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My second semester at Tokyo International University is in progress, and it is going so quickly! Between school and more fun outings, I have not had the chance to update in a while again. I have a lot to write about the last two months, so I will split it up into two entries again. Tomorrow I am going on a trip, and for now want to at least cover what I did up until the end of March.
In my last post, I was going to see CATS in Japanese. I went and it was very fun. A Japanese acquaintance and I arrived in Yokohama around noon so that we could see some popular spots before the show. First we had lunch at a Greek restaurant, and then walked to a park next to the bay. It had a good view of the tallest building in Japan, and we went into Akarenga, an old warehouse turned into a mall. After that we went to Yokohama China Town. When I saw some decorations, I suddenly remembered it was shortly after Chinese New Year, so an appropriate time to visit. We then headed to the CANON CATS Theatre, built specifically for the famous musical, to see the show. The outside and lobby were nice, but the real awesomeness began once we entered the main hall. The entire house was decorated like the setting of the play, a junk house, but with all items enlarged to the scale as if humans were the size of cats. There were so many detailed items, the audience could amuse themselves before the show just by looking around and seeing what they could find. During the show, I heard all the old familiar songs, but in Japanese. The effects, singing, dancing, and acrobatics were all fantastic. Of course, the cat costumes were very amusing as well. It was unfortunate that my friend from ASU could not make it, but at least it turned out to be an enjoyable experience for my acquaintance and me. On a side note, I was able to meet up with the ASU friend recently.
Before I moved out of my apartment, I decided to go for one more outing in Tokyo. I headed to Ikebukuro and went to Sunshine City. There, I bought some cute clothes, one in particular for more formal occasions. In the fountain area by the store I went to, I was just in time to see people line up to receive branches of recently bloomed plum blossoms. It was in celebration of Hina Matsuri and the coming of spring. I got in line and received one as well, and also received a sample of wine. After that, I went to find the location of a Butler Cafe I had read about online. There is a very well known one in Ikebukuro that requires reservations generally a month in advance, but I had found another one which said reservations were not needed. I was expecting it to be a "dansou" cafe, or girls dressed as butlers. I found it after searching a bit and went in. I stepped into the entryway, from which I could not see into the shop, and rung the bell. Suddenly, someone appeared from around the corner and pushed aside the sheer curtains that hung in the doorway. To my surprise and delight, it was a very handsome man! He welcomed me as "Ojousama", meaning My Lady or Madame, and asked if had a reservation. I said no and he politely asked me to wait. He left and not a minute after, another handsome man in a long silver wig came and asked me the same thing. Once he left, the first guy returned and said I could be seated. He led me to a seat in a corner, pulled out a seat and took my bags and coat. He put the bags in a basket nearby and complemented on my plum blossom branch which was sticking out of them. He proceeded to explain the system and the menu and then walked away as I looked it over. A bit in shock, I looked around the cafe. It was elegantly decorated, and 4 attractive butlers were at work. The first butler soon returned and asked what I was in the mood for, and if I needed help deciding. He knelt by my side and answered all of my questions and made recommendations. I would have felt exactly like royalty except for the fact that I am not used to it, and mostly felt just nervous. After helping me decide, he told me he would step away so I could ring the bell to summon him. He moved a few steps away, and as I probably looked like an idiot staring at him, he cutely signaled for me to ring the bell. I did so, and he rushed to my side again. "Yes, my lady? What will you have?" Gyaaaaa, so cool! I ordered and off he went. As I waited, the silver-haired butler approached me and handed me a book of photos. He explained that all the butlers are also established cosplayers. I became even more excited at that point. I looked through the book as I waited for my food. Soon there was a plate of quiche, cake, and tea in front of me. I started to eat, and the first butler approached again. He asked if I would like him to draw a picture in the chocolate dust on my cake plate. He humbly explained that he was not the most talented of the butlers at drawing, but he would try to draw anything I wanted, such as an animal or anime character. I instinctively asked for a squirrel. He was rather shocked, as if he had never received that request before. He seemed a bit flustered, so I showed him my purse which has a small silhouette of a squirrel on it. He said he would do his best and began drawing with a swizzle stick. As he drew, we chatted a bit, and I explained that I also like to cosplay. I recognized the music playing as a classic instrumental rendition of Macross songs, and he was impressed. Of course, we also talked about why I am in Japan and speak Japanese. The finished picture was cute. I ate my cake and as part of the course I had ordered, had my picture taken with 3 of the butlers. I could choose one picture to have decorated, so I chose the one with the butler I had spoken most with. He decorated it, and asked which butler's "name card" I would like as another part of my service. His was not available, so I chose the silver-haired butler's. Shortly after I was finished, the friendy butler told me my time there was about up. I got up and he helped me put on my jacket, and while carrying my bags, escorted my to the entryway. He led me the the elevator, opened the door and handed me my things. He said some things such as "We hope to see you again" and bowed as the elevator doors shut. As I was going home, I was filled with complete satisfaction for that day.
