Thursday, June 19, 2008

The Beginning of Goodbye

But that a joy past joy calls out on me,
It were a grief, so brief to part with thee.
- WIlliam Shakespeare

This is my last week of work here. I’m very disappointed about this, but I’m beginning to accept it. The good news is that at the end of the whole trip I will have accomplished more than what I came here to accomplish. So, it was a successful trip. Everybody has been really supportive though the entire thing and they all say I’m doing a great job. Of this I’m very glad.

Monday, June 16th
Today marked the beginning of my last week here at New Life League in Japan. It’s a bittersweet sort of feeling. I am definitely going to miss this place, but I am looking forward to getting back to the U.S. and to something familiar.

My work day wasn’t very interesting. I got the files I needed from Kelly-san. I was able to get them all added to the activity book. Unfortunately she didn’t send all the files. She sent enough for me to work with for a day though. A little after lunch time Mike-san came by my little work area and asked for my assistance. He was trying to send some pictures and the files were too big to send in the email. He wanted to know how to make the files smaller. Had this been a Mac he was using I would have been able to show him easily, but he is using a new Windows machine complete with the new Vista operating system. I’ve never used Vista, so I couldn’t be of much help. But I did what I could. The only way I knew to compress file sizes on a Windows machine is by use of a compressor application. So, he tried to find one. Considering this is Vista he was working on, none of the shareware compressors on VersionTracker.com were compatible. He found one somewhere else. It didn’t work. My usefulness ran out completely after he started trying to play with the program. The interface is all in Japanese and it’s a program I’ve never used on a machine whose operating system is foreign to me. Thus, I excused myself and went back to work.

The biggest event of the day had nothing to do with work at all. I’ve been concerned because I have run out of things in Tokyo and the surrounding area to occupy myself with. I could go and see Tokyo Tower or something, but that’s not a full days worth of activity. So, I spoke to Chieko-san about my predicament. Her first suggestion was to get out of the Tokyo area. She thought Kyoto sounded good. I thought so too. But, Kyoto is actually further away than I went when I went to stay with Kelly-san, I don’t know anyone there, the whole trip would be very expensive, and to do the trip effectively I would have to stay for a whole weekend. I explained my thoughts to Chieko-san and she agreed that it would be a big deal to go there. Little did I know that she had misunderstood my concerns. She thought the chief thing preventing me from going was the money. This was not the case at all, but nevertheless she went and talked with Iwaoka-san and together they agreed that NLL would fund my whole trip, which includes both travel and hotel fees. I was blown away when Chieko-san informed me of this! I didn’t think NLL had that kind of money! Apparently they think my enjoyment a worthy expenditure. With an offer like that I would have felt horrible refusing. So, guess what? I’m going to Kyoto this weekend!

Tuesday, June 17th
Today was a big day for me. To start off, I got the last of the files I needed from Kelly-san. I now had everything I needed to complete my book. So, I worked on it all day and was literally about five hours away from completion when the ending bell rang. I would have kept working (I was in a bit of a groove by then) but today was the day the design office chose to take me out for karaoke.

Unfortunately the entire design office wasn’t able to come. Only half of them came. Narafu-san had to work and Hayashi-san doesn’t like to sing. So, it was Tsutsumi-san, Ai-san, Chieko-san (no, Chieko-san is not a part of the design office, but she was invited anyway) and myself. We went to a place called Darts. If I had been going there by myself I would have been quite confused. The parking lot for the building is a full block away. You have to walk out the back side of the parking lot, walk about 100 yards, take a right, walk across some train tracks, take a left, walk another 50 feet, take another right and the building was on the left. There wasn’t even a lighted sign out front, there was just a poster that said Darts. If you ask me the place felt a bit shady, but I guess that’s the way things are sometimes organized here, because nobody else seemed to have a problem with it and the interior of the building wasn’t too shabby.

We were directed upstairs to a small room. The room was about the size of a long restaurant booth, and basically that’s all it was anyway. There was a large table that ran down the center of the room with two booth seats on either side of it up against the wall. A karaoke machine and video screen were mounted in the wall opposite the door. The walls were covered in advertisements, there was a slot machine in the back of the room, and the entire place smelled like cigarette smoke. We sat down and immediately poured all our concentration into finding something edible from the menu. We had success.

