STUDY ABROAD: WEEK 44

JUNE 29

This morning I went to Okazaki to sign the finalization of my apartment contract. The events have finally settled in, and I will be moving in a few weeks. While I was in Okazaki, I decided to walk to the mall and also check out the nearby Donki, where I bought some sportswear.

By the way, Ramadan is supposed to be starting soon, but I’ve been hearing different things about the starting day. Some are saying it’s tomorrow, and others are saying it’s Tuesday. I’m not sure, so I decided to start fasting from today. As long as this summer isn’t too humid, I think I won’t have a problem.

JUNE 30

I haven’t really had a chance to relax and do nothing the past couple weeks, and since I was out all day yesterday, that’s exactly what I did today after class. I sent in my book stuff to be printed; now it’s just time to wait until the proof copy is delivered.

JULY 1 - JULY 2

Today I decided to kick back a bit more. Joy and the others have decided to go climb Mt. Fuji on July 12th and 13th. That just so happens to be my birthday week. I couldn’t have planned a better way to spend my birthday than with them. As for climbing the mountain, if we can get all the way to the top it will be a great feat. I have a few doubts, since I’ve never done it before, but as far as fitness goes I think I can make the climb. I may be slow, but I will get to the top if that’s where we are going.

JULY 3

Today is all about BPM. They’re having another party down in Toyohashi tonight, which I almost missed out on. Initially the date was set for next Thursday, but it was suddenly changed to today. It’s probably going to go all night again, but I’m looking forward to seeing if any of the graduated students show up. This may also be the last time I can party with them as a student, so I have to make the most of it! Toyohashi here I come!

JULY 4

As expected, the party lasted all night. It wasn’t as lively as some of the other previous parties, and by that I mean a lot more people slept through the night. I considered napping once or twice myself, but I have a hard time doing so in public places. Instead I danced most of the night, and when morning came, this time I was showered and ready to start my day.

I actually had quite a Friday planned. After class, where presentations on Japanese instruments continued, I went to karaoke with Taiga and Rachael for the afternoon three-hour special. We needed to figure out what songs we can sing together, so I went for practice, she just went to be awesome.

Then, following an enriching karaoke experience, I met with Takahiro at the station. We headed down to Osu on the subway in search for yukatas, preferably cheap ones. Normally, a new, well-made yukata might go for a couple hundred dollars or so. If at all possible, I hoped to get the whole set: yukata, obi, and geta (wooden shoes) for less than a hundred. They had pre-made packs in Aeon for about one-hundred dollars; that was my back-up plan.

Thankfully, I didn’t need to go to Aeon after all. The first store we went into had two floors, with used yukatas and kimonos on the second floor. We checked the second floor first because some were as cheap as 500 yen! Unfortunately, we could find little that would suit my height, or that was the right material/color. We were pretty set on some sort of blue as the main color. Two middle-aged women graciously gave us advice on where to look for the right styles for summer, and they even went as far as to lead us, well me, around the store to try on different styles. They didn’t work there, they were customers like us, though clearly more experienced.

When the second floor proved to be insightful, but not plentiful, we headed down to the first floor. I expected prices to be through the roof, but there was actually yukata between 3000 and 5000 yen. There was only one blue one that would fit my height, I was worried if it would fit the girth of my hips, when suddenly another middle-aged woman came out of nowhere and started to properly dress me in the yukata. We had a red obi picked out, which she quickly wrapped around me and confirmed the sizes would fit. Thank you, random lady, for saving us the guess work. All I had to do was choose a pair of geta, which for my size was even harder to find, but there was a few extra-large pairs. In any case, they would have been tight because they were new. All that for about 7200 yen, perfect!

Following our shopping venture, Takahiro and I trudged back to Nagoya station so we could go to English Cafe Nite. There happened to be a large group visiting from California, which at least doubled the number of English speakers in the room. We played a game similar to telephone, only with gestures instead of speaking the phrases. Some of the phrases we had to act out were impossible to decipher: my group’s phrase was becoming a ghost, but it ended up looking like the rain came and something sprouted. Regardless, we had a great time, and I earned the right to a good night sleep. Good night!

