First Tokyo Weekend!

Did you know questionnaire!:

1. Japanese magazines, brouchers, etc. are bound on the right side. So, when you pick up a magazine it looks backwards!

2. They drive on the opposite side of the road here!

3. Its very non-conformist and inappropriate to eat outside. I mean, they did tell us in training not to eat on campus walking from one building to the next, which I assumed just meant its unprofessional. Well, last Sat night I got some food to go and on a pretty empty street I found the only place to sit--- the steps of a closed store. Well, it looked closed anyway. I had this sense that people were doing a double take, going by me on their bikes, looking at this foreigner sitting there eating her dinner... but I shrugged it off. Suddenly, I look behind me and can someone please for the love of God tell me why there are 3 men in business suits inside the store peering at me outside the window, looking like they are so confused... no no no... more like ENAMORED by this sight, their eyes laughing at this confusing and ever so ridiculous sight of me eating. Then one starts walking towards the door, obviously to tell me to leave as the others are laughing behind him---- well, as imagined, I pretty much ran away in embarrassment. So, yay, now we all get to know not to eat outside in Japan.

Questionnaire Complete- you passed! Now on to my amazing first Tokyo weekend!:

I got off work on Friday and wanted to somehow celebrate the end of my first week teaching but didn't know anywhere to go. I was on the metro home and decided I would just get off the next stop and see what was there, where life in Japan would take me. So, I get off and like I was warned, there is nothing. I live and work in the suburbs, and everything seems to die very early. Just as I am about to turn around, I notice some lights at the end of the block... I go a little closer and see a sign that says cafe.... well, I basically discovered the most amazing little non-Japanese cafe that exists in all of Japan! Its trying to be like a French bistro, with 4 little tables, coffees, desserts, etc. The woman who works there was simply wonderful and to my luck she speaks English! I sat with a piece of cheesecake for two hours, chatting with her, reading my Lonely Planet Japan and having it register that I AM IN JAPAN! This cafe is going to be my weekly Friday after work tradition.

Saturday morning I went to my first 100 yen... 1 dollar... JAPANESE LESSON! I know, I know- how can a Japanese lesson be 1 dollar. I was wondering that too. I go to the location and its a community center of sorts. They point me to the room and I see a bunch of shoes outside the door... ok, I guess I am going to go in barefoot too. I duck my head to go inside this small room with mats covering the floor, cushions to sit on and low tables lining the walls to write on. Besides for me and one Australian girl it was all Chinese families, with little kids running around the small room trying to learn Japanese. I was paired up with Goto- a Japanese grandfather, probablly in his 70s, who speaks English and doesn't know how to be a teacher, but still, it was all so charming- very Japanese, and its always nice to interact with locals.

That night I went to the movies, which by the way costs 18 dollars. Yay, I know, worse than NYC! I wanted to see a Japanese film so I decided on the one film that looked visually entertaining- a colorful kids movie... or so I thought. I have no clue what this movie was about but I think it was made for someone on drugs. It was very psychodelic- going into different worlds on top of worlds and using different forms of imagination. Check out the trailor, which tailors it down some: http://jp.youtube.com/watch?v=bWn71fkqBcw. And I found out that the Tokyo International Film Festival is coming up!

On Sunday I met up with my sister's wonderful friend Janet, who is half Japanese and half American. I went to church with her and her mom and met some really wonderful inter-racial families, and ran into someone I worked with 6 years and haven't seen since but is now livingin Tokyo- small world! Janet took me out to eat at this wonderful Japanese place and taught me what all the weird foods I've been trying actually are. THe most interesting thing she taught me is not to pass food from chopsticks to chopsticks because at Japanese funerals they pass the bones from person to person using chopsticks and so people never pass food at the table in this way. Also, its not rude to slurp your soup! Interesting, thanks Janet!

After that I went to Asakusa, where there is the largest Buddhist Temple in Tokyo. So, now I have been to the largest Shinto and Buddhist Temples in Tokyo. I was watching one man pray at a shrine and of course he saw me, but then motions for me to come over. He basically gave me a 15 minute animated explanation of the, well, I dont know what exactly. He was pointing and impersonating and laughing and I kept interupting to say in Japanese that I don't understand but its like he didn't believe me, and just kept on talking. In the end, I had to throw some money in the shrine and copy what I saw him do before continuing on my way.

I ended the weekend with some good, classic America: I went to Starbucks!