March 30th-Day Two
So today was my second day in Nanao. It actually started out very much like my first day in Nanao (yesterday) with me getting up around 9am. I wanted to stay in bed because, well, in the futon, because the futon, with its winter coverings and thick winter comforter was immensely comfortable. I tried to tell my “father” that it was as soft as a cloud, but I don’t think it worked, or maybe they just don’t have that idiom in Japanese. Anyway, I also didn’t really want to get up because I was afraid that we would start the thing again like we did yesterday of sitting around, and mom and dad worrying that there was nothing we could do. But I got up eventually because I didn’t want the kids to have to wake me up. The breakfast was typical except today I had sausages instead of ham, and I had Pepsi (not my choice) instead of milk. I just take whatever they give me. Yeah…I’m quite different when I’m not at my real home. At home in good ole’ NJ, I just make whatever I want for myself…hmmm. Anyway, after breakfast I decided to go for a walk just to get out of the house until lunchtime. When I asked if I could go out, I didn’t expect there to be a whole discussion about it. I wasn’t even included in the discussion, between mom and dad, but I could tell that it wasn’t even about me. They were discussing plans for the day that I guess my plans had to conform to, but that was fine, I didn’t mind there actually being a plan today. So, I had to be back my 11:30…fine.
I walked into town and first went into the J-Phone (one of Japan’s mobile phone providers) store. Whenever I go into a store, I’m careful to not get too close to the service desk because I haven’t yet figured out how to say something like, “I don’t need anything, I’m just looking for now.” AHHHHH..I’m horrible, I can’t say anything! Anyway, I just went in there and picked up this month’s catalog and a brochure about the phone I want (T-08)….not like I can really read any of the contents very well, but maybe some day I’ll be able to, but for the time being I can just point to what I want J. Ok, I know this is off topic, but I just have to say that I’m on the train going to Osaka now (writing yesterday’s journal entry) and in the seat to my left across the isle is a kid that looks exactly like Harry Potter…except Japanese of course. I wonder if I could take his picture without me noticing…. Ah! He just sneezed! That’s so cute. Hahha…ok..sorry. Anyway, next I went into the shopping center across the street from the train station (the center of town). I poked around the CD store and then I went up to the top floor where they have a computer hooked up to the Internet for anyone to use. Actually, I wasn’t sure if I had to pay for it, but no one was there and I was there for about 30 minutes writing e-mails and no one stopped me, so I guess there was no problem. After that, I went back across the street to the train station and I bought the ticket for the seat that I’m sitting in right now. And then I went back home. I figured we would have lunch then, but I’d only been home for about 5 minutes before everyone got up and started putting on their shoes and getting their coats so I guessed we were going somewhere.
Our first stop was actually at the shore. After heading south along the coast for about 20 minutes, we arrived at a building overlooking the sea. All it was was a store that sold little trinkets and various seafood type things. We didn’t stay there long, but the one cool thing that I saw there were giant snails still in their shell roasting over a little grill. No, they weren’t alive when they were put on the grill. No, I didn’t eat any. No, I didn’t take a picture, but I really wanted to. I probably could have because the woman who was doing the cooking looked very nice and smiled at me and said, “Irasshaimase” (Welcome to my store kind of thing…) every time I walked by. After looking around there, we walked down to the beach. It was really dirty and there was garbage everywhere. Hmmm…oh well. It was too cold to swim anyway. There was an underpass to get to the beach that went under the road, and as we were coming back through there, I hid behind a corner and popped out when mom, Hiroki, Yuki, and Saki came by. Ahhhhhhahahahha…you should have seen the looks on their faces. They were saying, “Bikkuri shita!” (You scared me!) for about 5 minutes after that.
After riding in the car for about another….oh…..30 minutes we pulled into a restaurant. They were full and there was something like a 30 minute wait. I was kind of confused because we’d passed about 200 restaurants on our way to this place and we had to wait here for half an hour? I just played along and took pictures of the kids as they all slept in the back seat. When we got inside, I realized 1) why we were waiting for this place, and 2), why there was a wait in the first place. This restaurant was one with a long conveyer belt that circled around an open space in the middle of the room for sushi chefs to stand and do their work, and on the outside of the circuit were chairs and booths situated alongside the track. I’d been to a place like this last summer in Kyoto, so I knew what to do. All there is to it, is to watch the track as hundreds of pieces of sushi and sushi-related dishes glide by on little plates on the track and wait for one that looks tasty to slide by and grab it. The plates were of different colors and patterns to denote cost of the dish. They even had fruit and deserts sliding around the track too. If you want something special or if you don’t see what you want on the track you can just ask one of the dudes on the inside to make it for you! We ate our fill of sushi and other squishy little treats and were on our way.
