Honyaku de Michi ni Mayotta

I cannot believe that today marks 1 month of being in Japan. At the beginning of the trip I was thrilled because the days seemed like forever and it was like I had infinite time to go around and explore Japan. But once classes started, that all changed. Though it’s nice to fall into a routine in your everyday life, the consequence is that everything starts flying by faster and faster every day. The next thing I know, it will be April. I need to enjoy it all I can.

Enough of that.

On Monday, it was my Japanese teaching shift at the International School. The kids were all riled up because they were all going on an overnight ski trip the next day. I would NOT want to be a chaperone for that trip, considering that 5^th through 8^th graders will be pent up in a hotel for 3 nights with nowhere to go. I overheard one of the boys in my class saying “Yeah! I’m bringing my PRANK SET this year!” Best of luck to the teachers and chaperones, I’ll be thinking of you.

So the kids weren’t that productive, so the teachers just decided to show a Japanese film that they had found in the office. They hadn’t screened it before showing it. Of course, that meant there was going to be a sex scene, and alas there was. Most of the kids just screamed like a loud clap of thunder hit. I was just sitting back and laughing while the other teachers literally knocked over people running to the TV to turn it off. Can’t make that stuff up.

Tuesday afternoon I decided to visit Shinjuku again and go to the Park Hyatt Tokyo, better known as the hotel from Lost in Translation, pretty much my favorite movie and what originally sparked my interest in Japan and its culture. The hotel was pretty much the best ever (and you guys KNOW I don’t use superlatives often :p). It occupies the 41^st – 51^st floor of the Shinjuku Park Tower. On the 41^st floor was this fabulous lounge with bamboo growing everywhere (see first picture) where they serve tea and cookies all day. More on that later. I went up to the top to check out the famous bar (see right) from the movies. The employees were a bit skeptical of my picture taking, but once I explained in Japanese that it was my favorite movie, blah blah blah, they let me in for a few minutes (I’m assuming they’ve probably gotten that same stupid request many times before). It definitely looked like the bar in movie, though the whole room is a lot smaller than it seemed on film. I took a bunch of pictures and marveled at the $150 set dinner menu and then went back to the tea room. I figured I’d let loose and decided to order some tea -- 1400 Yen for about three cups worth of tea, plus cookies – a bit expensive, but SO worth it. The view was spectacular and the whole thing was very relaxing, though I certainly felt out of place with my dingy backpack and sneakers in a room full of the Prada-wearing elite.

After my tea, I headed back to the station and went to Shinjuku’s equivalent of Times Square, home of Takashimaya, one of the world’s most famous department stores. It’s about 12 floors or so and is pretty much packed full of extremely expensive clothing, houseware, kimonos, garden tools, etc. Again, feeling out of place, I headed over to the 11 floor bookstore and checked out some guidebooks (in English, thankfully) for a bit. Had a weird experience, though. When I was walking toward Takashimaya, I heard a voice behind me say “Do you speak English?”, so I turned around to see who it was. It was this guy and his wife, stereotypical hippies up and down, who had giant backpacks and looked like they hadn’t bathed in years. The guy explained that him and his wife, who had some spiritual name like “Soaring Bird” or “Breast-feeding Elephant” or something, had been traveling across the world (yes, the world) and needed some bus money to get to Tokyo Station. After further inquiry, I found out that they had left from Turkey almost a year and a half ago and went West, going through all of Europe, flying to NYC, going to LA and then to Tokyo. They set out with literally NO money and traveled only on donations from people that they met on their travels. Pretty unreal. Of course, their whole purpose was to unite the world under one God and all that, but I was pretty amazed. They slept on the street or in parks most of the night, unless people brought them into their homes to stay overnight. So after talking to them for a few minutes, I gave them 200 Yen and said goodbye. Amazing, huh?

Yesterday I had lunch with a friend of a friend who lives in Tokyo. This guy is a big deal. He’s around 50 or so and recently retired from being the Director of Japan Operations for Morgan Stanley. Wow. To top that off, he’s married to Yoko Ono’s niece. We had a great lunch at The American Club (sweet!), where I had falafel with eggplant and hummus spread on top. Nice to have that meal once in a while!

Anyways, today was uneventful for the most part, though I did spend some of the night playing Super Nintendo downstairs. Early Saturday morning we head to Hakone for one night and will return on Sunday morning. I’ve heard great things about Hakone, so I’m very excited to see what it is like.

Jaa mata nee!

P.S. Just in case you cared, the title of this entry LOOSELY translates to "Lost In Translation", though it's more like "I lost my way in the translation". No wonder there's so much Engrish here.