JULY 5

Mark’s having a party tonight in his room. For the first time it’s not in my or Rachael’s room, so we’re grateful. It went well, as most parties do. Nobody came to hush us, though I thought sometimes we got a bit loud. Then, out of nowhere, Mark’s neighbor calls for his attention on the balcony. Next thing we know, he’s sitting in the room with us, talking about games. We thought he was going to tell us to be quiet, but he just came over to join the party. In fact, this was the same guy that I had talked to WAY back in September when there was a fire in the building across the street. Who knew he was Mark’s neighbor?

STUDY ABROAD: WEEK 42

JUNE 15

Akane and I headed to the apartment dealers this morning. I didn’t expect too much when we arrived because the place looked like a smaller dealer, unlike the big names in the business: Minimini, Suumo, etc. Thankfully, I was wrong.

It was only our first meeting, but they were able to pull out five locations within twenty minutes of the station that were under 400 a month. Not only that, but none of the locations minded whether or not I was a foreigner. I think that part of that reason was because I went to the dealer in person and they could see for themselves what sort of level my Japanese was at. At least, when he spoke on the phone with the owners, that fact came up each time. Each of the places he showed me fits my preferences, so it’s hard to pick on above the other. I do have a favorite that I’ve seen during my Internet searches as well. Next week, we’ll be back to check out the places in person.

With business taken care of, Akane and I biked over to Aeon Mall. We were basically killing time until twilight, when we were going to meet with Jon and a couple of Akane’s friends to go see the fireflies. The way she talked about them, it made me think that they were a rare sight to see; little floating magical orbs. Going to see the fireflies seemed to be one of the past-times at this time of year, so I anticipated the event.

We drove up into the mountains on the curviest road I have ever been on in my life. It was only two-lanes, so we had to be careful around each corner. Deep out in the country, only surrounded by fields and then towering trees. I was enjoying the scenery along the winding ride when suddenly we were told to stop outside of a tunnel and park along the side of the road. There was only other car in the area, so we thought it was a bit fishy. But, we all got out of the car and walked through the tunnel to the other side. Then it quickly became apparent as to why we had to park so suddenly. Both sides of the road were already lined with cars of other people who had come to see the fireflies. The area was particularly popular because of the clean water in the river which ran next to the mountain’s forests.

These fireflies that were the call of everyone’s attention are the same ‘lightning bugs’ that fill our backyards every summer in Toledo. Jon and I had to laugh because this was a normal sight for us. Though, I suppose, if they only gather in these secluded areas, then it would be a rare sight for the average Japanese citizen.

There was a small trail leading down from the road, past an elementary school, down to the riverside and then back up to the road. It did not take long to walk the entire trail, so soon we were heading back to the car. We ended up in the middle of the pack, meaning that a whole new group of go-seers had arrived after us, and some still arriving. As for us, we had only snacked on some mochi while we were there so we went off to find food. At that time of night, the only place open was Denny’s. I had pancakes for dinner.

JUNE 16

…Manga…

JUNE 17

After dance practice I headed to the City Pal apartments to join the Cho-Ko party. This month both Cho, one of the exchange students, and Natsuko, the Japanese student who is assisting with our culture class, have birthdays, so they created a party together. Many of the members still left at the party were the new Chinese exchange students, so afterward when we went to karaoke many of the songs were in Chinese. We stayed until morning, so once again I let two of the girls stay in my room overnight.

JUNE 18

…Training…and it’s raining…

(View from the JR train from Nagoya to Gamagori as it rains.)

(My first attempt to explain the hard and soft ‘th’ sounds.)

JUNE 19

…Manga…Dance…

JUNE 20

Game night, we meet once again!

We started out playing Blocks, but as the members at our table grew, Rafael suggested that we play Phase 10. The makers of UNO know how to make great card games. As the name suggests, there are 10 Phases of the game, but some of us only reached the third Phase before time ran out. I’m looking forward to playing it again next month. Though, sadly it will be our last Game Night together… June is going by too quickly!!

