September 21, 2007

DAY 22ISH - KOBE, JAPAN

JAPANESE STREET PUNK ROCK. On a corner by the main station in Kobe, a handful of Japanese punk rock & punk pop bands share equipment and perform a few sets. Such a fun thing to happen upon, got a great Polaroid and passed it on to the lead singer/bassist of this particularly sweaty band with great hair. Many 'arigatos'. One of the bands sang half in Japanese half in English.. so cool to see how they
phrase a love song with the vocabulary they have.

JAPANESE BASEBALL. So they have cheering sections, which is great, but it seems like all the fans of each team are crammed into one section and the rest of the stadium is (not even half) filled with people who just kind of happened upon the game. The cheering sections on the other hand were nuts – completely synchronized singing and dancing complete with flags, horns and drums. The game itself wasn't great, the home team won 5-1 with most of the runs scored in the same inning. They put the Semester at Sea kids up on the jumbo screen and they made very typically American gestures (we can't technically go with any of the trips, so we took the trains to the stadium and got our own tickets a few sections away from the SAS trip). But during YMCA this
one kid was a total star and was trying to get all of the people around them really into it. He wound up dancing with a little old Japanese lady it was so adorable. We hopped on the chartered bus for the drive back and go the chance to talk with the SAS photographer, a guy named Josh who works for the San Francisco Chronicler and just moved to LA from Santa Barbara.. originally from Syracuse. Tiny world.

KARAOKE!!! After a few hours at a regular bar, we found a Karaoke place. You walk into this bright bright lobby, order a set amount of time, and go into a karaoke room. Two mics, thousands of songs, so fun. I've been spending a lot of time with this group- Julia (the other American), Jovelin (one of the spa girls), Brett and Jig- and it was hilarious just to let go and make complete fools of ourselves and
it being totally fine because were in Japan singing karaoke and it was all so very absurd, typical and totally necessary.

GORGEOUS JAPANESE GARDEN. Spent the few hours I had off on Sunday in this city garden. So perfect and beautiful. Took a few hours to unwind and reflect.

KOBE BEEF. Total failure. Didn't have much time and when I couldn't find it (aka everything is in Japanese and I had no idea what was going on) I panicked and just went into this cute restaurant. Wound up having a great dinner, but no Kobe beef. Putting it on my list of things to treat myself to when I get back to NY, if anyone wants to come.

One weird thing about the time I spent in Japan, particularly in Yokohama, was how much it made me miss Australia. I have this really intense desire to go back and live there for awhile. We were so lucky to have such a beautiful place to call home. I miss The Cottage and all of the weekend adventures we had. Even at the start of this trip, I'm opening myself up so many more futures than I have originally
planned.

Sayonara,
MR

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi Meliss
Life is all about futures and making sure dreams come true.
I am so happy you had fun singing, laughing and letting go and as well, reflecting.
I am proud of you. Thank you for the glimpses and details and I love your journey, all of it.
Love, Mommy

Anonymous said...

DEAR MELISSA:
I'M SENDING YOU PICTURES FROM DC.
LOVE SARA

Anonymous said...

DEAR MELISSA:
I'M SENDING YOU PICTURES FROM DC.
LOVE SARA