Hair Cuts in the Kaikan
I got my third haircut about a week ago, and once again, it was performed in the dorm, by Jaeyun, my Korean friend. To give you an idea of how it goes, here’s a little video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qyQ0zXftRGc

I also cut my friend's hair that day to help him fix the mistakes made while cutting his own hair.

(Hejae going nuts about his hair.)

I must say cutting hair here in the Kaikan (our dorm) is quite a fun time!
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A dinner with Koreans!
December 29, 2015

 This past Saturday, I was invited by my Korean friends to share a dinner with them. They had bought the groceries, and they planned to cook, and eat together. At the time I got the invitation, I was just about to put my noodles on the stove, so I quickly put them back in the cupboard, threw out bowling water and oil, took a quick shower and rushed back to the kitchen. I paid 1,000 yen for my share of the meal.

I helped cook the meat in a frying pan, as well as cut the green onions into REALLY thin slices. Once everything was ready, one of the girls showed me how to make… whatever they call it and shoved one in my mouth. They took a piece of lettuce, threw in the green onions, a piece of meat and some sauce, and wrapped it all in the lettuce. I had fun making some and then pushing them into other people’s mouths. 

(Haha... We had fun!)

(Cooking, cutting, talking.)

They also had made Korean soup, which was spicy, but really good. I didn’t really do this much during the semester even though this was not their first communal meal. Now this was probably the last time, but I must say that I really enjoyed it. I made new Korean friends, ate great food and had a good time just dancing while we ate and chatting about out lives. One of the many things that make this trip priceless.


(I got to make some new friends.)

(Mmmm....)

(Hejae cooking it up.)


(This...)



(The soup.)


(They will be leaving this semester, therefore maybe I'll see them in Korea? *hint, hint*)
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2nd Tournament at Tokai
On January 11th, there was a second judo tournament within the club. I think this one was to determine those who would compete in a certain tournament later on. I still had my cast during that time, so it was quite difficult to move around without being noticed that day.

It was pretty much the same thing as the last one, except they fought over three fighting areas, and they only fought those from their one weight class. It lasted about 7 hours in total, and I ended up eating lunch and supper as one meal. 

Not much to say here, but one thing that was good about that is that the other members and the coaches could see me, and thus they could see that I didn’t just give up after getting injured.
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Bekka Speech Contest (6th and 7th Classes)
January 26, 2015

 Before the end of classes in December last year, we had already started to prepare our speech with our teachers. Now throughout the holidays, I finished mine, and sent it over to my teacher to have it checked. After that began the memorization. 

It was meant to be a 3-5 minutes speech but I believe mine was more around the 3 minutes mark, since my previous speech had been much longer. This time, I did ALL the translations myself and, as I anticipated, it was much easier to memorize the whole thing. Another thing I did this time: I didn’t stress myself over it. I didn’t even completely perfectly memorize the whole thing to be honest. I just smiled and decided to see how it would go if I just relaxed.

So the first performance was on January 15th, and it went fairly well. Everyone from my class presented that day in front of our class as well as some Japanese students that usually come for our culture class. I performed pretty well, and although it wasn’t perfect, I was one of the few who had memorized most of it. Tonosaki sensei picked out the top three performances: two that tied for the 2nd place (Jaeyun, Korean and Kara, America/Hawaii, probably the two other most serious students besides me), then me as the winner. Tonosaki sensei gave us all little gifts; I got a blue towel from Tokai! 

First performance: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UDDP_c3ueK0

I was happy of course that I had one, but most importantly that the nerves hadn’t gotten to me that day. I was able to “redeem” myself from last time, and it felt good. I also now had the chance to compete with class 7, one below mine, next week. 

(Kara, me, and Jaeyun, ready to take on the 7th class.)


After showing my family and my grandmother Masako my speech, they all gave me a few pointers which really helped me I believe for the second round.

The competition took place one week later. Now going into this next “competition”, I had the upper hand since I was the first place winner of the higher of both classes, and therefore I knew I had good chances to win. I practiced a little bit throughout the week, and somewhat more the night before. This time I felt more nerves probably because there was more pressure: my Japanese would be judged not only by all those in the class below us, but also by Nishiyama sensei, my sister’s favourite teacher during her time at Tokai.

