May 25, 2008

Tokyo (JAPAN)

A Soccer Match in the Mud and a Proper Night of Japanese-Styled Drinking

It has been raining for the past 16 hours in Tokyo, and it is not even monsoon season yet. What is most worrying about all the rain is how hot and humid it makes the air. I mention this because I woke up at 4:30 am this morning, and was unable to return to sleep. The only logical conclusion I can draw is that the heat was getting to me - the windows in my upstairs bedroom were all open (and screened to keep out the rain) but it was obviously not helping.

By the time I was dressed and went downstairs to make a cup of coffee, Kumagai-san was already working away at her computer - further demonstration, as if any was needed, that she is either the healthiest person on the planet or a cleverly disguised machine. At the kitchen table, I worked on homework and updating the webpage while she continued organizing a trip to Kyushu next month. She also looked into an opportunity to watch kabuki (a form of traditional Japanese theater) next Sunday, which looks like it will go through. I will write more about this as Sunday approaches.

For breakfast, we had white rice, miso soup with diced tofu and celery, cucumbers with sesame seeds sprinkled on top, natto (fermented soy beans), dried fish, a kind of barbequed beef, and a mixed pot of chicken, carrots, mushrooms and baby bamboo shoots. I had more liberty to "dig in" this morning because I would not be playing in this afternoon's soccer match at Ookayama. After eating, we discussed our plans for the day, and then I took a short nap before leaving for the game.

I knew the rain would have an awful effect on the university soccer field, which is all dirt. (Japanese grass is nowhere near as strong as western grass, probably because Japan was formed as a series of volcanic islands.) Although many schools have invested in artificial grass, Tokyo Tech invests its money on research endeavors, not sporting ones.

The field's condition was made even worse by the (American) football team: their early morning practice turned half the field into a mud pit with standing puddles of water and sludge that was four inches deep. They raked the field and apologized for what they did, but I still wanted to fling mud in each of their lockers as a kind of childish retribution.

The match kicked off at around 1:00 in the afternoon, and although half the field was literally unplayable we still took a 3-0 lead into half-time. I could not hang around for the whole match because I had several obligations to attend to, including a small get-together with several of Kumagai-san's friends back at the house. I said goodbye to everyone and carefully tip-toed my way out of the mess - spending 10 minutes afterward to clean off my shoes before riding any of Tokyo's metro lines.

Back at the house, I showered and changed into fresh clothes before joining Kumagai-san and several of her friends for tea and cookies. The other three women are all doukis, meaning they entered a company (in this case Sony) in the same year. Although Kumagai-san is the only one still working for Sony, they remain close ties and frequently get together. Of the 20 or so woman who entered Sony in the same year (30+ years ago!!), a dozen of them met for lunch earlier today - an indication of its significance in Japanese culture.

I could not hang around for long because I was meeting four classmates at Shibuya to "gather material" for a presentation we are making on Japanese culture. The topic is The Role of Alcohol in Japan, so what better way to explore this theme than to go drinking - Japanese style.

Along with Yuu-san (Japanese), Masahiro-san (Japanese), Chin (Thai), and Kenny (Singapore), we started off at a cheap bar near the hachiko exit. The name of the place was something like Pub America, but the interior was unlike anything I have ever seen in the United States. The important thing is that the drinks were dirt cheap from 5:00-7:00 pm - only 240 yen for a draft beer! We stayed here for a couple of hours, after which time we were forced to leave. The place is able to keep prices so low because they have such a high turn-over rate - customers buy a lot initially (food and drinks) and are then made to leave when their pace slows down. This concept is actually fairly brilliant because the location ensures they will always have a packed house.

At this point we decided to keep going by searching out a Japanese-styled drinking bar called an izakaya. There are scores of young men soliciting people with izakaya bargains, and we ended up finding a deal offering all-you-can-drink liquor for two hours. Whereas everyone was drinking beer at Pub America, for the rest of the night I ran the gauntlet of Japanese drinks: cold nihonshu, shouchu on the rocks, chuhai, Japanese whiskey, umeshu, and so on... Everyone was becoming very drunk by this point in the night, but in fairness the conversation stayed on topic throughout the night.

I have subsequently written a brief introduction into the role of Alcohol in Japan.