KONNICHIWHAT!?: Time to play catch up

When I last left you true believers I had just gotten to the KTC and was doing my best to settle in. Whether you want to succumb to it or not, jet leg is a hard thing to avoid. It may or may not affect your right away, but somehow it always manages to get you. Even though I was exhausted and felt like I could sleep for a day, I ended up only sleeping about 4 hours on Saturday night. It's a strange feeling, but I'm sure it also had to do with the fact that I was in a foreign land, and in a building with a bunch of strangers, about to start a new life. Yeah, all of those things played some part I'm sure.

So the next day, I woke up and made my way out to explore the area because it was a day-off, Sunday. I grabbed some food and made my way back to the KTC building. A guy named Peter, from Poland of all places, was sitting on the steps so I introduced myself and he seemed friendly enough. We chatted a little bit about our lives and he was off to explore Nagoya. After eating, I decided I too wanted to do some exploring but on the way out, I ran into another group of guys sitting on the front steps. There was Ben, from North Carolina, Chris, from Virginia, and Daryll from Canada. We all sat there for a while talking about our lives and our reasons for being in Japan and everyone was really cool. The strangest story, for me anyway, was Ben's. He's 33 and has always had a love for Japan and the culture, but had never stepped foot outside North America until coming over here to teach English. I thought it was a ballsy move needless to say. Turns out he wouldn't be the only one I'd meet with such a similar tale. So Chris tells me a group of them are heading out to see Nagoya castle and asked me If I'd like to go. I said, "absolutely!" Daryll, the Canadian ended up going off on his own. Another guy, Johnathan, from Portland, Oregon showed up and I started talking with him as well. Again, another really nice guy who just loves all things Japan but really has a goal to master the language. This kid is impressive and can read a butt load of kanji (Chinese characters used in the Japanese written language), so I'm certain he'll reach that goal eventually.

We all set out in the blistering, humid Nagoya sun and took the train to the check out the castle. When we got there, it was a pretty awesome sight to behold from the outside. We stood around in the shade talking for a bit with our drinks when a old Japanese man slowly started making his way towards our group. He eventually started speaking to us in English and telling us that he enjoyed studying English and tried to practice it as much as possible. Then he starts telling us all of this information on Nagoya and the castle we're standing right by. Little did we know that this guy would end up being our unofficial, unrequested, but nonetheless much appreciated, tour guide. As we went in the castle, he stuck with us, pointing out different things and telling us facts about it. It was pretty cool to see how excited this guy was about sharing his culture with a bunch of Americans. We ended up being at the castle a couple of hours. It's quite massive and there are plenty of things to look at once you're inside due to it's museum-like setup.

When we decided to part ways with Mr. Yamada (I eventually asked him his name), we decided to make our way back Hongo, the area the KTC building is in and see what the local internet cafe is like. It turned out to be a bust because you had to have a membership to use anything and no one wanted to buy a membership for a place they wouldn't be seeing anymore. On that little journey we ran into Daryll and another guy from Canada named Matt. Matt's a pretty quiet guy, but now that I've gotten to know him a little better, he's a good dude. Turns out his dad is half-Japanese and of a similar note, Chris is half-Japanese as well from his mother's side. Maybe they're getting in touch with their roots. Ben (from Team America) went off with Daryll to a place called Kentucky Cafe, a country-western themed bar/restaurant in our area, because Daryll heard that there would be live country music being played. Nutty, I know. After Chris, Jon and I went exploring a little more we decided to make our way back to the KTC where we ran into Peter again, and a girl from Canada named Erica. All of us eventually decided to make our way to Kentucky Cafe and boy, what a sight we saw. A Japanese man in full-clad country-western denim, strummin' a guitar and singing with a southern, unintelligible draw. As if that wasn't surreal enough, Ben starts talking about how he's a singer/song-writer and guitar player, which then triggers the Japanese guy to invite him up to play songs with him. Now this is Ben's first night in Japan ever and here he is up on stage singing his heart out to a crowd of country-loving Japanese. I thought it was way cool and he did a great job entertaining everybody. That wackiness was the nightcap on what served to be a pretty long and crazy day. Again, another long post, but I'm going to be playing catch up for a while.