Tsutsumi-san was the first to sing. I can’t tell you what song it was that she sang because it was all in Japanese, but it was a pretty song. At first I thought that the machine was the one doing the singing, but then noticed Tsutsumi-sans lips moving and was quite surprised. The woman is good! In fact, everyone there was good! Talk about pressure. Heh heh! The first song I chose to sing was Piano Man by Billy Joel. Great song. Everybody seemed impressed, but I wasn’t. I started out the song in a lower octave than I should have and thus found myself dipping down into a range that is beyond my vocal capability. Everybody complimented me anyway. The entire experience was a blast. We all munched on food, talked, and sang songs for two hours. I only knew one of the songs that the women sang: When the Saints Go Marching IN. It was Chieko-san that picked it. That’s the song We’re all singing in the pictures up at the top of the post. ^_^ Other than Piano Man I sung Hotel California by the Eagles, Stuck in the Middle With You by Stealers Wheel, It’s Not Unusual by Tom Jones, I Want To Break Free by Queen, and Daughters by John Mayer. Notice how almost all of them are older songs? Heh heh! I need to update my song library. ^_^

The pickin’s for food were rather slim at the karaoke joint, so after we finished singing at 8:30, we drove to Saizeria and had some dessert. I had a piece of tiramisu. Tsutsumi-san ordered a salad which was much larger than she had expected it would be. She kept trying to get me to help her with it. I declined. I was actually pretty full from the karaoke food. My tiramisu was enough to satisfy me for the evening. Conversation around the dessert table centered around me for some reason. We ended up talking about how young I am and how young they’re not. HAHA! They claim they’re closer to my parents age than to my age. They wouldn’t tell me their ages though, which bummed me out a bit because I’m more than curious. They also got to talking about how well I’ve adapted to the culture in Japan. In Chieko-san’s words, “Japan suits you.” I have to agree. I feel very comfortable in this culture, I’m in love with their art and their design aesthetic, and everybody I’ve met has been extraordinarily nice to me.

Chieko-san ran by the supermarket on the way back to NLL. I didn’t need much, only a thing of instant rice for my Thai curry leftovers and a loaf of bread for sandwiches. Though, I ended up leaving with some fruit juice, some cherries, six Japanese oranges, and a package of matcha and red bean popsicles. Tasty. I now have more than enough food to last me through the end of my stay. No more trips to the supermarket for me.

Wednesday, June 18th
It was a sad day today. Today was the last day I’d get to see Chieko-san. She leaves for a week-long trip to the Philippines tomorrow. It’s quite sad. After lunch she surprised me with a little gift. She gave me a little plush squirrel that vibrates when you pull a little string. Chieko-san says his name is Lismo. He’s actually a promotional tool for a cell phone company, AU. He’s got little green headphones in his ears and he’s holding a little banner that says AU. Very cute. The gift suited Chieko-san quite well. I accepted it graciously, but felt very bad because she’s given me so much while I’ve been on this trip, but I’ve not been able to give anything back. I had to at least do something, so I decided I would take her out to eat. She was very surprised and grateful. I told her we could go anywhere she liked, so she chose to have okonomiyaki. Okonomiyaki is a dish from Osaka and looks like a pancake. It’s a mixture of cabbage, cheese, meat, octopus, squid, shrimp, eggs, and various vegetables. The restaurant prepares the ingredients and you pan-fry it yourself on a grill-top which is embedded in your table. I takes about 10 minutes to make. I got one with noodles added to the mixture, very good. I need to learn how to make one of these things as well, because it was really tasty. Sure, I won’t be able to put squid or octopus into the ones I’ll make back in the U.S., but I’ll try my best to make it as close to the original as I can. The food was enjoyable and not expensive at all. About the price of going out to eat at Friday’s. I was glad to pay and glad I could show my appreciation to Chieko-san before she left.

She dropped me off at the door and we said our goodbyes. I did my best to keep from tearing up. I was successful. I’m normally not so emotional when it comes to this sort of thing. I didn’t even get teary when three of my best friends at school graduated this past semester. I’ll probably never see them again and I knew them much longer than I knew Chieko-san. But, she was just such an amazing person! She had quite an impact on me and it is thanks to her solely that I had as great of a time here that I did. I’m actually getting a knot in my throat as I’m typing this. I’m sincerely going to miss her and I wish her the best. I hope we meet again someday.

Apart from Chieko-san’s departure, today was a great day. I worked a bit on the last page of my activity book, then offered the design office my assistance with anything they needed to have done. Ai-san still had the latest manga, Manga Mutiy which had to have the English text added to it. So, that’s what I did with my day. I made it about a third of the way through the manga today and should be able to finish it tomorrow. The only thing I have left to complete on the activity book is to finish and scan my maze and create the cover. That shouldn’t take long at all.

