I could feel that school was fast approaching, things at school had started getting serious. Teachers were sleeping less at their desks, and many of them were meeting with students already (Japanese students are so studious). Yamaga was the last event of the summer, the following week was Kumamoto Orientation which is where all of the new JETs get together in Kumamoto and discuss what we will be doing in the coming year. Orientation was for three days: August 18 - 20. The two days after orientation were also filled with many activities at school. Yes, school was officially getting into full swing.
The first day of Kumamoto Orientation was...eventful. The meeting was at a department store in downtown Kumamoto, so it was easier for me to get there than other JETs. I woke about a half-hour before I had to be there and got there in enough time to stop at a convenient store and get something to drink. I saw many JETs that I had not seen since arriving in Kumamoto. It was good to see Chris, a guy that I befriended in Tokyo. I also talked with a few other people that I had spoke with either on the plane to Kumamoto or in Tokyo. We were able to chat a bit before the meeting started. The first day was filled with fun lectures about getting adjusted in Kumamoto. There was also a Japanese language test, which was going to gauge where we should begin in the language courses set up by CLAIR, the Japanese ministry that manages the JETs. Of course, I only filled in 3 questions out of 50, so I would be starting with the beginning course.
After the meetings, Kumajet, the social organization for JETs, set up a tour of Kumamoto Castle. The tour was guided by some Japanese high school students who had been practicing their English. I wanted to check the internet, since my internet had yet to be installed. I went to my friend Chris' hotel and we changed for the dinner and drinking marathon that would commence after the tour of the castle. After changing, we went down to the internet cafe in the lobby for an hour or so. As I look back, I probably should have gone on the tour because the children had done a lot to prepare for the tour.
The restaurant was on top of the building where we had the meeting during the day. The building is a really posh department store with a level that has many nice restaurants. It was a beautiful night, the sun was just starting to go down as we toasted (kompai), and the food was brought out on large platters. There was a wide variety of food, everything was really good. I felt bad because I was sitting near a couple of vegetarians who were unable to eat anything but edemamme. Japanese don't really understand the concept of vegetarian; usually, it is more reasonable to say you are allergic. There was a lot of really good conversation through the night. The beer was left at the table in kegs, and as the drink flowed, so did conversation. We talked about our journey so far, we talked about music and politics, and we talked about how we had all been changed slightly by our journeys.
The party's attendance was near 80 people or so, many of them new JET, but some were members of the prefecture office or JETs on their 2nd or 3rd year, and there were others who were former JETs wanting to get a taste of the exceptional experience we all had in common. I have come to realize how truly unique my experience is, if only because the former JETs, much like people with whom I attended High School, they still are trying to live in moments they can't quite grasp because they have passed.
When people finished eating, things were getting louder and many people started mingling around. I talked with one of the men who worked at the BOE (Board of Education) for quite a while and he gave me my first Kirin Stout, which has become my beer of choice. Kirin is one of the popular breweries in Japan, and they make a really good stout. He wanted to know about where I was from and he wanted to know if I enjoyed my life in Japan. I told him of my home, and I reassured him that my life in Japan was wonderful. The conversation moved from America, to Japanese beer, to linguistics, and finally ending with him talking about how much he liked our conversation and his desire to talk more with me. He is a really great guy, with a very jovial Japanese attitude and the same weakness to alcohol that is common among the Japanese (He couldn't keep up with me.).
While I was talking with the guy from the BOE, people started to talk about the plans for the rest of the evening. A bar crawl was planned from the beginning. We were going to go to three different bars. I was already feeling pretty good.