My performance went well. I had brought my text up front with me, but I didn’t even look at it. It wasn’t perfect unfortunately, but apparently it was good enough. 

Final performance: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bNVUJ-J1YCY

My roommate, Cho was the 2nd last to perform and I was very happy that he started with confidence professionalism. Even though he made a few mistakes, he was much better than all those from the 7th class. Usually, he doesn’t talk much and he is kind of shy, so it took me a little off guard. But like I said, I was glad to see that from him.

Last was Kara, and her speech was the longest out of us all, written down. Therefore memorizing it all was quite a task. Now Kara and I have this thing in common: Our fathers are Japanese. Therefore, our thinking pattern is usually pretty close, and when it comes to pressure, I can understand how she felt. But I think she really put too much on herself that day. During her performance in class, she had used her paper a lot when she forgot her words. But this time, she left her paper next to me, since we were sitting next to each other, and stepped up in front of everyone and started talking.  It went well at first, but eventually, she started forgetting. At one point I could tell she wasn’t going to remember on her own, so I quickly looked at her paper, and thanks to me being able to read Japanese well, I quickly found her spot, and called out a few words of the beginning of the next sentence. She looked at me surprised, then recalled the rest of it and kept going. After that, she stumbled many times, and I had to read out to her many parts. She finished and sat down embarrassed next to me.

The teachers had once again picked out two 2nd place winners, and one first place. My roommate Cho and Jaeyun were called up for the second place winners. I was glad for Cho, he really deserved it. Jaeyun, well he’s just crazy haha. 

I got called up to receive the first place certificate. I had done it. I was proud, and this only proved the efforts I put in class. I helped Kara get back on her feet after that, because I think she was pretty rattled. She expected so much out of herself, and “losing” to someone from a lower class isn’t the funniest thing. But I also learned something from that whole situation. Even though pressure is good, too much only kills you. Now I wonder if I can perform properly in front of a big crowd...

(Jaeyun, myself, and my roommate: The finalist for the speech competition.)

*Room 304 really rocked the place that day! 304 is my roommate and I's room.*



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Yokohama
January 27, 2015

During the winter holidays, I also had a trip to Yokohama. Originally, I was supposed to go with my roommate but he was suddenly unable to come, so I invited a few other friends: Chipa, Anastasia, and Elena. Later on, Kahea also joined in on the trip.

We arrived at around noon after taking a few different trains. We walked over to the skating rink to see if we could have a go at skating. I really wanted to see and help Chipa skate, since he’s never skated in his life, but it was too crowded and we dropped that idea. We then headed back to the shopping center and ate. We all ended up getting a Korean meal:

(Good and spicy)

(A young kid started talking to us at the rink. I think he had a crush on Elena.)

Once we were done that, we walked around a bit to see the scenery and look at this beautiful place.

(Great panoramic picture I took of Yokohama.)





We decided to go into another shopping center, a bigger one, where Kahea found his jibuli store, which he loves. After that, we decide to head over to the Ferris wheel. From there, we got to see quite the view of the city. 


Once we got off, everyone agreed to go eat something, so we headed off to Chinatown which my father had so highly recommended. We ended up picking a restaurant at random, which I don’t believe was the best choice. My father probably would have known which one to pick. But anyway, I ordered a chow mein and some gyoza.

(Not sure how I felt about this one...)


Our stomachs full, we headed back home.

(Chipa and I on the train.)

Honestly, there was a little bit of frustration that day and the atmosphere was a little odd, but even with that, I still enjoyed the trip.

(Yokohama at night.)

(Chipa and I in Yokohama.)




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"Mochi-Tsuki"
January 16, 2015

On January 9th, a volunteer group called TICC (Tokai International Communication Club) here at Tokai organized an event to make some "mochi" to celebrate the New Year. "Mochi-Tsuki" as we say in Japanese, is a Japanese tradition of the New Year, therefore, I thought, why not go?

Basically, we gathered outside around a certain area, and in the center there was a hammer and a wooden barrel to hold the mochi. One of the assistants would add the water to the mochi, and then anyone could grab the hammer and have a go at slamming down on the humid rice. I had a go at it, and I almost hit the girl's fingers.
(source: http://justhungry.com/mochitsuki-your-neighborhood)

Anyway, once the mochi was done, they would bring it to different tables ready to each make a different kind of flavours for the mochi. Then everyone could chow down as much as they wanted. I had never tasted anything as sweet as mochi so I was surprised when I was given "shōyu" (soya sauce) as dipping sauce. 


