So Friday night, we had an early Christmas party. When I arrived back from the Tokyo Grand Slam, everything was already set up. The staff had worked up a pretty good Christmas theme. I was supposed to DJ that night, but since I arrived late-ish, some other guy had brought his stuff so I just let him handle it! I then changed quickly into a "Holiday attire", picked up my laundry, and headed back to the party.

The room was filled with people. Food was on the table, music was playing, and the Christmas trees lit up. There was even a mistletoe station... Hugs were exchanged and I dropped off my present with the rest of them. We had to bring a 5$ present for a kind of secret exchange game.


After chatting for a bit, we gathered in a circle with our gifts. Basically what happened was that someone pressed play on the music and we passed the gifts around as fast as possible until the music stopped. I ended up with one of my Japanese friend's gift: caramel popcorn. I open it, and walked around giving some to anyone who wanted some. After that, we celebrated two birthdays: Chipa Mwenya, and Maho Sagawa, two of the staff from the international dorms. Chipa will be graduating this semester so this will most likely be his last party with us since he plans on moving to Osaka to work afterwards. Chipa was kinda close to me since he could understand the perspective of an outsider trying to fit in Japan. We had some good laughs and I'm sad to see him go.

After that, the music continued for a bit until my friend Kahea and I performed I'm Yours in front of everyone one last time. Some people had missed our performance at the festival and had requested we sing it again. After that the party slowly continued and soon it was over. I helped with the cleanup while everyone headed over to the Budokan to share drinks and stories. I had planned to head there for a bit when I was invited to go to Karaoke with the Japanese staff. Soon, we were on our way down to the station.

On our way there, I threw some leaves onto one of my Japanese friends and suddenly, it turned into a leaf throwing battle. It was funny to see Japanese people be that outgoing and I kinda felt good to have started the whole thing. Everyone laughed as we ran around in the dark, chasing each other.

After stopping by the grocery store for food and drinks, and trying the first Karaoke, which was packed, we headed over to the next one, and I then realized that I had been there with my sister and dad three years ago! Funny how things work out. We picked our complimentary drinks and soon we were all sitting down choosing songs. I didn't know most of the songs they picked, but it was quite an interesting study session. It's quite hard to understand the meaning of a song at that speed. I also picked a few English songs to which they tried to sing along. I noted down a few song names to look up later. I really think I need to start listening to Japanese music. We ended it off with "Just the Way You Are" by Bruno Mars.

We walked back, and said our farewells, and yeah, that was my night.

So this past weekend, the university hosted what they call the International Fair. Basically what it is, is that the students from the different countries come together and make a booth within the classrooms of the 4^th floor of building 8, the building in which I study all day long. It's up to the students to use their imagination in order to show the highlights of their country.

Now I'm one of the only Canadians here so I decided that I would help with the Hawaiian booth. I didn't really help too much with the preparation, due to being busy with judo and my speech, but I came and helped during the days of the fair.

Some people might disagree, but I really think it was a fun experience. I had to hand people leis and take them back, bow, bow, and bow again, apologize and say thank you again and again. We had tons of students coming in, most I didn't know, some I came to befriend. It was very tiring and very demanding mentally and physically. I also had to walk around the 4^th floor in order to promote our booth, playing the ukulele and singing songs.

Now why did I like it so much? Well I think it gave me the experience of working in Japan. You see, whenever you walk into stores in Japan, you always hear: "Irasshaimase!" which means welcome to our store. But that's not it; they always ask the same questions, apologize, bow and bow again even though they made no mistake. This is an extreme politeness that Japanese companies enforce to all workers. No matter what your mood, everyone follows these rules.

I just think I was lucky to be able to experience it at least once, since I don't plan on working in Japan.

Besides that, I also got to see many booths from different countries including Vietnam, Spain, Brazil, Kazakhstan, Thailand, China, Russia, and more. On the third floor, there were also performances from different countries. I got to see a Mongolian guitar being played, I got to hear famous Chinese melodies, Brazilians bands and dances, Arabian dances (in which I joined in haha), and many more. I also got to perform with one of the native Hawaiians, Kahea Kashinoki, and a few songs with a Hawaiian feel. He played the ukulele while I sang along with him to certain songs like Over the rainbow, La vie and rose and, of course, the favourite, I'm yours by Jason Mraz.