Once again, I went to dance in Naka District with the guys. I happened to see a few more familiar faces, including that of Pepsiman. The Pepsiman I knew was always wearing short shorts, and he danced very feverishly. Today, he wasn’t dancing, and seemed a lot calmer than usual. I greeted him and we ended up talking; it turns out that he hasn’t practiced dance recently, he was frustrated with it. In some ways I understood him because I was having troubles with dance recently as well. In his case, he had been so competitively recently that dance wasn’t fun anymore, he needed to rethink it. I, on the other hand, need to up my ante and challenge myself more.

There was something self-assuring about hearing that he, as well as other dancers, have had their hard times as well. It seems to be an obvious fact, but to hear it from their own mouths really hits home. It’s hard now, but soon, very soon I’ll be free to dance and improve again. If I think about it, when I started drawing, I made a good jump my first year, and then it was a consistent slow but steady progress. I didn’t notice it because I was just enjoying myself; I wasn’t comparing my skills to others as much. Then I made a few more jumps, and here I am. If I put my mind to it, I can create anything. I think, once this project of mine is completed, I can do that again.

JUNE 21

We had a make-up class today, in place for the survey class we missed at the beginning of the semester. What really happened is we watched Mark and Aurianne’s final presentation for the class. They are in the new B class, so we usually don’t get to see each other’s presentations. However, for these final presentations, the teacher wants us all to present together, so from next week on our class times will overlap.

After class I went to training and then karaoke again with Rachael and a few others. How can I say no when our time together seems so short?

STUDY ABROAD:WEEK 38

MAY 18

Today, I spent all day and night in Toyohashi!

My day started around lunchtime when I went do to Toyohashi to meet Junko for lunch. It’s been a couple months since I’ve seen here, so we needed to catch up. We ate at a small café-ish bar on the East side of the station. Their lunch specials were sandwiches and soups, so we both ordered the shrimp avocado sandwich. It was so nice to talk to her, even though, neither of us really had any significant updates. She’s such a nice and sweet girl, but she’s interesting— she has personality. I say this as I compare her to the new string of freshmen girls that I have become acquainted with over the past few months. Maybe those girls are too fresh to the world, so they have nothing interesting to say. The upperclassmen, Junko and the others, are different: many of them have studied abroad, so they have experienced other cultures. They just have something. It’s a shame that we haven’t had more chances to meet.

Junko and I hung out until about 2pm, wandering around the stationary departments at the Seibu near the station. I found quite a few things that I would have liked to buy, but not until I move into my own apartment. I can wait, for now.

Jorden was supposed to meet me soon after Junko went home, but he was running late due to an errand. I killed time by wandering around some more. There was a small event going on in the street for the kids, so the area was more crowded than usual. I happened to spot a beautiful red husky on the street, a nice medium-sized dog. Rarely are there any large dog breeds, but I have seen a Saint Bernard once. If I didn’t live in an apartment, I would consider getting one.

Side note: I also found the first volume of Battle Royale at the Book-Off, for only 300 yen!

Finally, as 3:30 rolled around I headed to the fountain outside the station to meet Jordan. Only he wasn’t there yet. I checked my LINE messages just in time to receive his message that said “Please read this before 3:45 so you can catch the train.” Then my Wifi battery died, so I couldn’t reply. I took the leap and hurried to board the local train line. Our timing turned out to be perfect because I ran into him just as I got off the station platform. We hung out for a couple hours waiting for the main event…

May 18th. It was the day that Dr. Hara’s new group would come to visit Toyohashi. Today was the day of the welcome dinner, and as UT Alumni and members of Toledo, we too were invited. I was excited to see old faces, but most of all I wanted to see Dr. Hara, who is basically my Japanese dad. I knew half of the group this time around; seven people who used to be part of my life, yet we had somehow managed to get on without each other. Seeing them didn’t make me homesick, nor did I want to go home to see other friends, as I thought I might feel. Life goes on, we move on to the next stage, and for me, right now, it’s Japan.

During the event I met with other ALTs from Toledo. We indulged in the free Pizza; not only was it free, but it had toppings, so it was good free pizza. I ate despite knowing that we would all go out to an izakaya afterward, but I didn’t know that until last minute anyway. But, that’s how I and the other ALTs and Dr. Hara spent our evening; socializing over various cocktails and snacks. Many of the ALTs have been in Japan for at least two years now, some upwards of six or eight. It’s great that I have these people to look to, or, if nothing else, somebody to hang out with in Toyohashi.