It was a pleasant experience, culture wise, and although that night was the worst night for my leg pain during the time I was wearing my cast, I enjoyed it!

(Me having a swing at the mochi.)

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New Year's Resolutions: 2015 - A year to surpass all others
10. Use less social media
- I waste too much time just scrolling through pages for no reason. Limit my daily usage to a specific amount of time is probably best.

 9. Read more
- Seriously, I need to read just a little every day. 

 8. Stop complaining
- Make the best out of everything and enjoy the moments.

 7. Be thankful
- I have soo much to be thankful for, so why not smile?

 6. No more spending
- This year, I'm no longer spending money on myself. If I need something, I will do everything I can to use what I already have.

 5. Be confident
- In the past, my confidence has been lower than what it may seem. I really want to change that.

 4. Try new things
- It is normal for people to fall into their comfort zone when it comes to life, and there's nothing wrong with that. But if I really want to change my life, I will need to see what else is out there.

 3. Listen more
- I think learning to listen is always a good thing, and for me, learning from other's experiences and ideas allows me to understand many things I wouldn't on my own.

 2. Stay motivated
- In the past, I have often lost my motivation over small failures, but I should take in consideration the whole situation, stay positive while working on correcting mistakes and failures, and improving my strengths. 

 1. Live life to its fullest
- I want to really give life my all and have no regrets. Live life to my full potential and enjoy every moment.

 I'm also trying, of course, to eat better in order to lose weight, and as usual, gain more muscle, speed, explosiveness: all for judo, but also for my own body.

(2015... Here I come!)

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A second injury
January 15, 2015

On January 5th, toward the end of the first judo practice of the year, I was fighting a heavier and stronger fighter from the club when something unexpected happened. I was getting slammed all across the mat, but I didn't really care because I was learning from him and it was good practice. Suddenly, I caught his foot with a foot sweep of my own and almost pulled a throw out of it. A little bit more confident, I got up and faced my opponent. I posted out my right hand grip to stop his high grip, but he managed to bend me over. Just then, he backed up a little, and I knew he was going to go in for a throw, and so I prepared to stop it. Because of that, I ended up being really far from him when he threw, and I blocked the throw (left uchi-mata),  landing on my left knee. That in itself would have been fine, except what the fighters in Tokai do is they explode even more at that moment. As he pulled my upper body across, I had no time to change my leg's position and was forced into a overly extended position. I felt a little rip in my hip and an acute pain in my knee. I yelled out in pain. At first, my partner didn't realize that I was hurting, thinking I just yelled out in defeat. But after a while he started asking me what was wrong.

The time froze for a few moments. I curled up in a shrimp position, my whole body shivering, fearing the worst. I couldn't think, I didn't know what to do. Suddenly I heard him ask me what was wrong. Obviously I was hurt. Soon, others came to surround me. Then people picked me up and carried me off the mats. I was placed on a stretcher, and given ice. My opponent just asked me what had happened, and soon left after to go back to practice.

I really hated myself in that moment. Why didn't I just take the fall? I knew this one wasn't as simple as the previous injury. Yasuhiro Yamashita sensei came by and saw me in pain and asked me what was wrong. I explained what had happened, and he awkwardly touched my injured area, then walked away. One of the trainers was nice enough to show me a few exercises on how to help my leg heal once it would be strong enough to move, but who knew when that would be.

I lost a lot of hope that day. I didn't understand why it had happened. I've been really trying my best to follow the practices and even though I get slammed all day, I push myself to stay aggressive.

I called my friend Chipa to help me walk back to the dorm because I knew I wouldn't be able to alone. Once we made it back, I set more ice onto my leg. I put ice at least 6 times that day. I called my sister and told her what had happened. She gave me a few more tips on what to do and not to do.

I went to bed completely devastated, my leg raised onto my pillow.

The next day, I limped around to get to classes. A lot of people asked me what was wrong, and I can't blame them: my walk was ridiculous. My leg was in a lot of pain. One of my friends, Valentina, noticed this and begged me to go to the hospital and even offered to go with me. So after school, she helped me limp over to the bus station, onto the bus, off the bus, and into a clinic near the station, where she had went when she had broken her knee cap a few months ago.

