9/8/2001

Noon, YNYC

We left without a hitch yesterday morning and arrived at Gunma Prefecture Institute of Agriculture a little early. They had cushioned "inside slippers" all ready for us and signs of welcome. First was an opening ceremony with kind words from the president, then Prof. Winship made up a speech, then the president presented our group with good luck dolls that are produced in Gunma. Fill in one eye when you make a wish or start a project and fill in the other when you're done. We gave them soil. The principal gave a lecture on Japanese Agriculture and local production of items in Gunma. It was a little dry and sometimes it was hard to connect thoughts because the whole lecture had to be translated. Then a narrated video about the school itself. We had a nice lunch with ham and pineapple, then toured the gardens, outsides of dorms, museum, and (the highlight) the cow barn.

Back on the bus and three hours later we were back in Yoyogi, in quads, then showered and bathed and back to Romi to meet our friends from last Friday: Eri and Shiori. When the bartender opened the bar at 7pm he told us that Shiori called and said she wouldn't be able to meet until 10pm. He gave us "No Pay Beer" and we drank it. There were two new girls in the corner, but they didn't say much. The bartender (whose name sounded like Master so I'll call him that) told us that Bob and a few others from our group had visited during the week. He had written down their names and what they had ordered to drink. We ran out to Mi Rei Te for a good meal and got lost on the way back to the bar. Finally we made it and Shiori, Eri and a few more friends were happy to see us.

It was an exciting night- and I made two new friends: Emika and Ayamei. Most of the night they practiced their English on my by crying about recent breakups. I taught them the words to Aretha Franklin's "I Will Survive" and we learned such beloved American phrases as "You Go Girl!" and "I can live without him!" also "CHEEEEEEEEEERS!" In return they taught me some strange one-liners a popular comedian uses. One was to put my hand palm down under my chin and say, "Aie!" They thought it was really funny and promised it had no meaning. Kowa'i means afraid- something we agreed we wouldn't be toward the future. "Hey baka!" means "you fool!" and can be easily used to imitate American personalities as seen to the Japanese. We talked about Americans being shy to bathe together and I learned that "Su ppon ppon" is the rough translation of "buck naked". Somehow that led to a discussion about Denny's and they drew me a map with the phrase "Denny's wa dokodesuka?" meaning "where is the Denny's?" Before we knew it, it was 2:00am and we were exhausted. We took pictures and hugged a lot- exchanged "I love you"s and finally we left. Of course, I started crying. We became so close so quickly and had such a fun time teaching each other (Emika was training to be a kindergarden teacher and Ayamie works at Sunska drug store) new things. Leaving that place where everybody knows your name (even if they can't pronounce it correctly) was heartbreaking for me. It made me realize how short our stay in Tokyo (and Asia) really is- and that darn concept of ichigo ichie caught me again.

So, three hours later I was on my way to the Tsukiji fish market. It was very early but there was still a fairly large crowd. We took the subway there and walked to the end of the pier. It was very crowded and there were tons of little trucks zooming around with huge tuna on them. Past rows and rows of little fish buyers and sellers with every type of fish imaginable- live and/or dead. Eels, squid, octopus, everything. Eventually we reached the auction area at the end of the pier. The auctioneer stood in the middle of dozens of frozen tuna. Huge, enormous, gutted carcasses. He sounded more like he was chanting or singing than the standard fast-talking American guys. The pace was very even and not too fast. Apparently fish buyers get tuna, then it is driven over to the stall where they cut it up with saws and sell it to restaurants and other people.

On my way out I also saw unusual looking vegetables for sale next to stationary, high heels, and live crab. I stopped with some people and ate a sinfully delicious pancake and sausage McDonald's breakfast. I brought Lazy G back an Egg McMuffin and now I'm watching clothes spin in the dryer.

11:30pm YNYC
So after laundry we went to the sword museum in Yoyogi. I never thought I'd get into it- but they handed us English pamphlets about the history and art of sword-making. Once we got in I noticed the patterns on the blades and could match them up with the time period they were made in. I kept the pamphlets, so I guess I can look back at them and remember the details when I want to. G and E wanted to go to the sword store, so Emily and I went on ahead to the Ota Ukiyoe Hakubutsukan museum to complete our Culture assignment. We had to get special slippers right away and noticed right away the unusual environment there. It was a relatively small building, only 2 small floors. There was tatami in front of 3 ukiyoe and we took off our slippers to kneel in front of them. There was a small rock garden in the center of the first floor with a water fountain and benches. Upstairs was before-and-after type sketches of ukiyoe. Lots of these were of women and comical figures. Some were definitely caricatures. I related it back to information in the book about ukiyoe art being more of an art "of the people". We spent a long time there studying the prints and taking notes. It was very peaceful and wonderfully different from the information overload on the streets of Tokyo.

After a quick stop at the toy store (again), we searched for gym shoes for G and funny t-shirts for me. G got bowling-looking shoes for about Y9600, but the designer t-shirts and resale ones were VERY expensive. We eventually gave up and sought refuge in TGIFridays for cold drinks. There were so many Americans there! The menu was totally in English and the decorations were exactly the same as at home.

We headed back to Yoyogi and had vending machine soba for dinner. The end of today!