Hoo boy. A lot of people have been talking about a recent measure taken by the Japanese government, wherein the offer immigrants and Nikkei (Japanese who lived abroad/foreigners of Japanese descent who have moved back to Japan) $3,000 to leave Japan and and never return to work.
Jiro Kawasaki, "a former health minister and senior lawmaker of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party" said: “We should stop letting unskilled laborers into Japan. We should make sure that even the three-K jobs are paid well, and that they are filled by Japanese. I do not think that Japan should ever become a multiethnic society.”
Japan's always had its issues with immigrants, but this is incredibly stupid. For one, Japan already has a labor force issue. It's an aging society, where nearly 1 in 5 Japanese are 65 or over, and not enough babies or young people. Its population rate is too low; an average of 1.32 in 2006. Immigrants would help that. "It could also hurt Japan in the long run. The aging country faces an impending labor shortage. The population has been falling since 2005, and its working-age population could fall by a third by 2050."
Articles at here and The Economist.
I'd write more but running off to dinner. :p
Friday, April 24, 2009
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Circles and Dancing
"Circles" - school clubs - are very popular at Waseda. There's 1 or 2000 officially recognized clubs, and another thousand unofficial ones (I think at least; read that somewhere but can't find it again). In the beginning of April, there was a huge information fair for the incoming Japanese freshmen (the school year starts in the spring semester, not the fall). I've wanted to join a club, because it will really help me make friends and force me to use Japanese, but there wasn't much information about them last semester.
I spent several hours being completely overwhelmed enthusiastic kids popping up next to me and trying to get me to join their clubs (lots of sports; one that feeds stray cats; diving where they go down to some Pacific island and scuba dive; waterskiing; music clubs and musical/theater/orchestral clubs. They had EVERYTHING). I finally found a ballroom dancing club, which is something I did a little bit back at college in the States and was hoping to do again. There were a few weeks of demos and drinking parties that were incredibly cheap for the newbies, and practice started last night.
At first it was really, really intimidating. I was the only visible foreigner there (at practice I saw one other girl though), and when I went with another friend (also very obviously foreign), we were ignored for a while when the older students went up to talk to the new students one-on-one. Once they realized we spoke some Japanese and hadn't wandered into the wrong place accidentally, they were incredibly friendly and I've gotten so many new numbers haha... It's been great fun.
Practice is 2 1/2 hours, two days a week (Wednesday and Saturday). Going to that from no exercise was a little bit painful. :p It was somewhat chaotic, as there are over 100 students in the ballroom circle, but actually surprisingly organized and I got to dance a lot with more experienced dancers. It really helps to do that; when it's just two newbies muddling along and getting the steps wrong together it's hard, and I've done ballroom for about a year though not too seriously. And whew, I have certainly been using a LOT of Japanese! My listening is definitely getting better. There's a lot of words people use that I don't know, but I'm picking up what I do know a lot better. My speaking is still quite disorganized (as soon as I open my mouth - grammar? I've learned grammar?), but apparently my pronunciation is getting better and I can usually get my point across well enough. There's a few people in the club who know English though, as well as another exchange student friend that I got to join, so I can get translations. :)
I just need to buy proper ballroom shoes, which are quite painfully expensive...
I spent several hours being completely overwhelmed enthusiastic kids popping up next to me and trying to get me to join their clubs (lots of sports; one that feeds stray cats; diving where they go down to some Pacific island and scuba dive; waterskiing; music clubs and musical/theater/orchestral clubs. They had EVERYTHING). I finally found a ballroom dancing club, which is something I did a little bit back at college in the States and was hoping to do again. There were a few weeks of demos and drinking parties that were incredibly cheap for the newbies, and practice started last night.
At first it was really, really intimidating. I was the only visible foreigner there (at practice I saw one other girl though), and when I went with another friend (also very obviously foreign), we were ignored for a while when the older students went up to talk to the new students one-on-one. Once they realized we spoke some Japanese and hadn't wandered into the wrong place accidentally, they were incredibly friendly and I've gotten so many new numbers haha... It's been great fun.