After waiting a few minutes and filling out the necessary papers, we limped over to see the doctor. He could see that I was in quite a lot of pain. After a few tests, his verdict was a 2nd degree tear in the MCL. He then recommended that I use a supporter. I tried it, but it didn't seem to give me any protection at all. His next recommendation was a cast. I had never had a cast and so I was a little hesitant. I called my sister to ask her opinion but it was around 1 A.M. in Canada, therefore she was sleeping. After a few minutes of deep thinking, I made a decision.

It was my first time seeing how they put a cast on. One thing I have to say about the doctors here is that they are... different than in Canada. There were like four of them around me, two holding my leg and moving it too quickly to my liking. I was soo scared someone would trip on it or drop it or something. They placed the tissue over my leg, and the doctor molded it to my leg. I had to wait a bit there, my leg on a stool for the whole thing to dry.

Valentina was there next to me, and I was grateful for her presence. But I could not help but let out a few tears. I would have to wear this thing for two weeks, and in total, my full recovery would take up to three months...

After paying the bills and grabbing the crutches, I limped out of there. It was really hard to use the crutches. I looked up the proper way later on Youtube just to make sure.

(First time wearing a cast.)

January 15th: It's now been a week and two days since I got injured. Last Tuesday, January 13th, I went back to the doctors and asked them to remove the cast. When my sister had found out about it, she was a little skeptical, and told me it would be best for me to use my leg. Therefore I used my leg in the dorm at first, and by two days later, I was no longer using the crutches. The cast was putting a LOT of pressure to different areas of my leg, and I actually had to take pain killers, which I never do. But I knew the sooner I started using my leg, the sooner I would heal.

The doctor used a tool that looks like a cutter, but only melts, and cut through the cast. Once the cast off, my leg was soo weak, it scared me. It was very itchy, and as I tried to bend it, it shaked uncontrollably. I even started to regret my decision. After tapping my leg, I was out of there. I called Chipa again to help me walk in order to go find the Judo Club's hospital, as my father recommended I go there. I forgot where I had went last time, and therefore we walked around a lot before I called Mrs. Mitsumoto to help me find where it is. It took us another 20 minutes to get there.

Once there, I consulted with doctor Miyazaki, and he opted for a smaller brace. He gave me a few tips and off we were. I was grateful for Chipa to be there because even with the brace, for the rest of that day, my leg felt soo weak.

Today (January 15th): My leg is getting stronger and stronger. I can now actually walk down and up the stairs. My strut is becoming closer and closer to normal, yet I still get some jolts of pain when making a false step. Yesterday, I went to the dojo to say hi, and start my rehabilitation. I walked back in forth with my brace at first, then without, to get my leg used to walking again. After that, I spent half an hour just slowly bending and unbending my leg. It hurt terribly, and it would tremble soo much. After that, I ended the session with chin-ups and pushups. After eating, I put ice on it to let it cool. Today already I see that yesterday's efforts paid off. As I said, I can now walk down the stairs, which is quite the challenge since it forces you to bend your leg to a specific extent.

Hope is there, yet I know it will take time, therefore I'm not rushing it. I just don't see any reason not to smile. After all, I can still study and talk with friends so no point wasting this time complaining!

Note: My family has been giving me soo much support it's crazy. My "aunt" came over all the way from Tokyo to visit me for like only 10 minutes since she was worried. Also a lot of friends have been very supportive, and I want to say thank you!
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Shopping During the Holidays in Japan

January 10, 2015

So after I left the Iwasa's, I went to Shinjuku in order to do a little bit of shopping. I primarily wanted perfume, since I was running out of mine. Yoshiki and Shuko helped me find the store that would carry the most perfumes, which was called Isetan, and whose closest location was in Shinjuku.

Now I had been told that prices in Japan were lower during the holidays, so I wanted to take advantage of that. But with lower prices come... PEOPLE. It was quite an experience to walk through the streets with every inch completely filled with people. The store was even crazier. I was able to ask directions without many problems, which helped me soo much in this chaos.

