My life in Japan (for now)
For those of you who were wondering WHY I am going by the nickname "Ginger Matt", there is a very simple reason, which I will now attempt to make much longer and more complex than necessary. This title was given to me because there were 4 or 5 Matt's in our small little area of Japan, leading to confusion. When we combine we form a large, extremely good-looking, intelligent, super-being known as "The Matt" (fans of transformers should appreciate this, everyone else should feel free to roll their eyes). So in order to distinguish me from the other Matts, my red hair has earned me the title of "Ginger Matt" Could be worse. I have been in Japan for 3 years now. I came here as a member of the JET program after graduating Western Washington University with a double major in Political Science and East Asian Studies. After two years on the JET Program, I entered an intensive Japanese course at a small university here in Japan. While my Japanese is better than it was before, it still needs some work!
I have no excuse....beyond me being lazy. Well busy, but lazy. Lazy when I'm not busy? I was busy most of the time though, meaning I'm not THAT lazy. Pictures that I am going to put up will probably include...pictures from this year's Yamakasa Festival (If you do NOT want to see my pale, white buttocks please do not enlarge this picture), a "Kimono Party", and ummm some other random pictures. ENJOY....or at least try!
So now it is time for another overdue blog. A drive-by blogging if you will. It's gonna be quick, frightening, and then over!! I will post pics with descriptions (if needed) of my goodbye enkai (dinner and drinking party), and Yamakasa 05' where we did the UNTHINKABLE- after a 6 year hiatus, our team "the east side" or 東流れ WON the big race on the final day!! Not only did we win, but we set a new record, covering the course in 9 minutes 10 seconds! The race itself was much more trying for me than last years. I was told by many fellow racers that it was going to be bloody hot and that because I would sweat a lot I should drink lots of water and not worry about having to pee while wearing my SUPER tight loin cloth. So I being the trusting foreigner that I am, I follow their advice and drink up. Then about 20 minutes after getting wrapped and strapped up in the loincloth, the skies turn black lightening flashes, thunder rolls, and a deluge of water falls from the heavens. It rained for a about 2 hours through the whole opening ceremony. I had to pee like crazy and thought there was nothing to be done but to grit my teeth. Luckily embarrassment is not an issue with this guys...Maybe I should say {em BARE ASS ment} because we are all running around with our butts on display. So I turn to the guy next to me and say "I have to pee like crazy!!" He then explains there is a trick to going while wearing the loin cloth!! He saved my life!! I am pretty sure my bladder would have ruptured otherwise. Once I relieved myself and made sure everything was wear it should be with my errr "uniform", I quickly ran as fast as I could to rejoin my group at their waiting point before our massive float came roaring around the corner. While in the mad dash to push the float someone fell in front of me, causing me to fall and get stepped on by a stampede of half-naked Japanese men. Hitting the concrete "deck" wearing nothing but a loincloth on your bottom half means that your butt doesn't have ANY protection whatsoever from roadrash. I will leave the description out, but let's just say OUCH shall we? Aside from my beat-up-bum and a slightly banged up shoulder I was just fine, and the announcement of our victory and new record shortly thereafter quickly made the pain go away.
