a flight back to Sapporo. From experience I’d learned that nights in cities are always expensive for me, but nights in Tokyo are especially expensive. Plus I had friends I wanted to see back in Sapporo, anyway.

Got another nap, and was feeling pretty good by the time my flight landed back at Chitose. Took the train into the city. Lost my ticket on the way, but the woman behind the desk was kind enough to let me slide. As I arrived into the city I jotted down in my notebook “Sapporo and Tokyo have completely different feels. Both nice … but cities have different ethos.” Not willing to invest the time to explain why at this moment, save it to say I felt it in everything from the train ride in to the first pretty girl I saw.

Figuring that I’d already missed the Yosakoi dancers [if I had been more aware I could have seen a 10,000 person choreographed dance], I took my time putting my bag away in a locker, brushing my teeth and grabbing a cup of coffee at that same jazz bar [was packed Saturday night, yet the owner still put Billie on for me, this time without a request]. As I sipped on my coffee I was in a good mood, quite unlike the night before, and wrote some things down in my notebook.

Billie Holiday Lady Day by Carl Van Vechten.

Aside from being stood up, night was similar to the previous one as following my time with Ms. Holliday, I went to Precious Hall. Met up with a trio of friends who’d spent the whole day out and about with Yosakoi. The place was absolutely packed, and the DJ was plucking all the right chords. My favorite song was a remix of Dido’s “I don’t believe in love.” That may not be fair to all the other songs he played that night, as I’d be really into anything with Dido.

Eventually a pair of the girls decided they were hungry. I was not, but reluctantly decided to leave with them.Went to a place they’d gone to close out a few other club nights. Place had absolutely incredible asparagus and mushroom tempura [pronounced ten [short n] pura]. One girl Emma introduced me to the wonders of dipping tempura in mayonaise – won’t do that again, but was interesting – while also relating how back in New Zealand, the men are “macho.” I’ve never been to the country, but if her tales are anything to judge by, all men are a combination of arnold schwarzenager, john wayne and harrison ford [in their primes, of course] with some feelings, too. I have no doubt she felt she was telling the truth, but I’d like to check out the country for myself, anyway.

Next morning I slept for a few hours on a bench at Sapporo station, and then went to see a judo tournament. It was a bizarre set of circumstances, but two members of my judo team were competing in Sapporo that weekend in a Hokkaido wide event. I was honored that Suzuki sensei invited me to attend.

The boy fought with honor, but sadly fell in the first round. Hopes were high for the 5th grade girl, as she’d won a recent tournament in Wakkanai. She did not disappoint,

Filmed that as I was on my way to the subway to meet Chris for the drive home. On my way out I stopped briefly in Odori park hoping to see a glimpse of the dances.

Based on the warmup I saw, I wished I’d seen more but I was comfortable overall with the choices I had made to spend my time last weekend.

Title is from a conversation I had with a fellow patron at the bar where I finished my Saturday evening. Was a very kind fellow trying to practice his English. As we left the bar, one of the waiters gave us all free plastic rubber ducks.