One of the salesmen explained to me the hot products, as well as helped me smell some of them. As my nose would get tired, he would pass me coffee beans to change the smell. I must have smelled over 60 perfumes that day, and each one over 4 times to make sure of my choice. I ended up getting two which I thought had a unique image to them and would also bring out my personality.




I also wanted to get a small back pack, but once I looked at the price, I gave up on that one. In Japan, image is very important, therefore brand power in terms of prices can be pushed to pretty ridiculous standards.

I was out of there after about 45 minutes. I ate a meal in a small hamburger shop, since I was in Tokyo after all, and then I was back off home.


Not quite Boxing Day or Black Friday, but I'd say it was a calmer version of the two. 
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New Year's 2015 - A Japanese Experience
January 5, 2015

This year, I was fortunate enough to celebrate New Year's Eve with 'family'. On December 31st, I arrived without many problems to the Iwasa's house at around 6 P.M. with Reiko waiting for me. Since everyone would be arriving later that night, we spent some time together talking. Here's the supper I ate that night!




(Yes, I realize how lucky I am ok...)


At around 8:30, I realized that I forgot my glasses and my contact lens solution, which would be a huge problem since I was staying there for a few days. So after receiving explanations from Reiko on how to get to the closest 7eleven, I threw on my jacket and was off into the night. I didn't really have any problems getting there. I managed to find what I needed and I soon arrived back home. By this time, Yoshiki had already arrived home. I had already eaten supper with Reiko, so I simply talked with Yoshiki while he ate. Then, Reiko turned on the TV so that we could watch the National New Year's Eve program that almost every family watches during this time. It includes things like performances from all the big artists, speeches, small little acts, and the whole time they have a theme they follow. But a short while after that, Yoshiki switched the channel to watch the Japanese boxer who was in the final for a world boxing cup. So we ended up watching that, which was pretty exciting. 

Once that was done, we switched back to the New Year's Eve program, and soon, Kenzo arrived home. After greeting him, he sat down and ate as well. But we were soon all served another meal called "Toshikoshi Soba" which is the traditional meal that the Japanese eat on New Year's Eve. Eating the "soba", Japanese noodles that resemble spaghetti, as the years change is supposed to represent that one will live a long life this year again. Since the noodles are long, you can get that image as you're eating it. The noodles were great, and I really couldn't believe I was actually doing what I had heard of and studied many times before.

(Toshikoshi Soba: The Noodles of the New Year)


After the meal, we watched the program till 12:00, and at that time, we all said: "Akemashite omedetou gozaimasu. Kotoshi mo yoroshiku onegaishimasu." which can be translated as: Happy New Year. All the best wishes for the new year. And then we were off to sleep haha.

The next morning, I woke up early with the boys. Since they still had SCHOOL on New Year's Day, they had to leave early. So for breakfast, Reiko had made the traditional New Year's Day meal called "Osechi". And she really put a lot of effort. This meal has a lot of history behind it and I still don't understand all of it, but here's what I got.
This meal was made by the mother, but back then, there were no microwaves and refrigerators, therefore most meals had to be cooked the day of. But in order to allow the mother a break during the holidays, this meal was prepared in large quantities, much like my mother's cooking..., and would be eaten during January 1st to 3rd. This food could be kept at just cooler temperatures, and therefore could last that long. The meal consists of many different kinds of small little appetizers, all separated into the compartments of a specially designed traditional box. What is even crazier is that for every appetizer, there is a special meaning. For example, the golden food you see in the picture below is called Kurikinton, and it is said that if you eat these during the New Year, you will make a lot of money this year.

(Osechi - 2015 Edition)

(And more...)

(Shigenori even got my name written on the chopstick sheets which made me feel part of the family.)

(Traditional miso soup with mochi in it called Ozouni)

(They even gave me the traditional money offered to kids from family member during the New Year.)


So yeah, I was really grateful to be able to eat this meal. After that, Kenzo left for school, and I passed out again. Soon, Daisuke and his wife arrived and they ate their share of the breakfast and we chatted on a few different topics. 

