The End of an Era

The last few days have been an exercise in “mad-dash Japanese cultural experiences,” which have flown by at breakneck speeds. What happened to my final few lazy weeks in Japan? While I can’t quite recall everything that has occurred in my quest to successfully pack and exit Japan in a proper manner, I’ll try to briefly list some of the highlights:

Frequenting an onsen with Neil and my host mother where sand was shoveled all over our bodies for therapeutic reasons. Recorded great footage of exiting our sandy graves, like proper creatures of the night.

My last day of school was thrilling, almost better than some of the first. Everyone was very eager to talk regardless of how well they actually knew me, and most showered me with requests for cell-phone pictures in outrageous poses. There was a party during the last period, and two kids performed a fully choreographed fight scene in tribute to my time spent at Tamano High School.

The next day some choice friends of mine came to the house (along with Jez and Neil) for a final farewell party with my parents and host sister. My host mom prepared a huge array of succulent foods which were quickly devoured by the crowd of hungry hungry high school students. Jez pulled out a guitar and hosted a small jam session along with Nakkan, which eventually led into full karaoke versions of such eclectic favorites as “Lose Yourself,” by Eminem, “Hanna,” by Orange Range, “We Are the World,” by Michael Jackson, “Country Roads,” by John Denver, and a completely improvised satire by Jez and Neil. In true form, after all my friends left Jez, Neil, and I rode bikes to the Konbini to buy copious amounts of drink, explosive fireworks, and other unmentionables. Mahjong ensued.

Friday morning I took a trip to Takahashi High School to meet Sakaguchi-sensei, perhaps my favorite teacher from Tamano High School (he moved to Takahashi at the beginning of this school year). Sakaguchi-sensei was my former Kendo teacher, and speaks the most fluent English of any Japanese person I have met in Japan. He gave me a tour of the school (which happened to be having its seasonal festival that day) and then we talked about life in Japan before I took a train into Okayama for my final Japanese lesson.

I awoke early on Saturday for a trip to Osaka with Miyu, Shun, and Shoko. Shoko had purchased tickets to see Cirque du Soleil’s “Allegria” shortly after I arrived in Japan, and offered me a ticket. I’d seen Cirque on TV before, but the actual performance was perhaps, I’m almost sad to say, the most amazing and breathtaking thing I have had the good fortune to experience in Japan. It was simply stellar. I’ve seen circuses before, but never anything that even approaches the level of captivation and skill inherent in the performance of Allegria. After the show I met Kayo, last year’s exchange student to Canada (now living in Osaka), and we went to dinner with Hiroko and her mother, friends of Shoko living in Kobe. The dinner was delicious, which is to be expected whenever I travel anywhere with Shoko, and we took Purikura photos following the meal.

In the evening, I finally got the chance to attend a party in Okayama city (my first of the exchange) at a place called Club Jam, which was hosting a Farewell shindig for Okayama JETs. A-JET, which I can only assume is an elite group of regular JETs, rented the club for the evening and provided their own music. When I arrived at the club I met a few surprising people. As usual, most of the Okayama JETs were in attendance, but my hairdressers from PANIC surprised me by showing up, along with a nurse I met at the hospital when I sprained my ankle. There was mingling and madness until about 3 AM when I got the rare chance to DJ the remaining music until the club closed at 5. Some people had already gone home, but a good amount stayed while I played an hour and a half DJ set from a handful of cd’s and my iPod, which I now realize is one of the most convenient appliances I own. It was pretty damn cool to DJ the club, if only for the extensive power trip connected with pumping your favorite tunes into the ears of a crowd of people, and seeing them actually enjoy it.

Neil, Jez, and I had a bowl of beef and rice at Yoshinoya, the 24 hour beef and rice bowl restaurant, and then took the train back to Tamano (where we met John, asleep on a bench in the station, hobo style). Awesome evening, or perhaps, awesome “earlier this morning.” So far my day has been spent on final packing preparations, and canceling my cell phone service. Tonight is a family get-together with mom, dad, grandmother, host sisters, and Ryo, the resident boyfriend.

By this time tomorrow I’ll be somewhere over the Pacific. Strange to see a year go by in such a documented fashion. One last day, a final chalk mark on the proverbial wall. What a trip.