Itās been one month here in Japan for me. The longer Iāve been here, the faster the weeks fly by. I guess thatās because I am not doing as much as in the first few weeks. Then it was a new part of town or temple to visit, a famous park or a museum to see, beaches to be conquered, shopping trips to be made or other typical touristy stuff to be done. Donāt get me wrong, I still got a lot to see and experience here in Japan. However, now that university started and the assignments and the homework roll in on a daily basis, I just donāt have as much time left to travel around. The one positive side to this is that I am even more excited for the few trips I have planned for the weekends. That is, if I ever start planning stuff beforehand, like a normal, organized person.
The Way of the Buddha
There is a course here called āJapanese Buddhism and Social Sufferingā. To be honest, this course was on the back-burner for me. In case I didnāt have enough courses together at the end of the registration phase, I would have taken this course. However, after going to the introductory lecture and seeing the syllabus of the course, the way the lecturer teaches the course and the field trips that are planned for this semester, I was instantly convinced to take the course. It went from ābackup courseā to āfuck every other course as long as I get thisā. Well, my hopes and dreams were fucking obliterated when I got the e-mail stating I didnāt make the cut in the lottery. The course was limited to 50 people and we were about 65. Oh well whatever, luck wasnāt on my side this time, I thought. Until I got in anyway, because other people decided not to take the class and dropped out. Nice, now Iām a happy little dude.
In addition to the course, the lecturer also offered a meditation session every week separate from the course. Meditation is such a fancy word for something as simple as breathing exercises. You basically just focus on your breathing to gain focus and be there in the moment, instead of your mind wandering off. I tried meditating in the past, but I couldnāt do it for longer than a few minutes. That is, if I could stop myself from putting it off constantly. So the idea of a guided meditation with someone there knowing what he is doing, sounded like a good idea to me. And I have to say, it was really cool. We went to a temple directly below the Tokyo Tower (see image below), sat down in a circle and started meditating. It really helps when there is an instructor present, reminding you to re-focus on your breathing, when your mind wanders off. Who assures you that itās perfectly normal that this happens. We did approximately 45-60 minutes of meditation. While it was a challenge for me to stay focused, to sit upright with a good posture the whole time and ignore the numbness in my legs, I really enjoyed it and Iām really looking forward for the weekly meditation sessions.
KPop and Chicken Wings
In Shinjuku there is a place called Shin-Okubo probably better known as Korea Town. If your searching for something Korean, you are probably gonna find it here. Especially if its KPop merchandise. Every second store here sells stickers, calendars, key chains, posters, postcards and many more merch from your favorite KPop star. Iāve never seen the face of Jungkook (I fucking love his name, lol) and Co as often as here.
In addition to the KPop merch there are a lot of cosmetic shops here selling everything to make your skin as smooth as that of any Korean. Iām not sure why, but they like their snails here. A lot of the cosmetics advertise their products with the word snail. RIP to Garyās family and friends, he probably lost them all to the Koreans. Also, the salesman here are all older Korean ladies and way more aggressive in trying to sell you something then I have seen in other places in Japan. And they are pretty loudā¦
The last thing youāll find here in Korea Town are Korean restaurants (duh) and little shops that sell corn dog looking food filled with cheese. Just looking at other people eating it doubled my chance of an heart attack. Not that I ate anything less heart attack inducing. I had chicken wings with melted cheese dip and a huge portion of salad. It was delicious as fuck. However, afterwards I was so full that I could barely walk and I just wanted to lay down on the floor and die. Good news, I made it back home and ate dinnerā¦ classic.
Standard Saturday Evening
In Japanese pubs, also called Izakaya, you can enjoy some beer or sake and eat some snacks. The food here ranges from Edamame to chicken wings and fries. However, the portions are small and only meant as a small snack to enjoy next to the drinks. Usually the drinks in Izakayaās are pretty cheap. Sometimes they even have Nomihoudai (all you can drink). There you just pay per 30 minutes or per hour and drink as much softdrinks, beer or sake as you want. Or rather as much as you can tolerate before you are legally declared āshitfacedā. Ah, good times.
Normally people would just head home after a night of heavy drinking. But not me and my crazy homies. Every time we get too drunk we go to a karaoke and start singing all kinds of early 2000s songs. I gotta say, my favorite song to sing in karaoke is āDragostea Din Teiā from the band O-Zone. First time we sang it, I didnāt even know which language it was. Well, Iām still not sure, but that doesnāt stop me from screaming ānuma numa aiā at the top of my lungs. Gotta love that song.
Thanks for reading :)
Ash