At the beginning of March, I moved out of my apartment. It was fun while it lasted, but I was also excited to be part of JSP again. A week before I moved out, my host mother had a request for me. She wanted me to be a substitute teacher for one of her English classes. I was nervous but wanted to help out. We met for dinner and went over what I would need to do. A few days later I taught the class, and it went fine. I took the chance to bring some of my luggage over, since it would not all fit in my bags at once. When the day came to move out, a guy came over to inspect the apartment to make sure I had cleaned everything and not damaged it. Everything was fine, so I headed with my luggage to my host family's house. I stayed there for one night, since the next two days were orientation and I would be staying in the same hotel as at the beginning of last semester. During the orientation days, I met the new JSP students for this semester. Last semester, there were 34 students, and only two had been here the previous semester. This time, there are 11 returners and 9 new students, making a total of 20 in JSP, so the dynamics are a bit different. The orientation routine was the same as last semester, introducing the new students to the basic aspects of TIU and JSP and then releasing everyone onto their host families at opening ceremony. I wore my new formal dress at the ceremony. My host mom and host sisters were not able to attend, as they had told me before, so I was with my host dad and his mom. I then moved back in with the Sekoguchi family officially. However, the next day would already be spent away from the house since I had a ticket to an event. Before I describe the event, I should explain how I found out about it and why I was interested.
One of my favorite video game series is titled Sengoku Musou, known as Samurai Warriors in the US. It is a game in which you play as legendary warriors during Japan's warring states period. The characters and battles are based on actual historical people and events. This game is part of the reason I have an interest in that part of Japanese history. During the Fall, the 3rd game of the series was released in Japan. I mentioned before that at Tokyo Game Show, I spent a lot of time at the Koei booth looking at advertisements and demos for the game. After that, I periodically checked the official website for new information. One day over the Winter break, after the game had already been released, I was on the website for some reason when I noticed an add for some kind of event. I clicked on it and was led to the page about the event called "Sengoku Busho Matsuri". It would be an event held by Koei, the game company who makes Sengoku Musou, for fans of Sengoku Musou and other Sengoku (Warring States) stuff in general. There were some cool guests lined up, and it sounded like fun, so I bought a ticket.
The day of the event, I headed to Saitama Super Arena. Upon entering a big hall, I was standing above the area where the festival-like part of the event was being held. I walked down the steps and started to wander around. There were many cosplayers, which made me happy of course. In the center of the room, there were stands where you could play various video games, including Sengoku Musou 3. There was another section dedicated to the slot game based on Sengoku Musou, with a stage where various demonstrations or guest talk shows were held. There was also a bigger stage where guests were interviewed. There was a place for food and booths selling various merchandise. Other areas displayed old artwork or armor reproductions. I stopped at a booth to watch a presentation by two men dressed as famous samurai, where they basically did cool poses as a narration explaining their historical roles was played. I ate a quick lunch and it soon became time for the main event show.