With the speech and all, the International Fair ended up being a very interesting experience.

Back in March, I received an email informing me that tickets were now available for Ultra Japan. At first, I simply skipped over it since I wasn't in a position to pay myself a flight to Japan just to see this concert. But after a few moments, I quickly rushed back to check the dates to realize that I was going to be in Japan at that time! I was filled with joy.

Just to explain a little bit about Ultra, Ultra has been my dream place to be ever since I started DJing. I always wanted to perform there one day, even though that's quite unlikely, and I also wanted to attend a few of these big electronic dance music festivals. Ultra is one of the biggest of them all and I had watched too many videos of my favorite DJs performing at this concert around the world. Canada doesn't host this concert, therefore I was never able to go until now!

I definitely would have gone alone had I had to, but I decided to contact a friend in Japan who I thought would be game to join me: Anzu (My sister's roommate during her stay in Japan). Anzu also came to Winnipeg last summer to stay at our house for a week! After a few messages, our tickets were bought and I received my electronic code for my ticket by email.

From then on, nothing really happened until two days before the event, when Anzu contacted me to decide when we would leave and how we would get there.

The day of, I left my dorm at 6:00 A.M. and arrived at Ebina where Anzu was waiting for me. Last time we had tried to meet up, we had spent at least 1 hour trying to find each other, but this time we had developed a better plan haha. As we were both tired, we rode the rest of the train ride sleeping, with Anzu's alarm set for a certain time. Yet, I woke up at that time, but Anzu didn't. I didn't want to wake her up until I was sure we would miss our stop, which we almost did. Oh Anzu... haha! Two trains later, we were riding the Yurikamome, which is basically a slow train that rides around the city of Tokyo, usually used for tourism, to pass by the highlights of the city. During my last visit to Japan, my dad had taken me on this particular train, and many of the places flew back into my memory as we rode by them. We passed by many famous places, including the Tokyo Tower and the Sky Tree, two of the tallest structures on the planet. As we neared our destination, Anzu and I spotted the park and the stage's setup I so eagerly wanted to see. We walked off the train, and the exit of the station was literally meters away from the entrance to the park. Until that moment I had been worried we had come too early, but to our surprise, there were at least 30 people waiting in line already. Anzu then asked me: I wonder at what time they came? haha, we shall never know.

We quickly grabbed breakfast at the nearest convenience store, and waited in line for about 20 minutes before we were allowed to enter the park... only to walk up to a new line. After about another 20 minutes, we were redirected three times to a new line and finally, using Anzu's phone to scan our tickets, we entered the Ultra park... only to end up in another line to buy sunglasses. This line took much longer. About 40 minutes later, we were on our way into the main part of the park. A DJ was already playing by that time. We walked around the different shops that were set up, picked up some Pocari Sweat (a famous Japanese sport drink), took a few pictures, won a VIP pass for the Pioneer Terrace, and headed to the front of the main stage.


At this point, everything I had imagined became true. The stage, the lights, the sound, the people. I could recognize most of the songs that were played due to my DJing and I was immediately caught in the moment. After the first DJ had finished, we decided to visit the second location, which was a small room called the Radio Station. I got the chance to see my first woman DJ live. I decided to stay for the next DJ and boy was I ever happy I did. This DJ was seriously good! He had the crowd jumping the whole time, including myself! DJ Komori was his name if you're interested. Anzu and I stayed for his whole set! We even ended up being in the pictures he posted on his website the next day!

After that, it was time for a break. Jumping around can be quite tiring. We grabbed some ramens, and sat down in the shade to admire the venue's setup while we ate and chatted. After that, I had another first time experience to eat some Kakigori (basically a snow cone: chopped up ice with syrup), and we were then back off to the main stage. But luckily, we had won passes to the Pioneer Terrace, which basically meant we were allowed to go for 30 minutes on a special terrace which let us watch the main stage from a higher point of view. It was relaxing and we were given each a glass of Red Bull.


After that, we headed to the last location for the DJs, which was called the Worldwide Area. This one was a big room, underground, with heavy lights and huge LED screens. Anzu and I enjoyed our time there as the DJs built up the atmosphere.



