May 17, 2008

Tokyo (JAPAN)

A Japanese Breakfast with Kumagai-san, Scoring the Match-Winner Against Sophia University, a Kangeikai (Japanese Drinking Party), and Karaoke Madness

More observant readers will notice that today actually carried over from yesterday - meaning yesterday never ended, at least not for me.

I will pick up when I arrived back home at 8:30 am and caught a 90 minute nap before helping Kumagai-san with groceries and joining her for a typical Japanese breakfast. Particularly pleasing about breakfast was the modified natto (納豆), which is a traditional Japanese food made from fermented soybeans. Typically, it is extremely bitter and is the typical "acquired taste", but when combined with egg and a dash of sugar it is a very tasty option. Anyway, Kumagai-san and I chatted over breakfast about our plans for the following day, when we will visit Mizusawa on a one-day whirlwind trip. However, by 11:30 am we parted ways as the remainder of my day would be occupied with soccer activities.

By the time I arrived at Tokyo Tech's 大岡山 campus I was finally beginning to sober up, but I had a killer headache and felt completely out of it. This kind of stunt would not fly well with the team, who I view as young samurai (若武者) for their incredible devotion to the team - t is a distinguishable Japanese trait to commit yourself absolutely to whatever it is you choose to do. Also, given that our match was against Sophia University, a large university who is ranked far higher than us, today was a serious game. So, I pulled myself together no one was any the wiser.

Kick-off was at 3:00 pm, and although I started on the bench Ogata-san, the team captain, quickly brought me on, which was a unique opportunity for me. Read here to understand why I do not often get to play. As is often the case, when I came on the pitch I demanded a higher level of commitment from the players and they answered in turn. Screaming such things as "show me your guts!" and "fight until we win" in Japanese is not typical, so it probably puts the other team off just as much as it fires us up. Sure enough, mid-way through the first half I won the ball, played a quick one-two with another striker, and held off a defender to bang the ball past the onrushing keeper. 2-1 to Tokyo Tech, and an upset in the making!

The second half was spent defending our lead, and I spent most of the time with the unenviable task as the lone striker. It all paid off in the end though when we stunned the Sophia team, and my goal made the difference! (As if any further proof was necessary that people can play better when they are coming off a night-out.)

After the match, which was only a friendly, it took about an hour for us to rake the field, move the goals, and gather all of our equipment. Everyone was floating on cloud 9 because today was a big day regardless of the outcome of the match: today the newcomer's to the team (freshman and the sole foreigner) would "officially" become members after taking part in the traditional kangeikai drinking party at an izakaya (Japanese style drinking restaurant). We all showered up and put on a nicer pair of clothes, and met at  Ookayama Station at 7:00 pm. We were taken to the back of an izakaya where we were free to make all the noise we wanted, but that only started after the free-flowing alcohol came out. Most of us were dead-tired from the game, but before long we were yelling across tables and giving speeches.

As a side note, the izakaya is an all-you-can-drink restaurant for a certain duration (in our case, three hours), and food is also served during that period (in our case, sushi, soba noodles, vegetables, tempura, and so on). I have no idea how much everything cost because the older players (senpai) took care of everything, but it is probably in the region of 5,000 yen ($50USD/person). This price is offset by Tokyo Tech graduates who are now working, but continue to give back to the team as a show of support. (I love many Japanese customs.)

At one point, I had to stand up and give a speech (in Japanese), and the English version went something like this:

"Hello Everyone! My name is Brett Davenport and I am from Palm Beach in the United States. My major is mechanical engineering at Tokyo Tech, but I am a fourth year foreign exchanged student from Georgia Tech. My favorite soccer position is as a "striker" (cue widespread cheers for the winning goal), and my favorite soccer player is... (offer my face up and comb hair into a "fo-hawk")... "Beckham!"... (grimace my face in anger and pat my hair down)... "Rooney!"... My favorite Japanese girl is [pointing to the player next to me] Kumagai-san's girlfriend! My favorite seniors on the team are Kono-san because he is the only one who knows English and Hibino-san because his girlfriend is also beautiful. However, my favorite is Ogata-san because he is my captain and I have to say this!"

Most of the speech probably means nothing to people reading this, but making such a speech to the team (all in Japanese) marks one of the most significant advances I have made since coming to Asia. I am now a part of something - something I built on my own and which I work to improve on a daily basis.

I gave another speech during the night where I told a funny story warning the other players not to try keeping up with my drinking pace. The story I told was about an anonymous friend of mine who tried to do something similar in Tokyo, and after a variety of hilarious things taking place in between (which I shared with them, but will not post on the internet), a catheter had to be employed. The real punch-line of the story (as if one was needed) was when, as I explained what happened the night before (he was blacked out the whole time), he heaved a sigh of relief saying, "So that is why it hurts so bad to pee!" (After I finished telling this story I proceeded to drain an entire 660ml bottle of Kirin beer in a single gulp - a trick I long ago mastered.

After everyone was suitably drunk (and thankfully no one was vomiting, which doesn't carry such a negative stigma among Japanese because it means you were not hesitating to drink) we decided to karaoke. Most of the people stayed out until the morning trains, but I left on the last train at around 12:30 am as tomorrow would be a busy day. Before leaving through I delivered several Emmy-worthy renditions of "Born to be Wild" (Steppenwolf), "We Will Rock You" (Queen), "I Want it That Way" (Backstreet Boys), and a Japanese pop song called "Hey! みんな元気かい?" ("Hey, is Everyone Feeling Good" by the Kinki Kids).