The main event was great. As I sat in my seat in the arena, I watched various performances. Some of them were independent of everything else, but most of it was integrated into one big story. Voice actors for Sengoku Musou acted out scenes leading up to famous battles. Then acrobats did circus like performances and dances to demonstrate the rising tension of opposing armies. Then, finally, famous Japanese wrestlers appeared, dressed so they could be recognized as certain characters, and they had WWE-style matches representing the battles! This series of performances went in a cycle until several famous battles had been played out. In between each battle, MCs talked about various things. There were also big name musical guests, including Gackt, who sang the theme song for Sengoku Musou 3. They all performed, but Gackt totally stole the show. Most of the audience stood up, and girls all around me were screaming. Gackt was also wearing some kind of armor in an attempt to match the theme. The event was a lot of fun, and I'm glad I found out about it!
After that weekend, school began for JSP students. This semester, besides Japanese, I am taking classes on Japanese Philosophy and Film. At some point in early March, we received heavy snowfall. Snow is rare in Saitama and normally unheard of at this time of year, but the weather has been strange and unusually cold this year. I thought I had seen the last of snow in Japan in Hokkaido, but I was wrong. At another point, there was a mini event where most of the JSP students played different kinds of tag at school. It was fun and a good workout, and I was sore the next day.
On March 14th, "White Day", I went with some friends to a place called Nakano. It is an area with good old shopping arcades, but we went for one place in particular. In the mall known as Nakano Broadway, there are an abundance of shops selling anime merchandise. Two floors of the building are full of almost nothing but that kind of shop. We spent some time and money shopping there, and had a fun day.
On March 22nd, a few other JSP students and myself went to help out at an English Camp for Japanese TIU freshmen. It was held for 3 days at some sort of retreat run by a women's organization. We met at TIU along with the students who were signed up and went to the retreat by bus. The students went to a few different workshops each day they were there. On the day we were there, we helped out in a workshop on making friends in English. We had short conversations with the students in English, and then discussed cultural differences in making friends. Later that night, we all went to the Gym and played various games. It was another fun, good workout for a change. Before bed, the students had to work on planning skits they would perform on the last day. I was sad I had to leave in the morning to get to class, because I wanted to see the skits.
The next weekend, a friend and I went to Tokyo International Anime Fair. It is an annual trade show for showcasing anime companies and new anime. There were some shows and things, but I did not get a chance to see any of them. Also, cosplay was not allowed for the general public. It was interesting, but we had soon seen everything we could and decided to head back. Since we had time to spare, we decided to visit a Maid Cafe called MAIDreamin' in Ikebukuro for dinner. It was my most interesting maid cafe experience yet thanks to the enthusiastic maids and their strange rituals. After being seated, a maid explained to us that upon her blowing into an electric candle, we would enter the land of dreams where we would become a Lord and Lady. She asked if we were ready, we said yes, and she blew into the candle causing it to light up. There were also women dressed as butlers at this one. We ordered, and when our drinks came, we were shown how to cast a spell on them to make them more delicious. The maid serving us made a heart shape with her hands and moved it around while making various sound effects, then asked us to repeat what she had done. It felt really silly but it made us laugh. There was another ritual for stirring sauce into pasta, where you mix it together with a maid while repeating her various cute sound effects. I got pasta, so I got to do this one. We also got to witness a special ritual twice for people who order the tower of ice cream. A maid gets on stage and announces the customer who ordered the ice cream as another maid delivers it to them. She then teaches the spell for the deliciousness beam that everyone in the room is supposed to shoot towards the ice cream. Again, we made hand gestures, saying "Oishikunare, oishikunare" (become delicious), and then shot an imaginary heart shaped beam from our hands while shouting "Moe BEEEEEEEEEEAM!" It was a silly good time.
Other than that, Friday night Karaoke has pretty much become a weekly thing. April arrived quickly, and more fun was to follow. I will right all about it next time.
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