Thursday, June 19th
It felt a little awkward today without Chieko-san. She always comes to talk to me a bit during the day. I worked the entire day on the text placement for Manga Mutiny. I was making exceptional progress, but wasn’t going to be able to finish like I thought I was. I made it all the way to the last section before 5:15, but then I made a stupid mistake. When I save each section I have to save over the InDesign CS2 file and replace it with the InDesign CS3 file. With section nine, I accidentally saved over the InDesign CS3 file of section eight. This means that a full hour and a half worth of work just disappeared. Not only do I have to do that hour and a half worth of work over again, but by saving over the file I added another half hour to my work because I’ve got to go and re-link all the pages from section eight. Grr… I was going to be able to finish all of this text placement as well as my activity book, but with that one mistake I don’t think I’ll have the time.

Today I was asked by Hiroaki-san to give a short testimony in the devotional time about my stay here. This wasn’t that hard of a thing to do. I quickly typed out my feelings and thoughts, summarized my experience, and thanked them all in my little speech. I think it was nice, but you can read my farewell speech below.

To start off, I am more than grateful to have been given the opportunity and the blessing of being able to come out here to work with you all. It really has been amazing. I have taken every chance I could to see your country and experience your culture. For the last few weekends I have toured the Tokyo area. This weekend I have even been given the chance to go see Kyoto. I have seen sights such as the Meiji Shrine, Takeshita-dori, Asakusa temple, Yoshimi Hyakuana, and many other areas of Tokyo as well. I have even been to a maid cafe. THAT was a unique experience. I also got the wonderful opportunity to live with Kelly-san and her family down in Nyukawa in the Gifu prefecture. To see how they live and get to work with Kelly-san was an experience I cannot even begin to put into words. God has really blessed me. Actually, the fact that I am here at all is a testament to His blessing. I was not looking for an internship outside the U.S.. But, God had other plans for me. For what reason I do not know, but he brought me here. As I have been here he has protected me and through your kindness has made sure that my trip was enjoyable. So, I thank you immensely for the wonderful hospitality you have shown me. My experiences here, working with you, getting to know you, getting to know your country, they are all experiences that will stay with me for my entire life and I will treasure them deeply. I thank you from the bottom of my heart for kindness and I pray that God continues to bless your work here in Japan. May you be fruitful in everything you do. Thank you very much.

Caesar1280's Anime Ticker

.hack//Legend of the Twilight, Air, Air: The Movie, Akira, The Animatrix, Appleseed, Aquatic Language, Ayakashi: Japanese Classic Horror, Beck, Black Lagoon, Blame!, Blood the Last Vampire, Bokurano, Burst Angel, Castle in the Sky, Cowboy Bebop, Cowboy Bebop: The Movie, Digimon Tamers: The Runaway Digimon Express, Egao, FLCL, Fullmetal Alchemist, Fullmetal Alchemist: The Conqueror of Shambala, Gankutsuou, Gatekeepers, Genshiken, Ghost in the Shell, Ghost in the Shell: Innocence, Ghost in the Shell: Solid State Society, Gin-iro no Kami no Agito, Grave of the Fireflies, Grenadier, Haibane Renmei, Hellsing, Highlander: The Search for Vengeance, Hikaru no Go, Howl?s Moving Castle, Jin Roh: The Wolf Brigade, Jyu Oh Sei, Karas: The Prophecy, Last Exile, Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi, Midori?s Days, Milennium Actress, Mushi-shi, My Neighbor Totoro, Naruto, Naruto: The Movie, Nausicaa, Neon Genesis Evangelion, Neon Genesis Evangelion: Death And Rebirth, Ninja Scroll: The Movie, Other Worlds, Paprika, Perfect Blue, Pet Shop of Horrors, The Place Promised In Our Early Days, Prétear, Princess Mononoke, Read Or Die, Read Or Die: The TV, Samurai Champloo, Samurai Seven, Samurai X: Trust & Betrayal, She and Her Cat, Spirited Away, Steamboy, Tide-Line Blue, Tokyo Babylon, Tokyo Godfathers, Trigun, Voices of a Distant Star, Witch Hunter Robin, Wonderful Days, Wrath of the Ninja, X

