Alexander's

A friend told me that most foreign students that are now studying at the Todai have been the crazy ones back home[^1] and to a certain degree I have to agree. Who else would go to Japan for at least one year, studying in a country where the language and the culture are totally different from Europe and hardly anyone speaks English. So it stands to reason, that we are also special here in Japan -- a lot more special than the average foreign student in Europe. Yes we truly are Aliens. Even the card we always have to carry with us says so -- 外国人登録証明書 the Certificate of Alien Registration

This Alien status has both it's perks and it's tradeoffs. Honestly what girl can resist a tall and handsome Alien, that can even stutter a bit of earthling language and goes to the best university known to man? Bring that one home and your future is secured. Todai-students are practically guaranteed to get a great job and Aliens are supposed to be great fun.[^2] Maybe you even get to live in one of the great and strange alien places most people only see in the movies.

The downside of this special status is a certain fame that surrounds the foreign Todai-students. Some have multiple girlfriends, some swap them faster than pants and some go out almost every evening and very seldom show up at university. The ones that don't do any of those things just don't stand out enough to make an impression.

How strong this impression is can best be described with an example.

On Saturday I went to a restaurant close to university, with a few people from my Japanese class. To be precise we were two Chinese girls -- one of them happily married -- a Swedish guy with shoulder long blond hair and myself sitting at a table. Soon after we arrived two Post Docs from my lab also entered the restaurant. I greeted them friendly, they bowed silently in my direction and then sat down at a table half way across the room, ate their meal and left long before we did.

When I came back to University on Monday I was quite busy, so the first time I really got to sit down and talk with my colleges was in the evening, when the whole lab went to an 居酒屋[^3] celebrate the successful final exams.

Alexander how are your three girlfriends?

After a few 焼酎[^4] my Japanese is slightly worse than usual, so I was not sure I understood correctly.

My what?
You have three girlfriends. Remember we saw you with them in the restaurant the other day.

Oh the joy! Well at least now I don't get any strange looks when I ask my secretary if she would like to come to my birthday party.

[^1]: Not counting students of the japanese language. I would consider it strange if they don't come to Japan. [^2]: Todai students are supposedly very reliable and therefore the best husbands, but not very fun, while foreigners are supposedly very interesting and funny, but not very reliable. So as a foreign Todai student you get the best of both worlds [^3]: Izakaya - a mix of restaurant and bar. Very often with a traditional touch [^4]: Shōchū -- a spirit is made from rice, potatoes, wheat or the like. Contains 20-40% of alcohol

On Thursday night, after a fun day at university I just dropped in on one of my colleges to discuss what we could do the next day.

Tomorrow I'll not be here. I'll go to the bus tour to 富士山 (Mount Fuji)

Right I remembered a Todai bus tour that said something about Fuji and a free lunch. Given that most of my friends are not here at the moment, or have already left Japan, I decided to join the fun. My idea for the day was a museums visit, lunch, a quick look at Fujisan and a save arrival back at Todai at around 19:30.

So the next morning at 7:30 everyone got a snack package,[^1] we sat down and then the male guide introduced himself.

Hi I welcome you all to our Todai MEM bus tour this Friday the thirteenth. My name is Jason and I'll be your tour guide today.[^2]

Then the GAIDO-san started talking

Hi I'm going to be your guide for this trip. If you ever get lost, please remember the color of our bus - white - the number of the bus - 538 - and if you can't remember any of these just remember to look for the cutest guide and you will finde me.

For the rest of the trip, while we were in the bus, GAUDO-san talked non stop (in Japanese). Very funny, but also very strange.

To my surprise it turned out that the first stop, after the first toilet stop, was Odawara Castle. As fas as I understand the third largest castle that existed in Japan. Sadly at some point it was burned or bombed down, but Japanese won't be stopped from having a great historical monument by such a small mishap and so they simply rebuild it new -- almost like is was. Just this time they added some electricity, running water,[^3] used concrete for the wall material,[^4] left out all of the non essential inner walls, to make a decent museum and added a gift shop at the top floor.[^5] Outside there is a zoo, but since we only had about 30 minutes for 4 floors of museum the GAIDO-san asked us to not loiter and look at the animals -- they are not historic anyway.