We walked to the next bar, which was a reggae themed bar. Reggae and Rastafarian's are really popular in Japan. The bar had a nice group of people in it already. There were two levels to the bar, the second floor had much more room than the ground floor, so most people stayed upstairs most of the evening. Getting drinks was atrocious, because of the number of people crammed into this bar. Upstairs there was a DJ table, and we were all waiting for the house music to be put to a rest and get some real music going on the turntables. After about 30 minutes, the DJ appeared and started playing some pretty good music. The foreigners started to mix things up on the dance floor and we must have been quite the site to the Japanese regulars at this small bar. I cut it up for the better part of an hour, until we moved onto the next bar. As we were leaving, I exited the reggae bar with one of the guys who works for the BOE.
On the way to the next bar, I walked with Saleem, a former JET who works at the BOE. He came with his girlfriend and a couple of his friends, who I have since ran into in other spheres. Saleem is a really interesting guy. Takeshi and Toru, Saleem's two friends, are two of the coolest Japanese guys that I have met since coming to Japan.
The next bar we went to was a gaijin bar called Jeff's World Bar. It is run by an expat. This bar was pretty small, as well, but our group was starting to thin out and there weren't as many people at the bar before our group arrived. The bar was still packed, after we piled in. I started drinking double Makers Mark on the rocks. The bar was packed with people and I remember talking to a few girls and my friend Dan, but the whole experience was pretty uneventful and didn't really conjure any great memories. This was because of its rather calmness or because my memory had started to become hazy. We didn't stay at Jeff's very long, so I don't think I am the only one who didn't seem to think it was that great.
After leaving Jeff's, we started walking to the last bar. The last bar a small bar that was underground. It was just one large room. There was a large screen on the wall showing different images, and there was some really good music. Behind the bar there were rows and rows of CDs, but my vision had started to blur. This bar was pretty chill, we had all started to feel the effects of the evening. We were congregating on the couches and trying to talk over the music. We only stayed at this bar about an hour, it was about two in the morning. There was talk of another after-hours event going on in one of the groups that I was bouncing between, and it was decided that we leave.
I had been hanging out with Chris and Daniel that night, but I was also trying to mingle between groups of good looking women. I remember leaving, but Dan and Chris told me the next day that they had tried to gather my attention to remind me of my suit's whereabouts in Chris' hotel room. They called after me as I was dancing down the street with two girls and another guy.
We were going to Holly's apartment for a nightcap. The other two people were going to crash at Holly's, but I said that I get my bike from school and go home. We got to Holly's place and she made us White Russians. I was flirting with Alex, this girl who I had talked to much of the night. We were speaking Spanish to each other. At Holly's, we were all talking about how much we missed home and where we all wanted to explore while in Japan. We were all pretty drunk. Ken, the other guy, passed out on the bed. I stayed for an hour or so, but then the girls were ready to go to sleep. I said my goodbyes and took the elevator downstairs.
The first mistake I made was that I didn't ask how to get to the main street that goes to my school. The second mistake that I made was wearing sandals. I went the opposite way of the main street. Let me interject, streets in Japan are nothing like streets in America. The word linear isn't in their vocabulary, I believe. In my hazy mind, if I went this way I would eventually hit the main street. But, streets kept curving and I was on the wrong side of some train tracks. I remember a point where I was about to crawl over a fence to get to the promised main street, but I would have to cross train tracks. In my condition, I somehow convinced myself to be prudent. I could not convince myself not to pee when I needed to though; I ended up peeing between an apartment complex and a park. It took awhile, I have no other reference of time to postulate, but I started to get worried that it was getting later and I needed to be up for tomorrows meeting downtown.
My impeccable sense of direction kept me on a route that didn't detour me too far, but there were many dead ends and residential streets that I stumbled down in search of my school. Finally, a couple hours later I saw the large Prefecture Office building. I knew that I was almost there. As I walked through the courtyard, my heart had started to beat normal again. I got to school and mounted my bike and started on my way home.
Twenty minutes later I arrived at my apartment. I walked upstairs, took my sandals off at the door, briefly noticing the bloody blisters between my big toe and the next toe, stripping my clothes off, and finally crawling onto my futon at 4:30 in the morning. Getting up at 8:00 was going to be hell.
To be continued...