Practice is 2 1/2 hours, two days a week (Wednesday and Saturday). Going to that from no exercise was a little bit painful. :p It was somewhat chaotic, as there are over 100 students in the ballroom circle, but actually surprisingly organized and I got to dance a lot with more experienced dancers. It really helps to do that; when it's just two newbies muddling along and getting the steps wrong together it's hard, and I've done ballroom for about a year though not too seriously. And whew, I have certainly been using a LOT of Japanese! My listening is definitely getting better. There's a lot of words people use that I don't know, but I'm picking up what I do know a lot better. My speaking is still quite disorganized (as soon as I open my mouth - grammar? I've learned grammar?), but apparently my pronunciation is getting better and I can usually get my point across well enough. There's a few people in the club who know English though, as well as another exchange student friend that I got to join, so I can get translations. :)
I just need to buy proper ballroom shoes, which are quite painfully expensive...
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Sliced my finger on my razor while showering this morning, and freaked out the guy cleaning the bathroom by running past him in just a towel to grab toilet paper because it was bleeding a lot (community baths & showers in stalls in the same room). Also just realized I was trying to tell him "すみません、くびを切った” instead of ”ゆびを切った.” Kubi, a friend pointed out to me when I told them after, means throat. Yubi means finger. I was telling the guy I sliced my throat instead of my finger.
...Woops!
...Woops!
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Japanese celebrity!
Whoooa. I went to see the Waseda cherry blossoms with a friend today, and on the way back we saw a crowd of people and tv microphones and the like. We joined the crowd to watch, and Gabi whispered excitedly, "I know that guy! He's on a gazillion tv shows!" I have no idea who he is, but we ask a guy telling people not to take photos what's going on. He said they're filming for "Bura Tamori," an NHK program airing in October. We hung around for a while, watching (and think we may have been in the camera's view at times - sadly we won't know if we are since we'll be back in the States when it comes out!). They seemed to be discussing the cherry blossoms, but we weren't close enough to hear anything.
Tamori is considered one of the three biggest comedians in Japan, along with Beat Takeshi (who we learned about in one of my courses last semester actually), so he's a big deal. He hung around for a while, hoping they might wrap up and we could get an autograph or something, but it was getting cold and dark so we headed back. :p Still really neat though. Never seen a famous person before, haha.
Tamori is considered one of the three biggest comedians in Japan, along with Beat Takeshi (who we learned about in one of my courses last semester actually), so he's a big deal. He hung around for a while, hoping they might wrap up and we could get an autograph or something, but it was getting cold and dark so we headed back. :p Still really neat though. Never seen a famous person before, haha.
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Back in Japan & Ohanami
I'm finally back in Japan as it grows to the end of spring break. Though jet-lagged and out of it, it's sakura time and I went to Iidabashi with my friend Mari to take a look at the famous cherry blossoms. Most are only partially bloomed, as the weather turned cold again - they'll probably reach their full bloom later this week and I am going to Yoyogi Park at least on Saturday for more, but they were still quite beautiful. As always, more photos on flickr.
Hungry koi, a staple of Japanese gardens. :p
Hungry koi, a staple of Japanese gardens. :p
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Hokkaido - yukimatsuri
So... Here is my delayed write-up on Hokkaido and the yukimatsuri (I flew back to the States a day after getting back). All my photos are up on my Flickr account, but there will be some in the post too (as well as some photos taken by friends).
First day
We left for Haneda airport in the morning. I like Haneda, it's smaller (mostly just domestic flights, though also some to Korea and such) and so relaxed - they didn't even check our ID! We arrived just before getting dark, and headed to our hostel, which was a few minutes' walk from Sapporo station, right at the center of everything.
We grabbed some ramen for dinner (Hokkaido is known for its miso ramen) and headed out to see the ice sculptures all lit up at night. Unfortunately on the way, I realized my boots were not waterproof and in fact had holes in them - snow got stuck up the holes and then melted, and melted on the end of my boots and soon I had wet, freezing feet. We stopped at a convenience store to grab some plastic bags that I wrapped my feet in (and would the rest of the trip, sigh). The sculptures were *amazing* though. They had mostly snow sculptures (quite a few of them huuuge) at Odori Park, and ice sculptures down the entertainment district of Susukino. We mostly saw the ice sculptures that night.
Hokkaido from the plane
This sculpture had fish and various sea creatures frozen in the ice blocks.