Once they were done, we got ready to leave. Daisuke and Shuko were taking me to a temple nearby to make our year's wishes. Originally, we were supposed to go all the way to Hakone to do so, but lately Shuko's health had been bad so we decided to stay close. We got to the temple and of course, we waited in line. Japan is crazy for that. As we were waiting, it started snowing, quite heavily actually. It was one of the most beautiful snowfalls I had ever seen. When we finally got in, we washed our 'souls', threw our coins, bowed twice, then clapped twice and made our wishes. Once that was done, we grabbed some hot drinks and stood next to the fire.

(The temple with snowfall adding to the feelings of the fresh new year.)

But soon it was time to head off to... an "onsen"!!! Well not exactly an onsen, but a smaller version called "sento". Both include hot water baths, and so I was very excited. We got there, said bye to Shuko who would be entering the female side of it. Daisuke and I entered the male one, placed our things in a locker and cleaned our bodies before entering the baths. Daisuke showed me all the different types of baths. That day, we tried a normal hot tub, a sauna, an outdoor bath (in the snow, which was perfect), a lay down bath, with water just running down your back, an extremely hot bath 43°C I think, and lastly, my favourite, a cool bath.

We left feeling peaceful.

That day, we did some grocery shopping, talked a lot, relaxed at home, ate a meal, and soon, it was time for Daisuke and Shuko to leave. Daisuke was falling asleep just sitting there holding Mirei, it was kind of funny and cute. Both he and I had passed out after the the hot baths, which can really drain your energy. I got to hold Mirei quite a lot and she was soo cute. Daisuke, Shuko left, and shortly after that, I was talking another hot bath haha, and was off to bed.

(Mirei chan!)

The next day, I woke up to eat with the two boys again, and to say my goodbyes. I wouldn't be seeing them for a while, and I was glad I had been able to speak to them this time. I played a little bit of guitar as Reiko made me bento, and I was then off.

(A regular breakfast at the Iwasa's.)

(Thank you guys for being so nice to me.)

It was a very interesting New Year's experience, but I'm glad I got to see a traditional Japanese New Year's celebration. I didn't get to see Shigenori this time around since he was visiting his mother's family in Akashi, but it had still felt like I was at home. 

Thank you Reiko for everything.
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International Friday Night (Tokai Edition - 2014)!
December 31, 2014

Around the first week of November, I was informed about this party called The International Friday Night! Since the explanation came from my very excited friends, in Japanese, I wasn't quite sure what it was. But it seemed like a fun party so I asked my friend if I could DJ at this event. She contacted the staff and sure enough, I was now part of the group.

I didn't really do much preparation except consult a few Japanese friends about which songs were popular in Japan, and I also helped sell some tickets. The day before, I practiced a little bit, since I was informed that I would only be performing for 15 minutes, I decided that I would make it the best 15 minutes.

The day of, I came back from school, changed my clothes, and headed over to the building, carrying all my stuff. I got there and chaos. Nothing was set up, and the guy in charge, Ekon, was yelling all over the place. He basically ordered us to do stuff for him and I thought it was quite rude. He kept on pushing me to set up my stuff when I didn't have a table to set it up on. Anyways, after 2 hours of setting up, about 20 minutes before the doors opened, I had my stuff set up, but now came the time for sound check. My sound wasn't loud enough. So I had to talk with the sound guys to try to get every inch of volume out of those speakers. I ran back and forth soo many times. I even went back to my room to get a plug in adaptor. Without even knowing whether or not the sound was loud enough, they started letting people in. At first, during the supper, it was the other DJ, Yukina who was playing, so I talked with friends, ate a little, but I was soon called to replace her.

Now that whole night, I had to stay on my feet. Whenever they requested something, I did it to my best ability. Soooo many crazy requests came to me. One guy asked me to play music off his laptop to show a video, but it didn't work. Had I known beforehand, I could have prepared. Next, I basically had to play music for them at random intervals, and Ekon kept pressuring me to play tracks that would get people dancing. Keep in mind this is all before my actual performance time. I had to use tracks from the set I had prepared, which meant I would later have to find new ones on the spot. I think I did a very good job of getting people dancing. The other DJ had even forgotten her charging cable for her laptop, so while she needed it, I lent it to her. But I couldn't play music off my laptop without it, so ran back in forth many times, just for that.