Next we went to a really big mall in Toyama prefecture. It was called Jusco. The mall was very much like the Short Hills mall in that it had a lot of nice store and it was very clean and sparkly. There was a movie theater though (that looked more like a space station inside than a theater) and there were a number of food courts too. We must have spent like 2 or 3 hours in there just walking around. In the bookstore I looked at the English language books to see if I could learn something, and I tried to read some children’s stories. That went ok. Across the parking lot from the Jusco Mall was a large store that was kind of like a Lowe’s home improvement center or a home depot. On the outside was a sign saying what was in there and it listed things like, “Do it yourself” “Home Improvement” and “Garden Center” but my favorite was “Pet’s Egg.” I have no idea what it was. I kinda wanted to go in and see what a pet’s egg looks like or how much they cost, but I didn’t want to make trouble. I took a picture of the sign though and when mom asked me why I did that I tried to explain that “Pet’s Egg” makes no sense and that it’s silly English. You know what’s frustrating?!?!?! There’s no phrase for “That makes sense” or “That makes no sense” in Japanese. I asked my friend Kozue, and she said that Japanese people really don’t say things like that. Arg! I’ll figure something out.
After the mall, even though I wasn’t hungry and still had sushi coming out of my ears, we went to a place that served all kinds of grilled dishes like yakiniku, okonomiyaki, takoyaki, yakisoba, etc etc. If you’re wondering what “yaki” is, it means “grilled.” The tables are kind of like the ones in Benihana in that there is a flat grill in the table and you put your plates around the periphery. However, the tables are small instead of massive and you take your shoes off at the door and sit on the floor instead of on big chairs. You order and then a dude comes by and cooks the more complicated dishes (like okonomiyaki) on the table for you. Of course I had yakisoba, but we basically shared everything. I think my dad has the impression that I need to eat a lot more than I actually do. We got a yakisoba serving for 2 because we intended to share it, but I ended up eating most of it….ugh. Then we went home and I fell asleep for about 20 minutes in the car. Oh!!!! Something that you need to know about. Ok….for some reason, in the car…we were listening to the score of that Broadway show “Mama Mia.” I don’t know why….but we were. It was on repeat-play and it we must have listened to the entire thing no less than 5 times throughout the day because we never turned it off. MOREOVER….the song “Dancing Queen” was, for some sick sick sick reason, on the CD in more than one place. It seemed like, and I’m not kidding or exaggerating here, that every 3rd song was “Dancing Queen.” So, I probably heard that song no less than 10 or 15 times yesterday afternoon. Kato Kalan would have loved that…it’s his favorite song (extreme sarcasm)! At one point on the way home, I drifted back into consciousness and I heard Saki ask me, “Maikeru, kono uta wakaru?” (Michael, do you understand this song?) And I think I mumbled something like, “Ee? Maikeru shinda…” (Huh..? Michael died). And mom said something like, “Saki-chan! Maikeru neteiru! Yamenasai!” (Saki! Michael’s sleeping! Leave him alone!). In retrospect the whole thing was kinda funny.
When we got home, we all (except dad) talked about how we’d eaten too much. And then I wrote some journal entries. I also put some more pictures on this website so you should probably go look at them. You can see some of the places that I talked about in this journal entry! How cool is that!!!! Then, for some reason, I started typing everyone’s name in Japanese on the computer and the kids found this VERY amusing. We typed a few things together about how we ate too much and how we’re typing in Japanese. The backspace key is terribly funny for some reason. Whenever Hiroki pressed the key to delete something, he almost fell down laughing. I tried it a few times and it didn’t have the same effect on me. So, tomorrow (today), I’m going to Osaka. It should be fun. I’m going to hang out with my dorky little friends there…and I’ll have to say some things in Japanese so maybe I can actually start getting better because I’m pretty disappointed in myself so far when it comes to the Japanese. See…it’s a complicated thing here. When I was with the Mitsuhara family for these 2 days I spent most of the time just listening and trying to follow their conversation. And most of the time I know what they’re talking about. The problem is that I get topics, and usually can’t make a whole lot of sense out of specific ideas or points. And when I do make sense out of it, it doesn’t do me much good because the conversation moves too quickly for me to do something about it like say something or add something to the conversation. So I was really quiet for most of the time. Actually, my mom and I had a couple of decent conversations. Like when I first got there and we were having dinner and this morning when we were having breakfast before I left for the train station. That was ok. Like…if it’s just me talking to one other person, it’s alright because I have to follow the conversation because I’m half of it, and it moves at my pace. When there are a bunch of Japanese people, of course their speaking Japanese to each other at their own pace, which is too fast and complicated for me…..for now. Also, another thing is that at times, even when I understand what’s going on or what’s being said, I’m not sure what to say. Like yesterday, I thought, “If this conversation were in English, what would I say?” And since I didn’t know the answer to that question, I told myself not to worry so much if I don’t know what to say in Japanese. It’s really a vicious cycle though because I can’t get better at speaking unless I speak, and I can’t speak unless I have something to say, and I can’t have anything to say unless I understand the conversation, and I can’t understand the conversation unless I can speak Japanese. You see where this is going? Yeah…. Well, I think it should get better after Osaka because if I hang out with 1 friend, then we will speak Japanese to each other and that will be ok. And then when I get to Miyazaki, I’ll have all my piles of books to study and then I’ll be able to hear the things I studied and say the things I studied and things will start going better…..I hope.
-Maikeru