Phoenix
Day 2
All 8 of us slept in one room (girls and guys - slightly awkward, and arrrgh a couple of the guys snored and kept me awake!) We woke up later than intended, and I went down to the basement to shower - but the showers were open only from 6-9:30 in the mornings, and I went down a few minutes before 9:30. A woman glared at me, pointed at the hours, and went "Nooooo! Cleaning! Nooooo!" Seriously, she had this long, drawn-out "nooo!" as though I was killing a puppy or something. I snuck down again a half hour later, she was gone, and showered quickly - but she came back as I was getting dressed and went "Noooooo!!" again. Yeesh. :p
We went out to see the snow sculptures in Odori Park. Some elementary school kids came up asking us to fill out some surveys for them, practicing their English - they were so cute! They gave us little laminated cards with their names and what they like on them. Aww.
Disney sculpture
Filling out the survey for the kids
Then we went to the Sapporo dome, which had snow slides and more snow sculptures - unfortunately it closed 15 minutes after we got there...
WALL-E~~ ♥
Day 3
The girls went to a Scandanavian (?) bread museum; the guys went to a beer museum. The bread museum was pretty boring (although we did buy some tasty bread) - the "museum" was a single room, only interesting thing about it was the huge longboat in the center with stuffed caribou on it. :p
We then went on to a chocolate museum/factory that was known for its shiroi koibito (literally "white lover"), which was a cookie with chocolate in the center. The factory was beautiful, but rather bizarre. It had exhibits of western tea cups, saucers, etc., as well as a large exhibit of old toys. It had a lovely view of the mountains though.
After we came back to Sapporo, we went to the Sapporo Factory, which was a huge mall (but full of only pricey stores). The center atrium was beautiful.
View from the chocolate factory
The chocolate factory itself
Final Day
Our last day, we headed out to Otaru - a fishing village about a 45 minute train ride from Sapporo. They have illuminations at night, with lights strung out along the canal and candles in little snow sculptures along the sidewalks.
Sea + snow!
Hokkaido's peculiar mascot........ It's called marimokkori, after a little ball of algae (marimo) that we saw being sold in a lot of souvenir shops, and the word mokkori (slang for "large crotch"). Soo, it's basically what you get if you cross the marimo algae with mokkori... Read more here.
Illuminations
We came back in the evening, failed to sleep (much to my annoyance, people were still packing at 2 am), and got up at 6 am to fly back to Tokyo. And there you have it. :)
First day
We left for Haneda airport in the morning. I like Haneda, it's smaller (mostly just domestic flights, though also some to Korea and such) and so relaxed - they didn't even check our ID! We arrived just before getting dark, and headed to our hostel, which was a few minutes' walk from Sapporo station, right at the center of everything.
We grabbed some ramen for dinner (Hokkaido is known for its miso ramen) and headed out to see the ice sculptures all lit up at night. Unfortunately on the way, I realized my boots were not waterproof and in fact had holes in them - snow got stuck up the holes and then melted, and melted on the end of my boots and soon I had wet, freezing feet. We stopped at a convenience store to grab some plastic bags that I wrapped my feet in (and would the rest of the trip, sigh). The sculptures were *amazing* though. They had mostly snow sculptures (quite a few of them huuuge) at Odori Park, and ice sculptures down the entertainment district of Susukino. We mostly saw the ice sculptures that night.
Hokkaido from the plane
This sculpture had fish and various sea creatures frozen in the ice blocks.
Phoenix
Day 2
All 8 of us slept in one room (girls and guys - slightly awkward, and arrrgh a couple of the guys snored and kept me awake!) We woke up later than intended, and I went down to the basement to shower - but the showers were open only from 6-9:30 in the mornings, and I went down a few minutes before 9:30. A woman glared at me, pointed at the hours, and went "Nooooo! Cleaning! Nooooo!" Seriously, she had this long, drawn-out "nooo!" as though I was killing a puppy or something. I snuck down again a half hour later, she was gone, and showered quickly - but she came back as I was getting dressed and went "Noooooo!!" again. Yeesh. :p
We went out to see the snow sculptures in Odori Park. Some elementary school kids came up asking us to fill out some surveys for them, practicing their English - they were so cute! They gave us little laminated cards with their names and what they like on them. Aww.
Disney sculpture
Filling out the survey for the kids
Then we went to the Sapporo dome, which had snow slides and more snow sculptures - unfortunately it closed 15 minutes after we got there...