MAY 19 - MAY 20

Just regular classes followed with work on manga sessions. I’m trying to save money this week because we are going to a buffet for Jason’s birthday this weekend.

MAY 21

As the only current exchange student from my home University, I was expected to give a short speech to the study abroad group when they came to visit the Nagoya campus. I was told to be there at 10:20, so I had to leave my morning kanji class a little early to make it in time. I arrived at the time they told me, but the presentation on the school had already started. I barely looked at anyone as I slipped into the room and found an empty chair to sit in. There, I happened to sit next to Takahiro and Yuto, two of the students that spent the past year in Toledo. I was so excited to see them that I nearly forgot why I was there.

When it came time to give the speech, I stood up in front of the group; I had been in their shoes three years ago, I couldn’t have imagined being here now. I didn’t write the speech, but I had some particular points that I wanted to express, one of which is the same reason why I have decided to write this journal. Though this is a study abroad, it truly is an exchange program. You exchange your life for another’s. Studying is really only a small part, but it is what you make of it. That said, what you do outside the classroom will define your experience more than anything. For me, the best decision I made was to join the dance club. My life changed. I was also looking to the future, to keeping my new life, so my perspective was different than that of other students who only come for six months or a year and then return to their past lives. It costs a pretty penny to live in a country like Japan, but the money I’ve spent here has given me more than the past few years of my school life has altogether. That’s why you can’t only focus on one thing when you participate in a program like this. It’s not just the classes or the traveling; it’s the day-to-day that determines how much you will get out of this kind of experience. That’s how life goes.

(This is this year’s study abroad group, from my university.)

In short, the speech seemed to go over well with the students. I learned afterward that a few of them were hoping to participate in the same program I was in next year. Towards the end of the lunch gathering I also ran into Erika and Akane, both of whom I haven’t seen in a long time. Erika was the third student who studied at UT last year. I barely recognized her when I saw her; she had so much more confidence and spark. This is what we hope for, a positive growth in ourselves, and in most cases, we wish it would continue just a bit longer.

MAY 22

Even the mundane days are important! For example, today: I went to class, took a nap, worked on manga, and then went to dance practice for a bit. Mundane though it may be to write about, these are the decisions I made. I would be lying if I said that one of the greatest parts of this experience wasn’t living on my own, making my own decisions. The freedom is addicting, but one must not forget their responsibilities.

MAY 23

All right, here’s something a little more interesting for you. This Friday afternoon we, the exchange students, were invited to go to a presentation on kabuki, one of the traditional forms of Japanese theater. The presenter was a well-aged man who happened to be a sort of a legend in the kabuki world. While the presentation on kabuki’s history was short in and of itself, the following section on the acting and way of speaking in kabuki provided much more entertainment.

We all received the script in our information packet. One by one we went around the room reading one line or another. It wasn’t just us exchange students, there was at least a few dozen Japanese students present as well, including those from Mrs. Yamamoto’s seminar class. They were shy to start at first, but everyone read their lines. All of us exchange students panicked a little and scrambled to write down the kanji readings. Thankfully, the Chinese students were sitting nearby and helped us. We all did our best to read the lines with feeling, or at least with the same quivering intonations one would hear at kabuki. Some people within the audience were quite skilled, and they would appear out of nowhere to break the silence. As the reading circled back around the room I readied myself for my line…only it wasn’t my line. I miscounted the number of people and jumped the gun. The following line, which was my own, was much more complex in terms of wording, so I had to be guided along that one. It was still a lot of fun though, I don’t quite understand how they decided on the way to speak, but I always thought it would be fun to act. Not in kabuki, just in general.

  

MAY 24

Today we celebrated Jason’s birthday down at the Aeon Mall in Atsuta, near Kanayama. Joy, Rachael, Aurianne and I actually biked there from our apartment. It took about forty-five minutes, but we were first to arrive. We waited as Jason and the others who took the subway were still to arrive. Our reservation had been set for 11am, and Jason showed up at precisely 11:21, perfect for his twenty-first birthday.

(The Family Viking, Mame no Hakada; “Viking” means buffet.)

