the midwest of japan

this past weekend i went to stay with kevin in nagoya. people from japan think it is kind of "rural." b/c it has 2 million people, it didn't quite seem that way to me. i had a lot of fun. kevin guided me through getting my first haircut in japan. i did a bit of shopping at the best store in the world (village vanguard) and found an shrine that i'm not sure if it is actually indian or just indian inspired. but it was noticeably different from the top of the building to the elephant outside. kevin and i went to nagoya castle at night. it was all pretty and junk. i was able to watch the football game on kevin's computer.

and sunday i finally went to my first japanese baseball game. games in america suck. this was so much fun. everyone is all excited and into it and singing about doing their best. we even got to buy or tickets for the game from some yakuza dude. he laughed and gave kevin a little slap b/c he tried to get the price lower. i even got to see makiko for a little bit. when it came time to go home, rain had caused the trains to stop. i got on the last train out of nagoya, but we were delayed and i ended up just making a train to a station 5 stops away from me and taking a cab with a stranger to kurihama. i think that will forever be the most desperate, expensive, and frightening cab ride i have ever experienced. in all, it was a great weekend. i wish i lived somewhere more like nagoya. or somewhere where people talked to me. thanks kevin! it was great.