Warning-san

[parasitegirl]

I recently wrote about some of my memories from working at the caustic video store. One of those memories will be coming to Japan soon! I like visits from people I haven't slept with! Warning-San is coming to Japan on his way to being an intern in some law firm in Thailand. He should land around 3:30 today (Weds). He’ll only be here for three days and is crashing with me, I’ve taken a day off tomorrow.

 

 

I told my vice-principal that he’s my 後輩(kouhai, a term that doesn’t really translate that well but generally means a younger/ less experienced person that you mentor/guide through things) and this is about responsibility, not fun. The Kouhai claim is somewhat true: he is younger than me; I was well established as the bitch with glasses when he started working at the video store; we both survived two years of Japanese at UW Madison together; and in some respects he could be considered one of my mother’s students...but it's about fun.

 

This won’t be Warning’s first time in Japan. He came for a week the first spring I was here and we traveled around together. I’d lived in Japan for half a year when he came here, in retrospect so my tour/navigation skills were sucktastic. When he was here, however, we both learned how to use a map and how to laugh at German tourists.

 

In that week we nearly walked ourselves to death. We saw the shit out of everything. I remember Warning’s dance of glee when, on the second day, he bought new shoes that didn’t make his feet bleed “as much.” We were never without Band-aids and, by the end of the trip, a “good destination” meant one that promised benches to sit on and soft cream to eat. Constant foot pain and leg aches turned us into young looking 70 year olds. This may account for why we were happy to spent evenings  watching random un-subtitled Japanese movies in my apartment (not all the videos were random, we did get to watch two a Kurosawa war-time films unavailable in translation) instead of hitting dance spots.

 

I also got a treat of what it is like to look very American. Warning was a blond at the time (I think he's naturally blond, but he cycled through hair colors for a wh, blues, pink, black...) and with his short hair many people took him for military or super-American. As a brunette I just don’t get that amount of fuss. If I recall correctly, I saw a drunk old man on one train kiss Warning’s biscept.

 

We took simple joy in vending machine random-drinks…and a great deal of sustenance from the same vending machines because we’re both vegetarians and I had not yet learned where all the good and edible stuff is in Tokyo. We navigated as much by what we wanted to see as what we could eat. The home-styled cooking at one Kyoto hippy-veggie-joint was wonderful.

 

We hit Kyoto in full cherry blossom bloom. I promptly lost my camera. We hit zen gardens, cultural sites, and ended the first evening with an unfortunate “cultural display” of traditional arts that would have been nice enough if it wasn’t for the loud German families with camcorders…we felt a bit dirty for watching a pre-packaged Geisha/puppet/music show and then slipped out to find a tiny Japanese bar in the streets of the Geisha district.

 

We found a lovely little bar, dark and elegant with a well coifed mama-san who plied us with extra treats while flirting with her elderly suited regulars. We enjoyed two servings of single malt whiskey each and went to settle the bill. Mama-san gave us tiny potpourri packs and thanked us. We stifled our uncouth laughter until we were back on the cobblestones and illuminated by the lanterns. We’d found the real deal, alright. We’d just drank over a hundred dollars worth of atmosphere.

 

When you’ve just spent more on drinks than your hotel, and you’re not even buzzed, it’s time to enjoy the other side of Japanese drinking culture: 40oz cans in vending machines. Oh, sweet, sweet vending machines. We loaded up our arms, drank in the streets. We comforted ourselves with the fact that we might be drunk Americans, but at least we weren’t loud Germans with cameras. We returned to the tiny funky 70’s business hotel (12 rooms, two per floor) changed into our yukata, found our way to the roof, and drank taking in the sight of Japanese apartments and hotels.

 

The next day we were so sore from walking that we eventually skipped the Golden Temple and settled for Toei studio’s theme park where we could sit on benches, eat soft-serve, and watch some live “ninja and samurai” shows.

 

I’m happy to have my lil’ Video Store Brother back in the country.

Comments

[sultansfavorite.livejournal.com]

Great story!