All Night or Bust!

This is Mark T.



Once again it is Sunday and I am drop dead tired. This weekend was the JASIN program’s annual Halloween all night party hosted by the incredible Mark T. (Japanese Culture professor). Mark T. happens to live on the third most scenic road in all of Japan. From his back porch, which overlooks a coastal panorama dotted with skyscraperesque rock formations miles out to sea, I spent most of the night chatting away with an Argentinean Spanish professor and my fellow classmates. However I’m getting ahead of myself.

My weekend started in unrest with a trip to an old resort built in the mountains during Japan’s economic bubble. Unfortunately that bubble popped and places like this lovely country resort are understaffed and seem very much like a ghost town of the old west (complete with plastic bag tumble weeds). I came to the resort to help the college’s English department do a day long workshop with their 30 English majors. We spent most of the day in a clean, but drab, conference room playing games with freshman from Nagasaki University and just speaking in English. Aside from meeting some friendly but shy new people the highlight of this excursion was without a doubt the two hour lunch break that I used to explore the grounds of this strange mountain resort. There were marble fountains filled with water lilies, ram's head fountains, fields of purple and white flowers that stretched to the horizon, and two huge greenhouses filled with the best smelling roses in the world. All of these sights are maintained by a handful of landscapers who work all day to a droning child like theme that plays on continual loop over strategically place loudspeakers all throughout the park. If you’ve seen the film “Spirited Away” this place is right out of that film. This blog’s title is Wakarimasuka which translates to "do you understand"? I always mention the little moments of clarity that stick out week to week in my travels but to mention all of them would take more time than I have to write. Saturday’s moment of clarity came while standing amidst red and yellow roses that towered over me and listening to the mountain breeze blow ripples across the loose tarp that covered the green house. This rippling rustle blocked out all other sounds and for just one moment I wasn’t in a rundown resort anymore. Hell I wasn’t even in Japan anymore. For one moment I completely lost myself, and then in a second I snapped back and continued walking. It was wonderful.

After helping all day with the English students, Mark T. drove me back to his house out in the country. The sunset and the party began. Schoolgirls, witches, zombies, Edward Scissor Hands, Quail Man, and Ninja’s all came out for this event. Spaghetti and sangria were served and the dancing began. I’m not much for dancing so I spent the first four hours on the back porch talking about home and travels with the usual crowd (John-O, Danny, EO, Asaka, and so forth). Then around midnight Mark T.’s fellow professor friends showed up and brought the party to life. The music turned up, cameras came out, and for all, the good times truly rolled. At two thirty, when the younger kids were falling asleep Mark T. bellowed out a request for better dance music, made a round of coffee for the crowd, and kicked things into a triumphant round three. Then after a group picture, in costume, the rowdy professors left at 3:45 and the kids changed into normal clothing. John-O and I fired up Mark T.’s grill and literally threw some shrimp on the barby. Nothing is better than soy and ginger shrimp at 4 in the morning. After this feast of shrimp, kabobs, and giyoza (pot sticker dumplings) we decided to hike down to the beach to watch the sunrise over the ocean.


BEST IDEA EVER! The hike brought a wave of energy after a sleepless night. The beach had no sand; mostly cold black rocks and driftwood. So being the only somewhat outdoorsy person in the group I gathered some driftwood and started a fire to warm us all up as we waited for the sun to come up. And for those of you who have never done it, nothing is a better party trick than starting a fire with nothing but a lighter, gathered wood, and dry bamboo leaves.

So while sitting next to all my newly found friends on cold black rock, we warmed our hands over the small fire and watch in awe as nature continued the spectacle that is Japan in the early morning. I’m sure you are all wondering where the pictures of this magical event are. Regretfully my camera ran out of batteries on the ride to Mark T.’s house and no one had any extra ones. Bummer right! Anyway, this weekend left me more tired than I ever thought possible, but the memories were well worth it.

Japan has now surpassed everything I could have expected, and gone seemingly beyond my ability to describe. There are many words for beauty. But, none of then seem to accurately represent the sights and feelings I’m experiencing on a weekly, perhaps daily basis. All I can do it seems is try my best to chronicle what I see and hope that the combination of captured images and my written interpretation of splendor can communicate on some level what I am experiencing here. I miss my friends and family very much back in the states and hope everyone is doing well. I’ll post again later this week.

Until next time. . . .