probably should have eaten before I got there, because after checking
everyone in and getting through security, we walked straight onto our
plane which was set to depart at 1400. We took off without any
problems, and I was eager to eat after being told they were serving us
a meal. The attendant asked if I wanted chicken or beef. I requested
the vegetarian meal. She informed me that this would be impossible
since I had not requested this in advance. Damn. No food on the 11
hour flight for me - good thing I brought some clif bars. Good thing I
brought clonipine as well, since it enabled me to get a good 3 hours
of sleep and I woke up feeling much better.
Our flight landed in Tokyo at 1700 July 4th. We unexpectedly breezed
through customs, and that is saying a lot when you are a group of 12
dudes carrying guitars, merch and claiming your purpose in their
country is "tourism". Our driver, Daiki, thought we were landing later
than we were, so we ended up waiting at the airport for 2 hours until
our japanese accompices arrived.
Since we were running late, we started driving to the show that night
(yes after being awake over 24 hours and flying across the Earth you
still have to play a show when land). The van situation is pretty
chill. Ruiner, me, and Chris all rolled in this really nic van that
Daiki had rented. His friend Shuha drove while Daiki rolled shotgun.
FYI their English is very good and although there's some random
moments of miscommunication it's very reassuring to have them around.
Tomo drove the other van that had killing the dream (minus me and
chris). They also seemed to hve plenty of room and so the van
situation this tim around is definitely leaps and bounds superior to
our last excursion.
On the way to the show I got the impression we were driving through
the country, and so far Japan really hasn't felt much different from
home. Besides really nice vending machines everywhere (again,
EVERYWHERE), it doesn't really feel like I'm that far from home yet,
which is actually a kind of nice, reassuring feeling to have when your
8000 mi from home.
The drive there was around 1 - 1:30 hours and by the time we got there
I had cometo two conclusions: 1) I NEEDED to eat. No meal since dinner
the night before I left. Had I know it was going to have to last me
this long I would eaten that whole crappy potato from BJs. Alas. 2) I
was going to sleep very well tonight. Everyone was to tired that Eli
was literally sleeping on the shirts behind the merch table until
Chris woke him up became they were about to start playing.
When we got to the show, we were all surprised to find out it was in
downtown Chiba on the 5th floor of some commercial building. It was a
bar that served lots of Zima! And assorted fried japanese meats. I
left to walk around, and went to a corner store market. THIS is when
you realize you're in a foreign place. Their whole tone and approach
to marketing and packaging are different here, though I suppose the
methods would be same. The end result being, it is very difficult to
figure out what most of this stuff is! Even american type stuff is
strange and new. They sold hot dogs that had a thick line of ketchup
from front to back, were wrapped in packaging, and were on the shelf
with the pastries? What a country! I had edemame, white rice wrapped
in seaweed, and a red bean rice cake which had absolutely no flavor,
but nice texture, essentally a chewy unflavored rice cake. This food
situation needs to be resolved soon.
I went back to the show once Ruiner was setting up. I had never seen
them but I like their record so I was stoked to see them. They didn't
disappoint and I'll be excited to see them play more.
Fast forward to the end of the show, it's extremely obvious everyone
is 2 seconds from going into some kind of coma. We drive another 45
minutes to our home tonight. Basically, Daiki's band rents the first
floor as a practice space. From what I understood, this time he
rented the top floor as well, and it's full on apartment. There are
probably 16 people sleeping here (mom if u read this, remember
Champion from seattle sleeping with us in my empty apartment? Like
that, but filling up 2 rooms sardines style).
I've never seen a group so eager to pas out, as I metioned, it was a
long day. We got here at 0200 on the 5th, I take showers at night on
tour, so I squatted in the tub and used the hand atatchment to lather
up and rinse. Since I didn't bring a towel, I had to borrow the
blanket the airline gave me and dry off with that. Kind of a drag but
it worked for the most part and was much better than not having one at
all.
Finally! Bed time! I get my iPod loaded with my sleepy-times mix, I
pop an Ambien CR and a clonipine, put on my eye mask I got from a
previous flight, and laid down to get the transcendant, invigorating
sleep I am owed. I remember hearing three song before I fell asleep.
I woke up fairly alert, eased off my eye mask and saw it was still
dark. WTF? Pull up my iPod's clock function, it's 0330.
Are you kidding me?? Being awake for over 24 hours, popping ambien
and clonipine, some mellow tunes, proper eye sunlight protection even,
and all I got was ONE FREAKING HOUR?
So even though I have no way of posting this yet, I figured a recap
would be a good way to pass the time while I lay here for 5 more hours
or until everone gets up. Today's gone be another long day, but I'm in
Japan so I'm looking forward to it. :)
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