We Will Rock You

Today I went into Tokyo to meet up with Julie, a fellow Truman, who’s from Wisconsin and who has just embarked on a post-graduate trip around the world with two friends. They are starting out in Tokyo, then going to South Korea, Australia, New Zealand, India, Nepal, Thailand, South Africa, Kenya, Uganda, and Rwanda. I got a East Africa craving just thinking about it. It was really nice to see Julie.

We spent the afternoon wandering around a park between Harajuku and Shinjuku. The park had a major pedestrian thoroughfare which was lined by bands playing and people performing. The bands typically played for exposure, not money, although some were also selling CDs. Crowds gathered around better bands, sitting down or standing in a circle around silently clapping (at first we clapped too loudly and everyone stared at us). Male bands were almost exclusively watched by females, and vice versa. I'm struggling to capture the degree of interesting chaos, so I'll revert to a list. Particularly noteworthy were:
-a group of people dressed in jeans and plaid (think Sixteen Feet) doing heavily choreographed “footloose” style dancing while filmed.
-Two people doing karoke to Queen’s “We Will Rock You” alongside the street.
-Five particularly pretty Japanese boys in dark jeans and leather jackets danced and played invisible instruments to a string of hit songs. Mysterically, the instruments disasppeared—and the song continued—whenever the chorus came on and they danced to it.
-Several tiny dogs on a bench wearing sunglasses and matching sweaters.
-A bunch of Amnesty volunteers wearing bright orange jackets urged us to “get in bed for Darfur.” They had a huge make-shift bed and they were talking pictures of people in it holding up signs calling for intervention in Darfur. They would then send all the pictures to the UN. I’ve seen college groups adopt the same picture taking strategy with pledge signs, but this was definitely one step further. Julie and I happily got in the bed (how could you not) and held up the signs. Make love, not war. I think this was the first CSO I’ve seen in Japan, which was interesting in itself. I wished we had more language in common, because I’m curious what their base of support is like, how much coverage Darfur gets in the Japanese news, and what the position of the Japanese government is. I guess I can look the latter up online.
-Men dressed as frogs, cartoon characters, and horses with reindeer antlers.
-While listening to the bands, the Japanese girls danced by making small jumps from side to side. I might be able to do that! I have a feeling I’d wind up coming down on someone’s foot though.
--Julie’s friends who live in Japan have a comedy routine, and had a sign with them that said “Hugs—500 Yen.” They used it to bargain at the flea market and to get in a ‘fight’ with a Japanese improve group.

It was a colder day than I was prepared for, so on my way home I got in touch with my inner Japanese schoolgirl and bought a pair of knee socks.

On Friday night, I went to a “young person’s party” in Tokyo which very similar to every other good house party I’ve been to. I met a Japanese guy who, lo and behold, had attended Springhurst elementary, my alma mater, a couple years before I had. I also met two Japanese girls who’d just graduated from American colleges. One of them attended Hofstra University and had a thick Jersey accent—something I never expected to hear in Japan.

I want to post more, but I have to get up early to go to Hakonei tomorrow. I'm not taking a laptop with me, but will be back by Tuesday night, Japan time.