Yup, I saw this in REAL life...and I almost cried...
No pictures this time around, but I should have some near the end of the year, cause I'm (get ready) GOIN BACK TO TOKYO!!! AND GUESS WHO IS GOIN TO DISNEYLAND *POINTS* THIS GUUUYY!!!
Since I have last written, I have been to Hiroshima. It was a fantastic time. So, quick story, because I know you are all waiting on baited breath for another story from *cue music* JEREMY IN JAPAN!!
So I decided to go to Hiroshima for a Sake Festival. This is an all day festival where cities from all over Japan showcase their Sake. And all I have to do is pay a measly 16 bucks and I can try as much Sake, from as many cities, as I want (supplies withstanding).
Before I even get a chance to go to the actual Sake Festival I am approached (as are five other friends that I am with) by a Japanese lady who asks us point blank, "Would you like to try some PREMIUM Sake for free?" And we are all kind of just dumbfounded, when finally one of us says, "Yeah sure, that'd be great." We follow her to a wonderful penthouse overlooking the city. Inside are about 8 businessmen all bowing to us and welcoming us. We look at the table before us, and there are not 1, not 2, not 12, but 16 bottles of PREMIUM Sake. We start tasting. And tasting..and tasting some more. We start using words like, "tastes like springtime" and "crisp with a hint of winter air" to make ourselves sound more professional like we actually knew what the heck it was we were talking about. I found out something during that hour we spend sampling Sake; I really enjoy the taste of Sake, sweet Sake to be exact. After about 9 tastes, I stopped. My friends told me, "You suck!" and i told them, "We havent even STARTED the actual SAKE festival yet." In the end, I turned out to be the smart one. I offered my opinion on the 9 Premium Sakes that I tasted. We all sat at a business table and offered up our opinions. I felt like a person on the Board of a large company talking about how we can better improve our product for the consumer. I felt important in my, "YOU'RE GOING THE WRONG WAY!" T-shirt. I felt like an intellectual. Later on, I would definitely feel a lot more...haha
As the Sake Festival proceeded I decided to drink Sake based on the number that was on the menu. Me and an English friend of mine started doing famous football players numbers; 92 tasted pretty darn good.
That night, I was so hungry that I bought a spicy chicken sandwhich, french fries, and a quarter pounder. I am eating this on the way to another nightclub/bar when an English girl, who looked asian, asked me "Is that Mcdonalds? Can I have some?" and I said, "Seriously?" and she says, "Yes" and I gave her some, she enjoyed it.
I ended up at a bar where I ran into my friend that I saw at the beach party. Which was very odd considering he didn't live there and earlier that day I ran into my favorite Nihongexican (japanese mexican) who I hadn't seen since the awesomely massive and massively awesome beach party. Needless to say, it was a GREAT day!
I also got to see the Dome, but I did not go to the peace museum. I'm not comparing the two events, but I've been to the Holocaust Museum in Israel and I must say, I did not want to start my Saturday before the Sake Festival with a visit to a museum that might be as emotionally heart tearing as the HM was in Israel. I settled for the Dome and even that brought me to tears. I understand it was War and I know what the Japanese did at Pearl Harbor (we went almost every year my dad went to the Pro Bowl in Hawaii), but I still wanted to go up to all the Japanese people in Hiroshima and say "I'm sorry."
After being in Hiroshima for only 2 days I realized it's been one of my favorite places in Japan, and I would NOT mind living there. Here's one last story on why I love this country so much.
I was trying to find my friends at a bar the night before Sake fest. I didnt know exactly where they were but I knew around where they were. I stopped three Japanese women and asked them in Japanese where I certain building was. In English one of the women said, "Go to the next traffic light and make a left." I was baffled. Not because she spoke English entirely and with good grammar, but because of the English word she used. Who says TRAFFIC LIGHT anymore? After she said it her friends started whooping and hollering and saying "YAY!" and clapping and laughing. I said back to her, in English, "You're English is AWESOME!" Those three girls literally were celebrating for about a minute. And it just gave me another reason to smile.
I less than sign three Japan. (for those of you that dont get it, type the "less than" sign and a "3" and see what you get).
-Jeremy
