Typhoon 18

So, this may be unbelievable to some, but last night I had my very first experience with the Japanese karaoke industry! I have something approaching a complete inability to improvise musically, especially vocally, especially in front of people. And what you'll get in a Japanese karaoke catalog is a huge number of completely unfamiliar songs. Hence, I spent the first hour desperately combing the catalog for songs that I knew- which I did manage to find: a few opening and closing themes from anime, and some of the lesser-known songs of Simon and Garfunkel.

I think most people have an idea of what a karaoke hall is like; it's a building (in this case a high-rise) with a reception desk where you fork over money for however long you want to spend in a particular sound-proofed room with a long table, padded benches, and a(n old analog) TV, and wow your friends by emitting sounds into a microphone.

I have to confess that my unfamiliarity with Japanese music in general probably dampened the experience slightly for me, but after latching onto the few familiar songs I found, the experience became vastly less alienating. Or, should I say, more fun? I dare say I had... fun... for the last hour. Yes.... "Fun."

Well, with karaoke behind us and drinking ahead, we set out into the cool, misty pre-typhoon gusts, lead by Jun-Ho. I'm guessing on the spelling of his name, but he's a Korean who has been living in Japan for years and years and so speaks fluent Japanese. I'm not sure about why he was in a group of Rikkyo students (except for me and Jun-Ho, everyone -6 people- was from Rikkyo), but who cares.

Jun-Ho led us to a ridiculously cheap and delicious tavern-type restaurant on the third floor of a random building in Ikebukuro, where drink (pints of beer and cocktails) and roasted meat were liberally dispensed and liberally consumed. Time flies when carousing, so before I knew it it was time to hurry for the trains. Maya and I endured some teasing for being "such a cute couple" from the lonelier members of our group >_>;

Anyway, the reason I'm writing this now instead of attending class is because there is no class today on account of typhoon 18, which roared through southern and central Japan earlier today, inverting umbrellas and breaking tree branches. 18 wasn't such a very strong typhoon as it was huge, with a diameter of almost 700 kilometers. Actually, I should say it did some significant damage in southern Japan, but it lost a great deal of strength before reaching Tokyo.

It was already bringing surprisingly violent squalls of chilling rain to the Tokyo Metropolitan area last night, and as a result my first train was delayed by several minutes. That combined with the fact that I was forced to abandon the train at one point to seek out a bathroom (curse you, alcohol!), led me to miss the last train out of my transfer station, Shinagawa. The last train leaves at midnight, and I arrived at Shinagawa at 12:04.

But I was not alone! In fact, I was one of hundreds of lost-looking people who were trapped at Shinagawa as an indirect result of the approaching typhoon. Then I was one of hundreds of miffed-looking people boarding a fleet of waiting taxis. And then I was in a taxi, chatting it up with the cabbie.

For some reason, alcohol either loosens my Japanese tongue fantastically or binds it to the roof of my mouth. Last night, despite all the inconveniences, I was in a good mood, so I had a pretty fluent conversation. It seems like every Japanese guy set on travel to America wants to go to New York City. I can't imagine why. I've been doing my best to steer them to San Fransisco.

After what seemed like (and judging from the fare, was) a very long trip, he pulled the car up to my dorm. We thanked each-other, I forked over the nearly 6,000 yen he asked for, and sprinted through the pelting rain into the shelter of Plum(e) IS... I slept like a rock through the typhoon, through the morning, and through much of the sunny and clement afternoon.

I'm tempted to kick myself for spending so much money on cab fare, but I don't think I had a viable alternative. If there hadn't been a severe typhoon bearing down on me, I probably would have found a park to sleep in. I'll try to play it safer regarding time from now on. And I'll live like a peasant until I've regained that 6,000.

Alright, that's all for now! The crows outside are gathering bits of broken vegetation for their nests... and I must get to work as well... On some translations for fansubs!