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Stranger in a Strange Land Newsletter May, 2004

Stranger in a Strange Land Newsletter May, 2004

This is the May Stranger in a Strange Land Newsletter cataloging the travelling adventures of Eli Gerzon. Unfortunately, I was not able to send it in May, the fifth month of the year but at least I’m sending it on the fifth DAY of the following month. In some ways this is good because it would have been a very boring newsletter without the events of the last few days of the month.

So here follows a detailed story of my exciting trip to Tokyo last weekend (my first time really seeing Tokyo) but I’ll compress the news for those who are busy:

-still tutoring English in Osaka, Japan, going well
-will be here for at least 4 more months
-still can't believe it, but going to Bali next month for about a week with friends
-visited Tokyo, had lots of fun
-can speak an increasing amount of Japanese, love it
-encourage many of you to sign-up for the "Gerzon Weekly" to receive some increasingly interesting Gershomite news, ponderings, observations, and humor, but either way feel free to share my writings and would love to hear from yall, especially those I haven’t heard from in awhile of course... :}

Well, without further ado, a due, a do, or a dew we will say "adieu" to the introduction:

On Saturday May 29th, my lessons ended at 1:10pm in Umeda (the main station in Osaka), I grabbed a bento (Japan’s fine "lunchboxes"), then hopped on the JR line one stop to Shinosaka Station, at 1:48pm I stepped onto the Shinkansen train, and at 4:30pm I stepped out of the train and into Tokyo the metropolis capital of Japan!

I wandered a bit. I soon found myself in "Ginza" one of the "cool" areas in Tokyo but not really "hip," if you can hear the difference. (Soon, I was in the middle of THE cool, hip place in Tokyo but I’ll get to that in a bit.) After some gawking I grew tired of the tall bright buildings and crowds of people and was drawn towards some trees I could see in the distance. It was Hibiya Park and it was quite lovely. Coming from Osaka it was an especially nice, large, and FREE park (they make you PAY for nature in and around Osaka). Anyway, I relaxed and finished my bento and some sushi I had also bought. It was very nice.

I left the park and had digital cameras on the brain: Ahkihabara! This "Electronic Town" in Tokyo is the Japanese center of gadgets. I decided that despite having only a little bit of time before having to meet my friend in Roppongi I would hop on the subway and see if I could spot a deal on digital cameras at Ahkihabara. I did. The first place I went to seemed really good but being a smart shopper I went around compared prices, opinions, and features. But it turned-out the first place I went was probably the best and the guy seemed nice. I have in my briefcase right now a Sony Cyber-shot, 5.1 Mega pixels, 3x optical zoom, smart zoom capable (which you can use to zoom down to the atomic level), MPEG movie files recording, wonderful, fantastic TOY... no, no, I mean digital camera.

I’m quite proud of it. And it cost me about 340 bucks. I think I saved between $150 and $200.

Well, for those not into such things I’ll move on. I met my friend Saori (who I hadn’t seen since we first met in Boston four years ago) in Roppongi around 8pm. She looked different but with the same smile and expressions and general fun and funny manner: her self-appointed nickname is "Saru" which means "monkey" in Japanese. Anyway, NOW I was in the middle of the coolest night spot in Tokyo. We met a few of her friends who were waiting in a cafe and went to a Turkish restaurant they knew. The meal was pretty good but just as we were about to leave the lights went down... the music went up... I looked around, puzzled and the Turkish waiter said to me in English: "Belly dance." I just smiled and nodded. "Yes, okay, belly dance, that’s nice."

He was serious.

From out of nowhere came a scantily clad belly dancer (yes all belly dancers are "scantily clad" but I wanted to accent the point) with a big smile, sexy moves and not much clothing (did I already mention
that last part?). Anyway, it was fun to watch her dance around in the very small restuarant, occasionally paying special attention to individual patrons, and occasionally the waiters would very professionally slip by her and take or deliver someone’s order. So, that’s how they introduce one to the nightlife in Roppongi. (I’m pretty sure they mysteriously overcharged us as well, but it wasn’t that bad and we did enjoy ourselves so we didn’t protest).

Anyway, my big excuse for finally visiting Tokyo for the first time was that my friend was tap dancing at a pub in Roppongi. We walked to the pub and after drinking a big old Guiness my friend and her friends were on the dance floor starting their dance which was in fact a combination of tap dancing and "Noh": a traditional Japanese dance style. I don’t know Noh but it wasn’t much like normal tap dancing but it was fun to watch. It was also very interesting to hear a large group of large rugby players' opinion on Noh/tap synergy dancing: "What the fuck is this?" and so on.

Well, after their dancing we went around to try to enjoy the nightlife in Roppongi. Of course we went to a club and danced from the wee hours of the morning into the increasingly large hours of the morning. So, what’s better than dancing with cute Japanese girls who are, in fact, dancers? Nothing. Actually one of the girls I enjoyed dancing with most was not one of the dancers but just a spectator like myself. But she liked rap and sports and actually knew both the Celtics and the Red Sox. I respected her immediately.

We took a gander at Roppongi Hills (the very new skyscraper apartment, shopping, and entertainment centers in Tokyo) and then we went to Shinjuku just to find an internet cafe where we could get a little sleep. I probably got about one hour of sleep before I said good-bye to my friends and went to Tokyo station to meet another friend!

We went to Ueno Park (also a free park) and went to the zoo and a museum there. It was really great to see my friend and talk to her: she's a very interesting person and sometimes we understand each other a bit.

Anyway afterwards, I finally found a nice youth hostel to stay at and got a decent sleep. Then the next day, Monday, I went to Tokyo Tower just to be a tourist and to see a great view of the city. Then I met my friend Saori again at Shinjuku Station to go visit the Red Sox fan, Megumi, at the sushi bar she works at and get a good deal on sushi. It was my first time at a sushi bar: they make the sushi and put it on a conveyer belt that constantly circles the restaurant. Everyone just sits, enjoys their meal, and reaches out to take a sushi plate as it goes by when the sushi and the color or the plate looks good to them (the color of the plate indicates the price of the sushi which they then count up at the end of the meal). Our friend gave us a really generous discount and on top of that, it was the best sushi I ever had. Yokata! ("Yeah!")

But alas, that was the end of my Tokyo adventure except for a decent ride on a terrible night bus back to Osaka: it had two levels, with the top level full of passengers and the bottom level for the driver and empty "first-class" seats, and lastly, NO TOILET! Very Japan: "We have nice seats for those who want to pay extra but everyone has to hold their waste inside." People use the word "anal-retentive" for a reason. Anyway, I didn’t pee in my pants and when I asked them to pull over to a rest stop they did, but I was still appalled.

Well, if you've been keeping track you'll notice I didn't get much sleep during my whole trip to Tokyo and I've been getting over a nasty cold since Tuesday morning. But I'm feeling a lot better today and I can't wait to go back to Tokyo to see the sites and the people. I was actually really nervous about visiting Tokyo but it wasn’t so scary: not SO crowded and there were a lot more parks and trees than in
Osaka, I'm quite certain.

Well, that’s quite enough. If you want more you've already signed-up for the Gerzon Weekly or you should soon. Just write "I’d like the GW, baby." and it's yours. Anyway, you have a good time. Give somebody a hug. Eat your vegetables. You can't have any pudding until you eat your meat. I mean, really, how can you have any pudding if you don't eat your meat? Take care.

Yours faithfully,

Eli Gerzon