ダニエルの冒険

At lunch today I saw some policemen block off a street. After work I came by and there was a little festival going on there. There were stands set up at each end of the street, selling coupons for food and drinks, which you can exchange once you get inside. I bought some more kakigori (that’s the shaved ice I mentioned in another post) and watched a band play hawaiian music while a girl in a blue yukata danced the hula on a stage.

There’s something really enchanting about the summer evenings here. It’s so warm that it’s still messing with my head, though. I leave and get a rush of warm air, and then feel like I’m going in somewhere, because the concept of “outside = cold” is so deeply embedded in my mind. I’ve left chocolate outside and it’s melted because I wasn’t thinking of the possibility of anything melting outside, and if it gets warm the idea of opening a window still comes to mind.

Taking it easy again tonight but tomorrow I’ll meet Saharu in Ueno and have a quick dinner before she has to go back to Gunma.

Anyway, my washing is almost done!

I’m writing this offline on my laptop on a train. I’m the 特急 (Special Express or something in English) from Kitasenju (北千住駅) to Ashikagashi (足利市駅). Finally I have more adventures to write about! Today has been crazy enough already and now I’m on my way into the heart of the Japanese countryside (well it’s no Aomori but it’s certainly countryside by Japanese standards).

The flight was delayed by 3 hours this morning. Not 3 hours late arriving, but 3 hours sitting in the tin can while they fixed it. They had to disconnect the APU (auxiliary power unit) for a while which meant that the air conditioning went down, which wasn’t fun at all.

That flight was sandwiched with lots and lots of public transportation. I got 2 buses (29 to 19th&Holloway then 28 to Daly City BART station), a train (BART to SFO) to get to the airport. Then getting from the airport to where I’m going now, I got the first train out of the airport, but got off at Narita station and waiting for a Limited Express train. That got me to Aota where I changed to the Local line for Sakiya. I changed line then to the Tobu line and had to go down one station on the Local line until I got to Kitasenju which is where I could board the express I’m on now. I don’t know how I even remembered all that.

Being back in Japan, even though it’s only been for a few hours, is making me feel like this is definitely the place for me. Until this morning I was torn between Ireland, San Francisco and Japan… but since I saw Narita and Uchida, even though it was just from their station platforms, I’ve been thinking that this is where I have to be.

On Sunday the Nakajima family took me to see some of the extended family I met last time. We had a Japanese barbecue, which is a bit similar to your usual Irish barbecue except everyone has rice, and instead of burgers and sausages it’s just small cuts you put on and eat with the rice and some sauce. We played some ping-pong at the arcade where Ayumi’s brother works, went to karaoke together, and generally just hang out for the weekend. I really love the people up in Tochigi, and Daisuke, Ayumi’s younger cousin, stuck to me like glue. He’s a really fun kid and loves games and generally joking around. He taught me some “cool” Japanese that I have to try out before I leave

That is, 「ラーメン、つけ麺、僕イケメン」
(”Ramen, tsukemen, boku ikemen”, meaning “Chinese noodles, cold noodles, I’m good-looking”, but it rhymes so it’s funny… trust me)

I got the second-last train back and the family and neighbours brought me to the station. Kumi-chan, a 6 year old girl from down the street, wrote me a letter saying how she’s sad that I’m going and I have to come back so she won’t be sad, with some new colouring pencils she won at the local festival. I had the chance to stop by the festival and play some games and eat some かき氷 (kakigori: flavoured shaved ice), and watch some older people from the neighbourhood sing enka (traditional folk songs).