Travel Diary, Japan, December 16th
I repeatedly hit snooze on my phone over the course of an hour and a half so that I missed breakfast on Tuesday. I cannot seem to adjust myself to a normal schedule in Japan. Perhaps walking for over an hour after midnight is too much. I had some bread and peanut butter to go with an apple I cut up. Hisa called me a liar when I told her I had in fact woken up at 8 AM but went back to bed.
The day before, Will had sent me some interesting mails about a horrible date he’d been on. Intrigued and without a plan, I decided to head to his college at 3:30. I was listening to my ipod on the train when a very shy (by even Japanese standards) girl got on. She sat down and bowed her head, which was perfectly normal (many people simply look down at their laps for the duration of the ride). I glanced by her again when we got going and saw her beaming a gigantic smile, but apparently staring off into space. She caught me looking at her and her smile instantly evaporated. Worried that I’d embarrassed or upset her, I looked away. A few stops later, I saw her smiling again, dazedly staring up at the ceiling. My best guess was that she’d just met the love of her life or was extremely high on drugs.
Will was in the courtyard to meet me when I arrived at Ryogoku and we headed to the Kaikan dorm. He told me about a date he’d had with a girl he’d met in the street when I was in Osaka. They’d gone out to dinner and had drinks for a few hours when she tells him she has a problem. She tells him a story of a drunken night leading to a blackout leading to a threesome and some morning regrets. Afterwards, she tells him she has a problem and tries to make him guess what it is. He cannot, so she finally asks: “What do I tell my boyfriend?”. Will finished his drink, put some money on the table, and left.
That was indeed a bad date, and I tried to talk him out of swearing off women for good. We arrived at the Kaikan and hung out with Kyle and Bob while playing some video games. The buzz around the dorm was of course about the Iraqi reporter throwing shoes at President Bush.
Not wanting to spend any more of our declining currency on dinner, we headed back to Yodo on the train. Hisa-san met expectations with delicious food and we watched some video before bedtime.
