Music in Japan #1

Here are some pictures and video clips from a live show I went to last night. Both bands sung happy birthday to my friend and I, which was pretty flattering. At one point I also went up on stage and danced because they called me out of the audience and requested it. Actually, all three of us foreigners ended up on stage dancing at one point. I guess they either think we're cool or they just like seeing how stupid they can make us look. Either way, I'm not complaining. It was fun! The crazy singer with the red hat and huge fake sideburns is one of my frisbee teammates. I was sad because we missed the first 30 minutes of his band. I'll have to get more footage next time. He's hilarious!

1st Birthday in Kanoya

When you have a birthday in Japan, everyone remembers what you like, and buys you some variation of it as a gift. First of all, I didn't expect any gifts or even advertise that my birthday was coming up... apparently my coworker was telling people. Many of my students know I like frogs, so for gifts I got a gumball frog on a chocolate cake, a frog cell phone accessory (everyone has little accessories hanging from their phones in Japan), frog stickers, a porcelain frog statue, a frog pen, a frog stuffed animal and a frog clothes pin. I feel pretty damn lucky right now.

Video Log #2

I've eaten a lot of raw meat since I've been here, I just experienced my first typhoon, and I took a dance lesson. 4 or 5 boring minutes of me rambling and random video clips. Ta da!

A thing of beauty

Today I took a trip to Kagoshima and played ultimate frisbee as usual. Along the way I ran across this gentleman and it made the whole trip worth while. The matching baby blue turtle neck and sweat pants bring a tear to my eye... and the rubber boots really tie the whole outfit together. The immaculate clothing is wonderfully accented by the weathered silver helmet and faded, pealing stickers, and the granny basket on the front of the yellow scooter is just so functional and feng shui. It's pretty much... perfection.

Where I'm living now

There are some bad people here, but not many!

Here's what a "wanted" poster looks like in Japan. I'll have to take a bunch of pictures of the ones I've seen (though I've only seen three) and make a computer background out of them. Unfortunately I left my good camera in this really cool restaurant on Sunday night, so I can't post the pictures of the awesome decorations they had. Luckily, most people in Japan are very honest and I'm getting my camera back in two weeks. So I'm stuck with my terrible cell phone camera for now. I guess it's better than nothing though! I've heard numerous stories of people losing their wallets, cameras, and cell phones here, only to have them mailed to them or returned without anything missing. Hmmm... I hope this isn't a band poster! I'd feel like an idiot if it was, but at least I can claim that I can't read Japanese yet.