Under the summer rain

Maybe it’s because a typhoon is a-whirling, but there’s a breeze blowing through the town that is practically lulling me to sleep with whispers of cool autumn weather that is just around the corner. Oh my, I can barely wait! Scarves, boots, hats and sweaters-woohoo!

Recently, my other JET friend came to visit from Nagano- which is to the west of Saitama. We had an enjoyable mini San Diego JET reunion and…God we feel old. We had such epic plans of karaoke, purikura and living by the midnight lights of Tokyo and it just didn’t happen.

All was not lost, however. We went to visit the Yamazakis, together with the boy and Michelle, and scored a huge bowl of delicious, handmade udon for free. Oh, and they fattened us up with coffee and cake afterwards. It’s my dream to become a regular somewhere, and ideally it would be at an izakayay, but I think an udon shop is a worthy second place!

We also happened to run into a huge dance festival going on in Koenji. Teams wear brilliant costumes and have choreographed steps that are judged by a panel and the winner gets…I have no idea. If it were me, I would want my own puri-kura machine but I know that no one is that awesome. Apparently, this festival is kind of a big deal. Unfortunately, I’ve realized that I’m not as crowd tolerant as I used to be and, after an hour or organized chaos, I was ready to leave. So leave we did. And later, okonomiyaki was had and we crashed out like old ladies.

Ridiculous dance steps

 More good news came out of this, however, in that I think I have found a travel partner to come on just one of my pre-planned adventures.

Here’s the scoop! I kind of want to go to China. I mean, it’s right there and all. I could probably just wait on my balcony with my umbrella for a strong enough gust of wind and just float on over. However, there are few things standing in my way of going there. First of all, I find it shocking that I have to pay $150 for a tourist visa….If I had 2 weeks to spend in the Middle Kingdom, then I would reconsider, but I don’t want to use up all my vacation time. Second, not speaking more than 5 words of Chinese is terrifying, even though I would be awkwardly and non-functionally literate because I can read some kanji. Third, they are shady, shady, shady and I like bright and sunny. Let’s not forget the bullet train accident of last month where the officials decided it would obviously be in The People’s best interest to have the carnage buried 2 days later-conveniently before any official investigation could be done.

Shady shady shady!

Bearing that in mind, I thought ‘Let’s go to Hong Kong!’

Wrong. Too expensive for my meager amount of days. But dang it, I want to eat Dim Sum! I’ve never had it before and have been dying to try it!

Oh, wait....There is still an opportunity to experience Chinese culture without opening a vein to pay for a visa, do some shopping , not get into a horrific cover up, and eat my way across a city. Taiwan, here I come!