So, my prediction was correct. I did much more thinking about doing stuff than I actually did doing stuff. But I did go up north to Iwate prefecture and had an excellent, fun-filled weekend. It was the first time I spent extended periods of time with Japanese people without the presence of any family members or anyone else I was too familiar with. I feel as though I did some learning about Japanese social tendencies and what not.

On Saturday morning, I bid my mother adieu and boarded a bus which proceeded to pick up most of the participants in Shinjuku and then continued on its way. The back of the bus was arranged like a lounge and, although it was the smoking section, there was much more space. The rest of the bus smelled anyway, so why not gain the benefits of the area... There was some small talk and a lot of sleeping. We were delayed about two hours because of an accident on the highway, but we stopped a number of times (once for lunch) and the entire trip didn't seem awfully long. Altogether, it took a little over eight hours, but the most unbearable was the time it took to get out of Tokyo and the time we inched through traffic leading up to the bottleneck that the accident had caused.

The twenty-eight of us arrived in Esashi at around three thirty. There was nothing around. It reminded me a bit of the US. Everything was built horizontally and there were no people on the sidewalks. We went straight to the performance hall and had a very abridged, very disorganized rehearsal, hopped on the bus, unloaded our things at the hotel and then walked across the street to another hotel where we had dinner. The drinks came out and very quickly, inebriation was setting in. People excused themselves in groups and when I left with two people from my group (learning from the same teacher) and my teacher's wife, the only seven-or-so people were left. They were taking advantage of the table of drinks and it showed. Japanese drinking culture is highly entertaining. There will be more to follow.

At the hotel, the four of us said our good-nights and retreated into our rooms. I noticed that my nails were disgustingly long, so after some housekeeping, I went down to the front desk and got some nail clippers. When I emerged from the elevator, clippers in hand, I ran into Okada-kun and his mom. She was one of the people who stayed behind and had been invited by Ryu-hiro sensei, "the young one," to a gathering in his room. She invited me and I said that I would come up once I had clipped my fingernails. When I got out of the elevator on the fifth floor, she was loading up her child's outstretched shirt with beer and chu-hi. We made our way to the room.

This hotel was what we in Japan call a business hotel, small and relatively affordable rooms for business trips and what not. The rooms are small and not meant to host large groups of people. When I walked into the room, there were only about four other people there: my teacher (who [Mia!] doesn't drink), two teachers and "Champion," all three of whom were drunk, drunk, drunk. The bed was put on its side against the wall and soon, the room was filled. It was a big circle of about fifteen people around two picnic blankets covered in snacks and drinks. A student of one of the drunk teachers was trying to figure out how a certain passage was played, so he told her to bring her shamsien. She did and it got passed around to the drunken teachers, all of whom fiddle faddled around. It was a lost cause. In the end, I tried to teach her but probably failed.

It was during this time that Ryu-hiro sensei (the "host") dubbed me Christina and Ryu-sho sensei (the crazy one) filled up the bathtub as a means of heating the room.

HIRO: Christina. Hey. Christina!
ME: Haa?! My name isn't Christina!
HIRO: Really? You seem like a Christina...
ME: I'm Saya.
MY TEACHER: Yeah, but what's your gaijin name?
ME: I don't have a different gaijin name. It's Saya. S-A-Y-A.
HIRO: But... I'm just gonna call you Christina.
ME: Fine, whatever.

HIRO: Hey Chris... Chris!!
ME: What?! Hold on, I'm still trying to get used to Christina!!

It was incredibly amusing and was my first truly Japanese experience with people outside of my family. I enjoyed it thoroughly. Everyone was sent back to their rooms around eleven by my teacher, who acted as a moderator. I took a shower, dicked around with all the little perks of the room (built in counter-top water boiler and hair dryer), watched the Japanese men's volleyball team kick butt, finished reading All My Sons, and went to sleep.

On Sunday morning, breakfast was served at seven. I went down first thing and had some fruit and bread. From the trends of the previous day, I knew that lunch and dinner were going to be enormous, so I quickly grabbed enough to hold me off and went back to my room to pack up. The bus left the hotel at eight thirty and rehersal commenced once everyone arrived at the venue. At twelve, lunches were distributed and we quickly ate. The time was approaching to change and prepare for the concert. Things went fairly well. It was far more professional and well organized than the presentation that I played in at the beginning of the month. Wan-da-furu!

As soon as it was finished, everyone changed and packed as quickly as possible, hopped on the bus, and we were on our way. The ride home was much faster and comfortable, seeing as we now actually knew each other, and the back lounge was transformed into "Bar Christina," of which my teacher named me hostess. (Uhhhh... okay.) While one guy kept throwing back drinks, everyone else had enough to act as social lubricant and the rest of the ride was fairly uneventful but fun fun fun. Ultimately, I felt very special. Being only half-Japanese made me exempt from all of the bullshit that Japanese females are subjected to by their "higher-ups."

And, as an afterthought, sorry to keep you waiting.

Pictures! Nothing too exciting, but it gives you an idea of surroundings and characters.