The buffet was called Mame no Hakada, or field of beans. Many of the dishes were made with soybeans, and there was a lot of tofu, as well as traditional Japanese cuisine. Did that make it any healthier? Not by a long shot. There were also lattes, pasta and ice cream. Ninety minutes, all-you-can-eat for approximately fifteen dollars. Then we needed to lightly digest before leaving because we were stuffed. We headed towards the game center and by chance there was a huge bucket of coins just sitting by one of the games. No one was claiming them. Were they a freebie? We put a few coins into the game of our own accord, and when those ran out still nobody had claimed the full bucket. The clerk even gave us the go ahead, so we spent the next hour or so playing a Mario quiz game until sadly the coins ran out. Joy and I had our side set-up pretty well, but once the others took the coins to other stations we were doomed to fail. It was very enjoyable though, almost to the point that I could see how people become addicted to it. I don’t even know if there was a goal to reach after completing the puzzles, but I’m sure it would be a waste of money. Fun while it lasted though.

After the game center, we all went our separate ways to get home. Joy, Rachael, Aurianne and I were once again on our bikes, heading toward Sakae. I passed the dance members at the park on my way home, but I couldn’t stay because I needed to hurry and go to training. Meanwhile, Jason’s birthday continued as a party in my room and also on the roof. When I got back home, I found that my room was still in one piece. That was mostly because many people had moved onto the roof until the landlord came up and told us we were being too loud. At that point, many people went home. One of my friends stayed around because he was a little tipsy, and he loved to talk. He eventually went home around midnight, on his bike, to Kanayama. Knowing how far away that was, I was worried whether he would make it or not, so I stayed up waiting for his message. Once he got home at around 4am then I too was able to sleep.

STUDY ABROAD:WEEK 33

APRIL 13

Another day dedicated to dance, but not in the usual practice way. Today we had the 20th Year Anniversary lunch for BPM. Various members from the past years came to AIDAI to celebrate the event with the current members. This year’s graduated members also came back for the day. We had a graciously prepared lunch of sushi and other finger foods. With a twenty-year history, somehow I have a higher respect for this already incredible club. I never could have dreamed of having this type of experience when I came to study abroad. Life changes in many ways.

APRIL 14

With the showcase tomorrow, I and a few other members of our group wanted to get some last minute practice in. We had to wait till the studio was opening, which wasn’t until the evening, so I spent the day doing homework for the week. When I arrived at the studio, the girl from our group was still practicing for her second choreography, so our practice ended up going a little later than intended. It was only an hour long, which just barely got my blood moving. As a result, when I got home I decided to go for a run. I might as well workout at night if I’m going to be awake.

APRIL 15

I forgot to mention that yesterday was the first International Cafe of the semester. As a consequence, I drank coffee, so even after I went running last night I still couldn’t sleep last night. The showcase wasn’t until 7pm so I went home and took a nap first. We hadn’t really decided on any sort of uniform until last minute and that was black shirts and J-Pants. I mistook J-Pants for jerseys, not jeans, so I was the only one who showed up and didn’t match. Another last minute call that they decided on was the transition in and out of the second song. It wasn’t complicated, just a simple turn to put our backs to the crowd. Simple, easily conveyable, but I was not informed. In this case, I think they all figured someone else told me. That was my only slip up during the showcase though, so I was proud of that.

I wish I had taken off my face mask though, I didn’t think about the impression it would give, but one of the graduated seniors said it looked like I wasn’t confident since I kept it on. On the other hand, Yuki and a few others told me that I danced really well. I guess to each his own, right?

APRIL 16

Survived another Business Japanese class today, now I just need to buy the book and things should go smoothly. The listening test went better today, and the teacher also rearranged our seating arrangement. Now I’m sitting up front and center, but that’s only more reason to do my best in this class!

APRIL 17

I thought today was going to be an awesome day, but it was rocky all the way through. I spent over two hours working on my presentation in the media center, only for it not to save, so I lost all the work I had done on it. From now on I’ll make sure to save the file properly after I download it from my e-mail.

Then, during dance practice, we had so many new freshmen that there was almost no space to practice! I spent most of the time stuck between hip hop and break, unfocused and confused as to which I should practice. Maybe I should just say my genre is freestyle, then I can do what I want and just dance.

