Today I woke up with a diabolical hangover, an open schedule, and a pocket full of cash. I used the free schedule to work on the hangover, taking aspirin and sleeping throughout the morning. I won’t bore you with the details – hangovers suck.
I gathered the surprising amount of empty bottles and cans and took them to the recycling bin at Ito Yokado, and then tried to pick up some dry cleaning there. Unfortunately, it hadn’t arrived yet, so I was a little worried about whether it would make it in time for the STEP test on Sunday.
I did get a chance to talk to my grandparents and parents on the phone, and everybody sounded great.
Around four o’clock I went to Akashi and met up with Mr. Komuri to go to the Miki matsuri. Matsuri means festival in Japanese, and almost every town has one. I went to this one last year, and this time it was just as fun. We enjoyed the matsuri from a different location this time around, at the top of the hill where they pull up the mikoshi with rope to help the poor guys trying to carry them.
One thing I noticed was that I was understanding what was going on a lot better, and it made it that much more interesting to watch. I got lots of people that said hello to me, just to try out their English. Lots of girls flirting and giggling, lots of little boys just giggling.
We bought some fried chicken and some beer and watched all the action from the side of the temple, underneath a platform. At one point a lady was trying to get her daughter down from the platform, so I helped ferry the little girl down. Then the lady surprised me by asking me to do the same for herself. Mr. Komuri just laughed and laughed.
Mr. Komuri’s friend was supposed to be there this year, but there were so many people that we couldn’t find him, and since he’s from America he didn’t have a cellphone that worked in Japan.
On the way out of there I stopped to play a traditional game – you try to scoop little rubber balls out of the water using a plastic loop with paper stretched over it. Eventually the paper gets wet enough to rip, so you need to just get as many balls as you can before it does. I did well for a beginner, 54 balls. I got a cheesy prize (some super-rubber-balls), woo-hoo.
On the drive back Mr. Komuri and I decided that we were hungry. A couple of months ago he taught me an expression that is used in Japan. When somebody pays you a compliment, you tell them “I’ll buy you sushi”. Apparently you don’t really do that, it’s just an expression.
In the car he asked me, “Am I handsome?”
I was a little nervous when I told him “Of course”. But then he said, “I’ll buy you sushi!” And he did.
We went to the great little underground sushi place in Akashi. The place was full when we arrived but quickly a few spaces opened up. Mr. Komuri did the ordering – I had some great sushi there, and even some beef – grilled beef on sushi rice. Excellent.
Mr. Komuri was telling the sushi master about how so many girls at school and at the matsuri think I’m great looking. The sushi master was commenting that I must be very popular. The master asked me what I thought about all the Japanese girls’ reaction to me, and I told him that I’d have to buy them a lot of sushi. The line brought the house down, mainly because nobody expected me to know it, and certainly didn’t expect me to say it.
We got out of there and headed home, Mr. Komuri to his place and I took the train back to Futami. A quick stop at the dry cleaners and then I was home safe.