WALL-E~~ ♥
Day 3
The girls went to a Scandanavian (?) bread museum; the guys went to a beer museum. The bread museum was pretty boring (although we did buy some tasty bread) - the "museum" was a single room, only interesting thing about it was the huge longboat in the center with stuffed caribou on it. :p
We then went on to a chocolate museum/factory that was known for its shiroi koibito (literally "white lover"), which was a cookie with chocolate in the center. The factory was beautiful, but rather bizarre. It had exhibits of western tea cups, saucers, etc., as well as a large exhibit of old toys. It had a lovely view of the mountains though.
After we came back to Sapporo, we went to the Sapporo Factory, which was a huge mall (but full of only pricey stores). The center atrium was beautiful.
View from the chocolate factory
The chocolate factory itself
Final Day
Our last day, we headed out to Otaru - a fishing village about a 45 minute train ride from Sapporo. They have illuminations at night, with lights strung out along the canal and candles in little snow sculptures along the sidewalks.
Sea + snow!
Hokkaido's peculiar mascot........ It's called marimokkori, after a little ball of algae (marimo) that we saw being sold in a lot of souvenir shops, and the word mokkori (slang for "large crotch"). Soo, it's basically what you get if you cross the marimo algae with mokkori... Read more here.
Illuminations
We came back in the evening, failed to sleep (much to my annoyance, people were still packing at 2 am), and got up at 6 am to fly back to Tokyo. And there you have it. :)
Saturday, February 7, 2009
Setsubun, Kichijouji & Inokashira Park, Onsen
Phew okay recapping. (Also, leaving for Hokkaido on Monday, one day back in Tokyo and then on to the US? Ahh! Major cleaning and packing today.)
So - Tuesday was Setsubun. The girls and I went to Asakusa, where I bought a bunch of gifts for people back home (there are a lot of market stalls in front of the temple - definitely a good place for souveneirs). There was no bean throwing, except a few by various people (monks? celebrities? I couldn't understand but they didn't look like monks!) to the people in the front of the crowd. There was a little parade. We mostly just wandered around the area and bought things. Oh, and I had an older man tell me I made his heart go "doki-doki" (beat faster, I think. I tell ya, these older Japanese men. I've never had things like this happen in the US!) and a Japanese lady asked me if she could snap a photo with her cell phone - the latter right after the three of us were taking inappropriate pictures with chocolate-covered bananas... Oops.
When we got back, two of the girls bought beans and attacked me when I went to meet them later in the evening. Then the three of us attacked Jess. And I called out another friend because we wanted someone else to throw beans at. (Technically I think you're not actually supposed to throw them people, but in your house/at someone with a demon mask in order to drive away bad luck/bad spirits - but ah well. You're also supposed to eat as many beans as your age for good luck.)
We bought chocolate-coated bananas and took inappropriate pictures with them (mostly not with my camera though, it's dying :(
ATTACKING FRIENDS WITH BEANS MEANS LOVE.
Wednesday we went to Kichijouji, a nice shopping area. I bought a bag to use as a second carry-on for going home/for schoolbooks next semester. We also went to Inokashira Park, which contains a shrine to Benzaiten - a vengeful goddess of love. It's said that couples who go boating on the lake will soon break up (we didn't see anyone boating since it's winter, but we still saw plenty of couples at the park, so I don't think that's really followed anymore :p).
Slightly blurry picture of the shrine...
Ducks and huuuge~ koi!
Thursday we went to the onsen at Urayasu. (I especially recommend it for people who want to go as a co-ed group: most onsen do not have co-ed sections, or if they do they are tiny. This one has a huuge outside complex of baths, including one that runs through a cave). Spent a lovely, lovely time relaxing and soaking. We decided we especially liked the collagen bath, which was a violent, almost opaque purple-pink-red but it makes the skin feel soooo soft. The yellowy-green jasmine bath was nice too. I love onsen. <3 I hope I get a chance to go again before the weather gets much warmer and you don't really feel like broiling in hot water.
Dressed in yukata at the onsen
So there's most of what I've been up to lately. It's a quiet weekend, which is good since I still have to finish cleaning my room and packing. Trying to bring home most of my winter stuff since it'll be warmer by the time I get back and it takes up so much room. I'm trying to avoid shipping things home since it's so expensive (I managed to come here with just 2 suitcases and 2 carry-ons).