APRIL 18

I stayed up last night to finish, or rather re-do, my presentation. I also watched a couple movies. As expected, every three or four months I just need to decompress my brain. That’s when I play games or watch movies, and since I don’t have any games on hand, movies it is. Thankfully, the school library has a large selection of movies that we can borrow, too. I’m probably going to watch a couple more movies tonight as well, but I won’t stay up too late because tomorrow I’m going to Tokyo~!

APRIL 19

I met my fried at the station at 9am to buy our tickets for the bullet train. It would have been significantly cheaper had I decided to go buy bus, but it would have also taken about six hours one way. The bullet train would have us there in about two hours. However, once we arrived in Tokyo, we still had to take a few train transfers before we reached Ryogoku also known as Sumo Town, where Dance@LIVE was being held. Today’s competition didn’t start until the late afternoon, so first we had a lunch with a few dance acquaintances, Dama and Kazu. They were actually all break dancers, which surprised me a little bit because both women were around their 40s. In fact, I thought I recognized Kazu from Nagoya, and I was correct. She had actually danced at SOUL BREAK, just as I did, though she was the third battle in Group A. It was a coincidence that we were able to meet under the circumstances. They actually thought that my friend and I were dating, since it was rare for a male and female to travel together as a pair otherwise. We both disagreed with that since we really just came to see the dance event, and no one else could have come.

When lunch was over we lined up with the already growing crowd to get into the event. It was the chance for any challengers nationwide to compete for a spot in the finals. Break, Hip hop, House and Freestyle were the four main categories. The first rounds had dozens of people, so each individual would only have one chance amongst their group, then three or so people would continue to the next round until it was down to the top eight. Each battle was amazing, and the music was very exciting for me. If I can ever get myself to dance in a battle with confidence, this would be the place to reach for. Next time I come all the way to Tokyo for a battle, I’d better be dancing in it.

(Day One Finals)

We stayed through the final battles, joined by another friend of Dama’s named Abe— she doesn’t dance but she does enjoy watching. Then, after that, we all headed to Hon Atsugi, where our hotel was located and also another battle was going on. Dama had invited us to the all-night event, which is why we booked our hotel so far from Ryogoku. The night battle, Wartown, took place in a very tiny little club, but it turned out that none of us danced at it. We were already tired, and would have to wake up early tomorrow to get in line (again) for the main event.

STUDY ABROAD:WEEK 30

MARCH 23

I went shopping again today. There’s no more time to look around, so I bought a one-piece from GU, some foundation and make-up things at the hyaku-en shop, and finally a belt and bag from the underground shopping mall. Couldn’t find any good shoes, so hopefully what I have is good enough. Tomorrow night is the Send-Off party, and before that is the actual Graduation Ceremony. Mixed feelings~

MARCH 24

The day starts early so I can find my way to the Graduation Hall by 10am. The venue isn’t on campus, probably because there is no large auditorium at the Nagoya campus. The event hall they chose was one stop away from Kanayama, and a couple blocks walk away from the station. I figured out I was going the right way when I was surrounded on all sides by young men in suits, and young women in kimono and hakama. I felt like a salmon swimming upstream, even though we were all headed to the same place.

I arrived at 10am, but the actually ceremony didn’t start for an hour. During that time I was able to greet many of the other seniors that I haven’t seen for months. Of course, I found the BPM members also. Our greetings were brief unfortunately, as everyone seemed to either have family or close friends with them. I simply floated amongst the groups until we were able to enter the auditorium. Then it was the same drag as with all Graduation ceremonies: band introduction, some speeches by teachers and heads of the school, more band music, and finally having representatives from each major receive their diplomas. The individuals didn’t receive their diplomas until afterward, when they were separated into rooms by major.

(Female graduates dressed in kimono as we watched the school band perform.)

As I watched the events go on, I realized that in a way, today was also my graduation ceremony, too. Officially, I wouldn’t graduate from university until the end of the spring semester, which was May back in the States. I wouldn’t be going home for that event, so today was my day, too. The process is the same anyway. Congratulate your friends, hope you can see them again, and then reminisce before returning to real life. For me, real life meant I had to leave the event hall around 2pm so I could go home and get ready for the Send-Off party tonight.

