I think this year's summer season slowed down blog production. It's been over 4 months since I dropped any science on y'all, but I've noticed some of my peers' blogs haven't seen daylight since July (I won't mention any names *COUGH* black bacchus *COUGH* brain droppings *COUGH* Ahem!)--so I'm not the only one!
Ahh, laziness enjoys company. =)
Actually, I'd been mulling over whether I should continue this blog thing in earnest, but I received inquiries from 2 out of my 3 readers. Majority rules, I couldn't ignore a 66.6% public demand any longer. The people have spoken.
There's been a bunch of activity in the last 4, so allow me to, once again, give you the highlights:
• Been busy at my 3 elementary schools in the new town, working for the new company. Haven't had any issues with the company. School life is cool: I'm fairly popular amongst the students, but I find I command more respect from students and teachers alike since I pretty much dress up everyday and present myself as less of a buddy to kids, and more of a teacher figure. Plus, I use a lot more Japanese than before, so that commands plenty of respect as well. I like being liked. I like being respected. Respect is good. But in the current context, I feel more comfortable being respected than loved. Well, probably in any context, for that matter.
• Endured a long, hot, nasty Japanese summer, which is slowly but steadily winding down (finally). This year was excessively hot and muggy, so I was elated to vacate the main island and hit sunny L.A. for a couple weeks. Speaking of which:
• Attended my cousin's wedding on a ranch in the canyons of Malibu. Very nice event. Almost the whole family came out, so it was more like a wedding/family reunion. Was glad to see all my folks and L.A. friends who I hadn't seen in 5-8 years. Had a really cool, chilled out time. I enjoyed U.S. prices immensely: did a *little bit* of shopping at one of the super outlets, and finally got a desperately-needed wristwatch for about $60. And $3 chicken burritos off the truck in the Mexican hood near downtown were the biz-omb. Also had a couple Japanese encounters while in So. Cali.: Encounter 1: went with my college friend, Mai, to see 1990's hit rapper Ahmad Jones's "HipRock Soul" band http://www.4thavenuejones.com , which were highly dope by the way. Mai was friends with Ahmad and 'em, so I met everyone in the band, including their half-Japanese guitarist Timmy Shakes. Mai told him that I live in Japan, and we had a cool little convo about that. He asked me if I spoke Japanese. I said yes. I asked him. He said no. Laughing, he was like "Teach me Japanese!" The irony of that was classic. Dude rocked OUT, by the way. I told him they should tour Japan, so Tim could inspire some soul in these young Japanese artists. Encounter 2: My cousin Ed took me to Century City to see Buju Banton. After the show, they had a female Japanese reggae dancer. The emcee was like "She's the #1 reggae dancer in Japan.." I was wondering if she was really Japanese, or American-born, so I decided to try to approach her and find out. I caught up to her outside the front of the club, and started speaking to her in Japanese. The conversation went like this:
Me: (tapping shoulder) "Excuse me.....Are you Japanese?"
Her: (turns head, stunned look on face) "Ye....Yes!"
"Oh really, where are you from?"
(sustained stunned look) "I'm from from Yokohama."
"Oh yeah? I live in Nagoya."
(sustained stunned look) (In broken English)"Now.....vacation!"
"How long are you here for?
"I go home the day after tomorrow."
"Really? Me t-...."
The conversation ended abruptly as her friends snatched her away, off to their next exploit. I can only imagine the thoughts flying through her head as to why an African-American man was speaking to her in Japanese outside of a club in So. Californina. The look on her face was classic, nonetheless.
Overall, I pretty much did everything I wanted to do in L.A., except play Capoeira. I called the number of the teacher that I'd found on the net, but it turned out to be a fax number. Doh! By the way, did I mention I met a preggy Jennifer Garner on the second leg of my flight to L.A. She sat in the seat in front of me, and flashed a smile at me as she came back to her seat from the toilet. She's actually pretty in person, too. Anyway, not to sound like a groupie, I'll end on that note. No, I didn't ask for an autograph.
• Witnessed my first Japanese pickpocket. I was kickin' it with my Nagoya homie DJ Black (Richard) one night, deejaying music on the corner in the downtown Sakae district. Two youngish hip-hoppy Japanese guys come up to us tryng to slap hands, speaking broken English talkin 'bout: "I-I....D..J.....Boogie!" He seemed drunk. He and his silent buddy sat nearby and listened to us play. Shorlty after Richard claimed he spotted that Boogie guy pluck some money out of an unsuspecting colleg-aged girl's purse, while she was carelessly running her mouth on her cell, ￥8000 (about US $80). To make a long one a short, Richard, trying to be a vigilant semaritan, confronted the guy about stealing the girls' money, but the guy vehemently denied, all the while pulling up his shirt and rabbit-earing his pockets to demonstrate his innocence. He was clearly guilty. Meanwhile, the victim, her friend and various bystanders (all Japanese) acknowledged the girls' money had been stolen, but none readily accepted that the culprit was indeed guilty, merely because he denied it. Everyone stood around confused like "He said he didn't take it, so maybe he didn't." Richard grew furious with Boogie's blatant lying and strip-searched him in some nearby bushes. After a while, we kept looking around the crime scene and even found crumpled bills Boogie had slyly jettisoned to the ground once he realized he's been caught. Even after discovering evidence, the onlookers still didn't seem very fazed. In fact, the victim and her friend didn't even want the money back, or police involvement, because it would "cause too much trouble." They were willing to let the culprit stand in plain sight and walk away with free money. I was dumbfounded by the level of complacency and ignorance I witnessed. I considered that yet another demerit to the overly-passiveness of Japanese culture.
• One other thing: I started recording new material for a new a mixtape collab with DJ Katalist from BC, Canada. Straight HEAT. IMHOTEP MetaMixtape