So - Tuesday was Setsubun. The girls and I went to Asakusa, where I bought a bunch of gifts for people back home (there are a lot of market stalls in front of the temple - definitely a good place for souveneirs). There was no bean throwing, except a few by various people (monks? celebrities? I couldn't understand but they didn't look like monks!) to the people in the front of the crowd. There was a little parade. We mostly just wandered around the area and bought things. Oh, and I had an older man tell me I made his heart go "doki-doki" (beat faster, I think. I tell ya, these older Japanese men. I've never had things like this happen in the US!) and a Japanese lady asked me if she could snap a photo with her cell phone - the latter right after the three of us were taking inappropriate pictures with chocolate-covered bananas... Oops.
When we got back, two of the girls bought beans and attacked me when I went to meet them later in the evening. Then the three of us attacked Jess. And I called out another friend because we wanted someone else to throw beans at. (Technically I think you're not actually supposed to throw them people, but in your house/at someone with a demon mask in order to drive away bad luck/bad spirits - but ah well. You're also supposed to eat as many beans as your age for good luck.)
We bought chocolate-coated bananas and took inappropriate pictures with them (mostly not with my camera though, it's dying :(
ATTACKING FRIENDS WITH BEANS MEANS LOVE.
Wednesday we went to Kichijouji, a nice shopping area. I bought a bag to use as a second carry-on for going home/for schoolbooks next semester. We also went to Inokashira Park, which contains a shrine to Benzaiten - a vengeful goddess of love. It's said that couples who go boating on the lake will soon break up (we didn't see anyone boating since it's winter, but we still saw plenty of couples at the park, so I don't think that's really followed anymore :p).
Slightly blurry picture of the shrine...
Ducks and huuuge~ koi!
Thursday we went to the onsen at Urayasu. (I especially recommend it for people who want to go as a co-ed group: most onsen do not have co-ed sections, or if they do they are tiny. This one has a huuge outside complex of baths, including one that runs through a cave). Spent a lovely, lovely time relaxing and soaking. We decided we especially liked the collagen bath, which was a violent, almost opaque purple-pink-red but it makes the skin feel soooo soft. The yellowy-green jasmine bath was nice too. I love onsen. <3 I hope I get a chance to go again before the weather gets much warmer and you don't really feel like broiling in hot water.
Dressed in yukata at the onsen
So there's most of what I've been up to lately. It's a quiet weekend, which is good since I still have to finish cleaning my room and packing. Trying to bring home most of my winter stuff since it'll be warmer by the time I get back and it takes up so much room. I'm trying to avoid shipping things home since it's so expensive (I managed to come here with just 2 suitcases and 2 carry-ons).
Monday, January 26, 2009
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
I'm gonna take you to the gay bar~
Ooh, there is one story I forgot to write about here.
A couple weekends ago, I went to a gay bar that a friend's friend (also an exchange student) worked at. And hey, we don't get hit on by sketchy guys! There are a lot of little specialty gay bars in Tokyo, particularly Kabukicho Nichome in Shinjuku - some for gay men, some for lesbians, some for foreigners while others are Japanese only, and different bars for different kinks. This one (Dragon Men in Shinjuku - a really, really nice bar actually) allowed foreigners and prided itself about being able to provide service in English.
Being gay in Japan is a fairly closeted thing (despite how very, very touchy-feely many Japanese boys get with each other when drunk...). It's not so bad in Tokyo, but it's still not exactly something talked about in polite society. Historically, Japan was more acceptable of homosexuality - like the Romans, relations between older men of middle or upper classes (such as samurai) and younger boys who were apprentices were accepted, and it was not banned by Buddhism. In the famous "Tale of Genji," Prince Genji uses a a lady's younger brother as a go-between - and decides to bed the boy who is "more attractive than his chilly sister." And gender lines have been fluid as well - in kabuki plays, women have been banned from the stage since the 1600s, so female parts have been played by men (called onnagata). More recently, the Visual Kei movement, bands such as Dir en Grey, Malice Mizer (particularly Mana, also in Mois dix Mois), and X Japan would sometimes dress up like (very convincing) women. The Westernization of Japan brought with it the stigma of homosecuality.