The party was held at a restaurant on the basement floor of a building near the station. If anything, you could say it was a real classy bar. We had the whole place rented out. It was 5000 yen to get in, but part of that money also went to paying for the senior gifts. The graduates weren’t set to come until a little later, so I talked with some of the students from the Toyohashi campus. The food wasn’t brought out until the seniors arrived, so even though it was buffet style, we weren’t able to finish the food.

Each of the seniors in turn gave a small memorial speech, a thank you for the past four years they spent in and out of BPM. Hearing that even some of the amazing members that I respected for their dance pursuit had conflicts over the years, and even considered giving up dancing gave me more inspiration than anything to continue to dance. To somehow make them proud; even if I couldn’t meet them again, I wanted to show that I was grateful somehow. But, despite, even my best intentions, I have to accept the fact that our time together has been too short. We may always be distanced because of that fact. It’s not a culture thing, simply a matter of time.

MARCH 25

Last night after the Send-Off Party ended at the classy bar, we continued the night down in Toyohashi. It was another night of endless drinking for them, and another helpless time for me as I watched over them. I don’t mind if they drink, but over-drinking is a serious problem amongst these university students. I’m tired of watching my friends get sick from drinking. If they weren’t also watching after each other, I think I would condemn the act more harshly. There’s always someone to have their backs, at least for that I am grateful.

I caught the first train back to Nagoya again, which meant I didn’t get home until about 9am or so. Today was Tuesday, so the only plans I made was to go to dance practice. Surprisingly, several people showed up, even though they had been partying late last night.

MARCH 26

Today, I just needed a break from everything. No training this week, which means I’m not leaving my room today. It’s just time for some good ole R n’ R.

MARCH 27

More dance practice today~ I’m starting to worry about how this choreography is going to turn out for the showcase. We’ve made little to no progress on the choreography since last week, and the showcase date is on April 15th. Not only that, but we still have a whole second song that hasn’t been decided yet. I trust they’ll figure it out, but I really wish it was set so we can practice properly.

MARCH 28

Tomorrow there is a BBOY EXPO up in Seto. A couple of the graduated break dancers wanted to get some last minute practice in, but they had already turned in their student IDs so they couldn’t rent out the studio. I wanted to practice some more as well, so I rented the studio for them. There were only four of us, but we had fun time practicing. They even helped me out with new handstand freezes.

Friday is also Open Mic Night at Heart n’ Soul Cafe.

 Rachael has wanted to go for some time, but we couldn’t go in January because I had training, or in February because she was in Korea at the time. We ran into a lot of people who we haven’t seen since the Christmas Cake party back in December. The performances were also amazing, everyone was really talented. I think Rachael should try to perform there once before she leaves because she’s such a good singer! She seems like she wants to sing there, too. Now I just have to figure out how to convince her to do it.

MARCH 29

I woke up a little later than I should have, but I tried to start my adventure to the BBOY EXPO on the right foot. It was my first trip to the city of Seto, so I was careful to memorize the train changes as best I could. Unfortunately, my mind had been too focused on the transfer I needed to take at Ozone, that when I was changing changes at Hisaya-Odori I accidentally exited the station. As soon as I passed through the ticket gate, I felt like I was in the wrong place. Why my brain didn’t comprehend my location faster is a mystery to me. I ended up having to buy another ticket, for about the same amount as the first one, just to catch the Meijo Line train to Ozone. Once boarded that train however, it was smooth sailing.

Usually I try to arrive at an event right before it starts, but when I arrived at the EXPO it was already well into the 1st string. Knowing more people outside of BPM made the overall experience a lot more fun. I was able to cheer on more teams, take videos for people, and exchange casual words with familiar faces. My new friends often asked me, ‘Are you dancing today?’ But I had to say ‘No.’ They are very encouraging; I’m the only thing holding me back.

This time I stayed until the end of the EXPO. Since I went to the event alone I didn’t have to come and go on anyone else’s time. But, at the same time, when it was all over, I was heading home alone as well. I would have liked to hang out with someone, but everyone seemed to have their own plans.

 (The level at this event was incredibly high as well.)