Family BBQ/More Fireworks/First Karaoke experience

Last week I went to the massive Tokyo city fireworks. This Friday I went to the local town fireworks. Here, each 1-2 minute set of fireworks was brought to you by a certain company or sponsor. The sponsors likely compete with each other leading to more variation and a great number of finales. There are many stands with local food and games. Once again ill luck struck as my simple noodle dish was flavored with fishiness taste. I just can’t trust these festivals anymore.

Saturday, I went to a real family BBQ, where we had our own firework show lasting well over an hour. Needless to say fireworks are a big deal over here. Of course I got a little mischievous (the sa-ke the grandfather pushed on me probably helped) and would covertly light the fuse of these loud ones and toss them next to the unexpected. It brought back memories of launching bottle-rockets at a certain group of people, leading to the disgruntled victim on the hood of my car, grabbing my hair through the open window. I closed the power window on his arm and drove with sharp arcs to throw them off the chalky hood of the Passat. It was right out of a movie.

There were plenty of cute kids who were more awe struck at simple sparklers than the air fireworks. One failed to get my attention once and couldn’t fathom the fact that I didn’t understand Japanese. The food was great: lots of meat, grilled eggplant, shrimp yakisoba noodles, shave ices, and giant grapes, among other things. I have leftovers in my fridge. The women do the grilling here, unlike in America. The setting was a small but nicely landscaped backyard complete with Japanese paper candles.

Afterwards I had my first karaoke (NOT kah-ree-oh-kee, you gaijin). I was sober and shy by this point, but eventually did a decent rendition of the Beatles ‘When I’m Sixty-Four’. I’ll get ‘em next time. The place greatly differed from the Tokyo karaoke booth on the corner of a building that Bill Murray and friends use in Lost in Translation except that it was its own room. I think this sort of karaoke, which serves food and drinks as well, could definitely succeed in an American city.


Surfing Part II and a few rudimentary observations on Japanese surfers.

-They like wearing wetsuits even though the water is very warm.
-I figured they’d strictly follow the rules of the water but they don’t seem to mind dropping in on each other.
-They prefer the first wave in the set, which I use to my advantage.
-They’re quite the rippers.
-It appears to be a virtual requirement of fulfilling the surfer identity to bring gallons, (or shall I say liters), of fresh water to meticulously rinse yourself and all the gear down post-session.
-Even though the waves are generally waist high, pretty clean, mushy, and long, Japanese surfers love their shortboards. Most surfers seem to be in their 30’s, likely products of the late 80’s shortboard revolution. They struggle just to get pushed by the waves, pumping like mad. Meanwhile, I caught some of the best longboard waves of my life, including my first legit hang five.

This Sunday I finally crossed Japan’s widest river into Chiba, the prefecture that has all the waves. My only local friends tend to be fifty-year old ladies, so one introduced me to one of her windsurfing friends and we spent the day hitting the surf. It was smaller than I expected but I had a lot of fun in the tropical feeling water. Unlike the plains-like Ibaraki prefecture, Chiba has densely forested mountains and a rocky coastline. From the water, you could even hear the whining of cicadas in Morse code (long, a burst of shorts, then another long) from the trees on the cliff. The spot was at the sand-filled right angle of a jetty and a seawall.


Sea Creatures
Besides the whale blob and decapitated sea turtle I’ve found on the beach, there are plenty of other creatures of the sea. The shoreline is littered with sand dollars and beautifully colored clam shells. In the water there are these hilarious fish that occasionally make an appearance. I thought they were a pack of some bizarre aquatic mammal at first because they like to swim with their heads just out of the water. They also will ride the waves in a school like you’ll see dolphins do. There are also two types of jellyfish, only one of which packs a moderate sting, nothing like the Lion’s Mane Jellyfish which fill the bays of EH in late summer.


Planning a Trip

I’m currently deciding between

- Aomori (Blue Forest) Prefecture, the far north of the main island of Honshu. (6-8 days) There I would climb the sulfurous volcanic “Mount Fear”, Shinto-Buddhist hell. See some cool coastline. Visit a historical castle/samurai city. And climb one of two other mountains and/or spend some time on this giant crystal clear caldera lake.

- Yamagata Prefecture (5-6 days). I would likely spend two days on a tiny island in the Sea of Japan and two days climbing the three sacred mountains of Denwa Za, which to this day remain a pilgrimage within a sect of Buddhism. Maybe a brief stopover in an old feudal town.


Japanese TV

I haven’t caught too much live Japanese TV yet but I found these great links on youtube though. I suspect these prank / game shows wouldn’t last too long in America
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hq_tPCUx9ds
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jm7aX3QfOG0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0bK63uSTTNs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3guZda7nku8