At one point, Ekon told me I would need a little introduction pattern, again last minute, so I put something together moments before they introduced me. When my time actually came to perform, I worked it out pretty damn well. People were dancing, singing, and they even asked me to play longer. I would raise my hand out to the crowd and sing out to them and I think a lot of them enjoyed that. At many points, I even went out on the front stage to dance, with everyone watching me, and although I was embarrassed, I think I made quite an impression on many people that night. 

I ended my set finally, yet they kept me there in order to play music in between the other performances. There was beatboxer, soccer ball jugglers, a band -- Ekon played the saxophone --, and singers. My friend Anzu even sang a few songs, and during the set up that day I had noticed how nervous she was. When came the time to perform, her nervousness really showed but she sang so beautifully, it made me mad that soo many people were talking in the back while she sang. So I made my way to the front of the crowd and smiled at her to reassure her as much as I could. Yet again, for her second song, I was called back to my station to get ready. I think they preferred me over the other DJ just because they never called her back. From there, I sang along, in English, to Anzu singing Let It Go in Japanese, the track from the Disney Movie "Frozen."

(It was full... ish.. My biggest crowd at least.)

(MC Azusa and me!)

(The Russian girls who danced the night out with me.)

(Arisa singing her heart out with "All I Want for Christmas Is You")

(Some random friends I made that night!)


After that, I was asked to play a song that had never even been confirmed if I had it or not. I quickly looked it up, loaded it onto my DJ software, and off we were. They, the staff and MCs, were trying to teach people a floor dance on the spot, and they even asked me to start the track over again. It kind of worked...

The band played again, another singer sang "All I Want for Christmas Is You" quite well actually, and then to close off the night, we all made a circle, and by all I mean everyone in the building. We held hands and they played "We Are the World" by Michael Jackson, and we sang our hearts out. It's crazy how music can reunite people. That's why I love it. Anyways, after that, the staff was called to the middle, we said our thank yous and goodbyes. This part was really weird. I don't know how many times they repeated thank you and thank you again. People just wanted to leave. After that, we were all called to take a group picture. This took like 15 minutes on its own... while they did this, Ekon asked me to play some music. I played my Taylor Swift remix and I was glad to see people dancing to it. 

Then the cleanup started. Ekon then asked me to play music as people left. I was trying to say goodbye to some people when Ekon came and rushed me to clean up my stuff. I gave a birthday gift to two of my friends, Maho and Azusa, both of them having helped me since I came to Japan. Before I made it back to my station, someone unplugged my whole set up, which made me furious. My equipment is quite expensive and unplugging it like that can only damage it. I put my stuff away in the fastest manner I could while getting rushed by Ekon, and I was sure I would have lost something in all the chaos. After I tucked all my stuff in a corner, we had to re-set up the hall as it was before the evening started. This took... 45 minutes I think. 

At the end, the staff reunited, and we were congratulated. I was then informed that there was a "nomikai", a drinking party, for some of the staff members. I was invited and I decided to go. I went back to my room to get changed since I smelled quite bad after all that dancing and running around which, inevitably made me sweat like crazy, and to bring back my equipment. My friend told me we would go together to the place, yet I was surprised to see a car waiting for me as I walked out of my dorm. I squeezed into the back seat with two other ladies, and we were off. The black male driving was crazy. He had not drunk anything, but he was driving fast to impress the ladies. I felt like I was going to die many times, or some poor pedestrian would be a victim. I really didn't appreciate it. We got there without any accidents, and waited outside for the others to come. From then on, it was quite fun. Beers jugs were filled, food was served, laughs were shared. I drank a fair bit, but really, due to me having a very long day, I began to feel tired. But the whole drinking party was my first real one in Japan, and I have to say it was pleasant.

(Mariko and I being silly)

(My first real Nomikai.)

(I had to hold Yurie so she wouldn't fall off the bench haha.)

We said our goodbyes, hugs were exchanged, and Chipa and I were back to the dorms. I had asked him to make sure I made it back to the dorm because I was quite exhausted. Another girl named Mariko also walked with us since she lives near our dorms.

I entered my room, cleaned my bed, and moments later, sleep took over.

Thoughts? Well I enjoyed it all, but I just wish I had been a little more respected. With all my efforts, I believe I was a big reason for the success of that evening. But, I played my Japanese part, and worked silently, on demand, for the greater good of the party.

(Anzu and I.)


One thing that this made me realize is that I really want to DJ more in Japan. Cheers!
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