There are a lot of people on TV who are gay or transgender, and beautiful gay young men are popular in certain genres of manga, but the idea of normal people who are gay is not as accepted. These are a couple of interesting articles on the topic: http://www.starobserver.com.au/community/2008/11/05/sun-not-rising-on-gay-rights/2468 and http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20081223i1.html.
Anyway. We met a very nice young Irish guy at the bar, who's been living in Portland for the last 10 years and is taking a break from getting his PhD to teach English for a year in Japan - oh, and he's 21 now. And almost done with his PhD. He also spoke Irish Gaelic (his first language), Scottish Gaelic, another kind of Gaelic, Japanese quite well, Spanish very well, and French. ... Damn. (And obviously more interested in my friend's friend the bartender than us. Siiigh.) We had a few drinks, and then I experienced my first unisex bathroom. Where the toilet was beyond the urinals. I kept trying to wait for them to empty, but guys kept walking past me to go in so eventually I gave up. Just a little bit awkward!
As we got up to leave, a group of Japanese men at the next table starting talking to us. They asked us if we were lesbians (no), if we had boyfriends (yes for two of us), and they were shocked: "Your boyfriend is okay with you coming to a gay bar?" "Yeah, my boyfriend comes with me to gay bars in DC..." my friend said, haha. One was a 34 year old Waseda alum (though he looked as though he was a current student!). They were incredibly nice as well, and interesting to talk to. We're definitely planning to return to that bar, we met a lot of really interesting and friendly people.
A couple weekends ago, I went to a gay bar that a friend's friend (also an exchange student) worked at. And hey, we don't get hit on by sketchy guys! There are a lot of little specialty gay bars in Tokyo, particularly Kabukicho Nichome in Shinjuku - some for gay men, some for lesbians, some for foreigners while others are Japanese only, and different bars for different kinks. This one (Dragon Men in Shinjuku - a really, really nice bar actually) allowed foreigners and prided itself about being able to provide service in English.
Being gay in Japan is a fairly closeted thing (despite how very, very touchy-feely many Japanese boys get with each other when drunk...). It's not so bad in Tokyo, but it's still not exactly something talked about in polite society. Historically, Japan was more acceptable of homosexuality - like the Romans, relations between older men of middle or upper classes (such as samurai) and younger boys who were apprentices were accepted, and it was not banned by Buddhism. In the famous "Tale of Genji," Prince Genji uses a a lady's younger brother as a go-between - and decides to bed the boy who is "more attractive than his chilly sister." And gender lines have been fluid as well - in kabuki plays, women have been banned from the stage since the 1600s, so female parts have been played by men (called onnagata). More recently, the Visual Kei movement, bands such as Dir en Grey, Malice Mizer (particularly Mana, also in Mois dix Mois), and X Japan would sometimes dress up like (very convincing) women. The Westernization of Japan brought with it the stigma of homosecuality.
There are a lot of people on TV who are gay or transgender, and beautiful gay young men are popular in certain genres of manga, but the idea of normal people who are gay is not as accepted. These are a couple of interesting articles on the topic: http://www.starobserver.com.au/community/2008/11/05/sun-not-rising-on-gay-rights/2468 and http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20081223i1.html.
Anyway. We met a very nice young Irish guy at the bar, who's been living in Portland for the last 10 years and is taking a break from getting his PhD to teach English for a year in Japan - oh, and he's 21 now. And almost done with his PhD. He also spoke Irish Gaelic (his first language), Scottish Gaelic, another kind of Gaelic, Japanese quite well, Spanish very well, and French. ... Damn. (And obviously more interested in my friend's friend the bartender than us. Siiigh.) We had a few drinks, and then I experienced my first unisex bathroom. Where the toilet was beyond the urinals. I kept trying to wait for them to empty, but guys kept walking past me to go in so eventually I gave up. Just a little bit awkward!
As we got up to leave, a group of Japanese men at the next table starting talking to us. They asked us if we were lesbians (no), if we had boyfriends (yes for two of us), and they were shocked: "Your boyfriend is okay with you coming to a gay bar?" "Yeah, my boyfriend comes with me to gay bars in DC..." my friend said, haha. One was a 34 year old Waseda alum (though he looked as though he was a current student!). They were incredibly nice as well, and interesting to talk to. We're definitely planning to return to that bar, we met a lot of really interesting and friendly people.
Thursday, January 15, 2009
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