After this stop it was clear to me that this would be a typical Japanese tour. Four important stops, plus two extra toilet stops and a stop to by presents for the people who didn't go on the trip in eleven and a half hours. Lunch 45 minutes from the time the bus stops, to the time we are back in the bus. Tee ceremony 30 minutes, toilet break 15 minutes, ...

Most of the time we spent in the bus, with the GAIDO-san constantly talking. I now understand how it is possible to see Europe in a week -- oh look this is the spot where we see Fujisan -- through the window of a bus driving on the highway -- sorry no time to make a quick photo stop.

It was a very fun trip, but I think I've never been so tired after a day of sightseeing. Not having a few minutes to relax, always rushing from one appointment to the other and the constant Japanese explanations in the background.

As always. For the rest of the photos of the trip just head on over to my Flickr page.

[^1]: Not the lunch, just something to help us over till lunch [^2]: Whoever doesn't know Friday the 13th might just stop by Piraty Bay (or a video rental place) to understand this excellent joke [^3]: a lot more convinient [^4]: more durable than the original wood/stone structure [^5]: Everyone in Japan needs giftshops! A trip without bringing back some gifts was not a trip

One of the great pleasures in Japan are Izakaya. These are more or less traditional bars or restaurants -- I can't decide. They sell a variety of food there and usually everyone eats something, but I guess the alcohol is more important than the food. Also in the nice ones, that I like to visit, you sit on the floor around a 20cm high table without chairs and every group has a room to them self. The waiter is called via a small bell on the table and sometimes there is even a typical japanese rice paper door, so it is possible to create the illusion of privacy.

Japanese sometimes know no bounds in these places. Sometimes I feel like walking through a warzone. The usually very orderly Japanese are lying around half undressed, totally drunk and playing games that some people in Austria might consider more than just rude.[^1]

I love going to Izakaya. That goes double if I can go with japanese friends. Only thing I'm a bit unsure about is which kind I like best. The really high stung and traditionals with waitresses in Kimonos are great, but so are the slightly rundown ones with stains on the floor and walls and the really unfriendly staff and of course the crazy themed Izakaya. Everyone is an experience in itself and I'm fond of having visited a wide variety of them.

This Friday I went to a prison themed one with a small group[^2] of three exchange students from Todai and two japanese girls. Apart from an equal number of girls and boys it doesn't get much better. The japanese are responsible for the spirit and if we don't understand some menu items they can explain, while there are still enough foreigners to keep the language simple and slow.[^3] Prison themed means that you enter through a dark tunnel that is a bit like a haunted house. After that a beautiful waitress -- clad in a kinky police uniform -- arrests one or two of the guests and drags them to their cell in cuffs. The room looks like prison cell. The door is made of rusty metal bars and the walls look like massive stone with a bit of prison graffiti on them. The normal waiters are wearing prison uniforms and once or twice during the evening a group of monsters escapes and scares the prisoners.

I've been in a prison Izakaya before. With a bigger group and almost only Gaijin. It was by far not as fun as this time. This time the girls screamed so much when the monsters came, that one of the waitresses -- the one in police uniform -- came by to ask if everything was allright. One of the monsters gave me a hug and the food had little surprises in it.

I've heard there is a similar one, but themed as hospital of horror. I really have to find that and go there.

The photos are on my flickr site.

[^1]: People are forced to do things they really don't want to do just by sheer pressure from the group. I've seen people beg, barter and suffer. No one is touched, but in the end they always play along and do what the group wants them to do [^2]: Groups of 4-8 people are the best. Bigger groups are too big to talk to everyone and smaller groups don't develop the nice dynamics [^3]: Slightly slurry and fast Japanese, where only half of the things are really said and most of the important content left to the imagination of the listener, is just impossible to understand.