The beginnings of a social life in Japan

Shibuya, Tokyo. Taken while running for the train.

Today marks three weeks in Japan, and I'm amazed at how much I have accomplished already. My apartment is furnished, functional and very comfy. I've managed to feed myself, shop for all kinds of stuff, use the trains, make some friends, express myself using a mixture of Japanese and sign language, teach classes of all ages, and I have started to have trouble speaking English, which I hear is a good sign.
There are still plenty of places left to explore in my own little town, but the night sky is lighter to the west for a reason, and that reason is Tokyo. I'm amazed I waited two weeks to go check it out, but hell, I was busy. The morning that I planned to go to Tokyo I noticed I was procrastinating, which is typical behavior for me when I am nervous about something. I cleaned the apartment, updated my blog, did some laundry and finally around 2pm I looked in the mirror and said "Oh for Christ's sake, you've made it this far, just get on the train." So I did. I took the Keisei line to Ueno which is home to the city's biggest park. As I came up the stairs out of the train station, this was my very first glimpse of Tokyo.

Aside from just setting foot in the city, I had a mission this day. My neighbor Natasha performs with a improv comedy troop on the last Friday of each month in an area of the city called Shibuya. After noticing that none of the subway maps were in English, I decided I better set about finding Shibuya sooner rather than later and explore once I had found the bar where I was supposed to be at 7:30. I was glad I did because it took me nearly two hours to find my way there.
I felt a lot less like a fish out of water in Tokyo which I think is in part because I am a city girl at heart, but mostly because people don't stare at me in the city. I'm just another foreigner here on business or vacation, but certainly not a rarity. Back in Chiba, I can be standing on the train platform just like everyone else, but people will stare at me like I'm on stilts juggling severed limbs. I understand that there are very few foreigners outside of Tokyo, but certainly these people have TV. Something must have prepared them for the fact that one day, in this age of airplanes, they might encounter someone taller than 5'4" without brown eyes. I try not to take this personally, but sometimes it goes on way too long. I thought of the perfect checkmate to end these staring contests though. I'm going to say, in perfect Japanese, "your T-shirt doesn't make any sense."
See, everyone here wears t-shirts with English all over them, and very few of them follow any kind of logic. I'm preparing a whole separate blog entry about written Japanglish, which makes me laugh aloud at least once a day, but I digress. Back to the big city.
So I found the Crocodile Club, which is a blissfully familiar ex-pat hangout. Just about everyone in there was either American, Canadian, British or unfortunately, Australian. I made three friends in the first 10 minutes. I was alone, but they seated me at a big table that quickly filled up. Next to me were Erica, Caroline and Masako who all work here as voice-over artists. Apparently that's the other "English teacher" in Japan. There's a big demand for English narration in just about everything they export (anime, movies, video games, instructional videos) not to mention the English loud speaker announcements you hear everywhere in Tokyo. Anyway, we exchanged numbers by the end of the night and I promised them I'd call next time I was in the area.
The night of comedy was really good and much needed. The first half of the night was stand up, and since it was all ex-pats doing the jokes, most of it was observational comedy about what an infinitely wacky place Japan is. The second half was improv by Natasha's group "spontaneous confusion". They were awesome. Natasha was a crowd favorite and a few people told me she was the funniest one, even before they knew we were friends. Her facial expressions can't be beat, and it turns out she can sing too. As luck would have it, she ended up having to make up a Broadway musical style tune about blowing up an oil rig, but that's how improv goes I guess.

Spontaneous Confusion

Chris and Natasha on stage

After the show, we stuck around for a few songs from the resident crooner, but had to move quick to catch the last train back to Katsutadai. The system works like this. You either leave Tokyo by Midnight, or you're in for the long haul until the first train at 5am. There are alternatives like 24 hour coffee shops and internet cafes that rent private space by the hour so you can sleep, or the famous capsule hotels, but most people just choose stay at the bars (which close at 6am) and try to pace themselves until the sun comes up. It's a strange kind of choose your own adventure that takes place just as your judgment becomes impaired. Go home too early or stay out too late, there is no middle ground. It makes going out a real commitment and guarantees that your next day is screwed, so my next order of business is to find some friends with couches right in the middle of things. Oh, did I mention that the last train home is packed way beyond standing room only with wasted business men who have been pounding them back since 5:00? Yeah, Tokyo friends with couches: must get some of those.

The obvious logical alternative is to party right here at home, so that's just what I did. Yesterday (Sunday), I reached my limit on the amount of time I can spend with myself (turns out it's three weeks). I am bored to death with me, and was starting to feel the first real pangs of loneliness and homesickness. My solution: I talked with some friends at home via Skype and then sent out a mass email to my fellow Katsu teachers that read: Beers, my house, 8ish.
Seven people showed up and problem solved. We limited the work talk to a few minutes and then discussed the following: The Tokyo train dilemma, the weird music they play in grocery stores, best fireworks locations, visiting Moms, Obon vacation, early 90's hip hop, Japanese TV, the penis festival, why Katsu is better than Kita, the road of death (henceforth known as 49th street), Japanese neighbors, Super Mario Bros III, currency exchange, bullet trains and plans for next Saturday. I took these photos as proof that I hadn't developed imaginary friends to talk to.
*whispers* You can see them too, right?