We left the room hazed and tired which is why we decided to take a rest. We found a place under the shade of some palm trees and slept there for 30 minutes. I should have then taken the time to go to the washroom, but we headed straight for the main stage since I didn't want to miss Fedde le Grand who was due to play at that time.


It was crazy, as expected, but the sun was still bright so the impact wasn't as strong as it would have been in the dark. After about thirty minutes, I realized that it was going to be impossible to get back to our spot if we tried leaving, due to the amount of people that were around us, so I had the BRILLIANT idea of going to the washroom alone, since Anzu said she was fine for the next five hours... After about 10 minutes of trying to get out, I finally made it to the washrooms where I had to wait in line. This was a first for me. Usually, women have to wait, but the men's washroom clears fast. Well, not in Japan. I headed straight back afterwards, and had great difficulty making my way back to my original spot. That's when I realized the stupidity of my decision. There were WAY too many people to be able to find Anzu. Even with my photographic memory, it would be impossible to find the exact spot I had been in. I started shouting her name while I tried looking over people's heads, but Anzu is very short and so I knew I would never find her. I finally had the opportunity to climb onto one of the gates that were installed in front of the stage and kept screaming her name. I had given up, when out of nowhere Anzu came to me, forcing her way through the crowd. Relieved, we faced the stage, ready to dance.

But as I had mentioned, for some reason, they had installed gates all over the place, so some people were standing on them or sitting on them, which obstructed our view of the stage. This was not going to be a pleasant evening if this continued. Fortunately, with a little bit of shifting and the crowd moving, we were able to make it to a gate ourselves, where we could lean on and Anzu could step on to see over everyone's head.

I didn't want to be right at the front of the stage, and we had a very good spot, so we stayed there for the rest of the night. After Fedde le Grand, Afrojack came on, and I knew most of his songs! It was great, and by the end of his set, it was already getting dark.  Next up was Alesso, who has produced many great hits as well, including "If I lose myself". By this time, it was dark out, Anzu and I were both dead, but the music just kept me going! I couldn't believe I was actually living this. I was at Ultra! The set was amazing and I could sing, jump and dance to most of the songs. There was a slightly longer break between Alesso and the last DJs of the night, Axwell and Ingrosso, to allow them to install a bigger stage (Like it wasn't big enough already). Now their set just took things to another level. Sure, they had the benefit of being last, in the complete darkness and being on a bigger stage, but their choice of music was perfect. I REALLY wish I could make music like that. Anzu and I danced and jumped until we could no more and then we still kept going. During most of the set, the crowd screamed out the lyrics and the melodies to the songs, and I had to join in. During the last two songs, I ended up singing with a complete stranger, who was as into the moment as I was! GOOD TIMES...



The festival ended at 9 P.M. and after a few hundred pictures and videos, loads of music, a crazy amount of light, fireworks, flames and 9 DJs, it was time to head back. It took about 25 minutes just to get out of the park. Anzu and I decided to go see the rainbow bridge, which happened to not have rainbow lights that night haha, and to eat at McDonalds in the calm air.


It was already 11:00 by the time we headed back. In the train, we discovered that I had many sun burns, including my nose which was clearly visible due to the fact that I had been wearing sunglasses all day... -___- (NOT COOL!) Anzu, on the other side, had no marks whatsoever (NOT FAIR!) haha.


It was very hard to stay awake in the train and, since I had to stand in this packed train, I almost fell a few times, literally falling asleep. I was relieved when I reached my station, one hour and 40 minutes later. I biked up the hill, with my eyes dropping, and made it to the gate at 12:55, only to discover the gates were closed. Shit...

I walked to the restaurant across and they told me I would have to sleep out that night. I said too bad for that, I wasn't going to pay for a hotel. I decided to jump the fence. I made it across, and as I was walking through the campus, I realize that I could have easily just biked around the campus since my residence is outside the gates... Too late. I was soon jumping over the second fence, entering the back door of the Kokusaikaikan (my dorm), saying goodnight to all the guys still awake in the lobby (what the...) and off to bed.

What a great day. A dream come true. Ultra can now be checked off my bucket list.