Anime I've Seen - .hack//Legend of the Twilight - .hack//Sign - 5 Centimeters per Second - Air - Air: The Movie - Akira - The Animatrix - Appleseed - Aquatic Language - Ayakashi: Japanese Classic Horror - Baby Blue - Beck - Black Lagoon - Blame! - Blood the Last Vampire - Bokurano - Burst Angel - Castle in the Sky - Cowboy Bebop - Cowboy Bebop: The Movie - Digimon Tamers: The Runaway Digimon Express - Doorbell - Egao - FLCL - Fullmetal Alchemist - Fullmetal Alchemist: The Conqueror of Shambala - Gankutsuou - Gatekeepers - Genius Party - Genshiken - Genshiken OAV - Ghost in the Shell - Ghost in the Shell: Innocence - Ghost in the Shell: Solid State Society - Gin-iro no Kami no Agito - The Gokusen - Grave of the Fireflies - Grenadier - Haibane Renmei - Happy Machine - Hellsing - Highlander: The Search for Vengeance - Hikaru no Go - Howl's Moving Castle - Innocent Venus - Jin Roh: The Wolf Brigade - Jyu Oh Sei - Karas: The Prophecy - Karas: The Revelation - Last Exile - Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi - Midori?s Days - Milennium Actress - Mushi-shi - My Neighbor Totoro - Naruto - Naruto: The Movie - Nausicaa - Neon Genesis Evangelion - Neon Genesis Evangelion: Death And Rebirth - Ninja Scroll: The Movie - Other Worlds - Ouran High School Host Club - Paprika - Perfect Blue - Pet Shop of Horrors - The Place Promised In Our Early Days - Prétear - Princess Mononoke - Read Or Die - Read Or Die: The TV - Samurai Champloo - Samurai Seven - Samurai X: Trust & Betrayal - Serial Experiments Lain - Shanghai Dragon - She and Her Cat - Spirited Away - Steamboy - Tekkonkinkreet - Tide-Line Blue - Tokyo Babylon - Tokyo Godfathers - Trigun - Trinity Blood - Vampire Hunter D - Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust - Voices of a Distant Star - Witch Hunter Robin - Wolf's Rain - Wonderful Days - Wrath of the Ninja - X Total: 93

Anime I Haven't Completed - .hack//Roots - Ah! My Goddess - Angelic Layer - Avenger - Baccano! - Bamboo Blade - Basilisk - Binchou-tan - Black Cat - Bleach - Blood+ - Boogiepop Phantom - Case Closed - Le Chevalier d'Eon - Chobits - Chrono Crusade - Code Geass - Coyote Ragtime Show - D.Gray-Man - D.N.Angel - DearS - Death Note - Dennou Coil - Desert Punk - Digimon - Dragon Ball Z - Ergo Proxy - Eureka Seven - Excel Saga - Fighting Beauty Wulong - Final Fantasy Unlimited - Flag - Freedom - Full Moon - Gantz - Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex - Gintama - Glass Fleet - Great Teacher Onizuka - Gundam Seed - Gundam Wing - Hayate the Combat Butler - Hellsing OVA - Higurashi no Naku Koro ni - Ikki Tousen - InuYasha - Jigoku Shojo - Kage Kara Mamoru - Karin - Kino's Journey - Love Hina - Loveless - Lovely Complex - Lucky Star - Makai Senki Disgaea - Marchen Awakens Romance - Meine Liebe - The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya - Mononoke - Monster - Moon Phase - Mr Stain on Junk Alley - Naruto Shippuuden - Negima?! - Negima! - Neon Genesis Evangelion: End of Evangelion - Nerima Daikon Brothers - NHK ni Youkoso - Night Walker - Ninja Nonsense - Noir - Peacemaker Kurogane - Pokemon - Prince of Tennis - R.G. Veda - Ragnarok - Rec - Red Garden - Robotech - Romeo x Juliet - Rosen Maiden - Rurouni Kenshin - Saikano - Sailor Moon - Samurai Deeper Kyo - Sci-fi Harry - School Rumble - Scrapped Princess - Shin-chan - Shingu - Shion no Oh - Shuffle! - Shrine of the Morning Mist - So Long, Mr. Despair - Solty Rei - Sousei no Aquarion - Speed Grapher - Spice and Wolf - Super Milk Chan - Tales of Phantasia - Tenchi Muyo - Tenjhou Tenge - Texnolyze - The Third - Tsubasa Chronicles - Urusei Yatsura - Venus Versus Virus - Welcome to the N.H.K. - Winter Cicada - X-1999 - Xenosaga - XxxHolic - Yu Yu Hakushou - Yume Tsukai - Zero no Tsukaima - Zipang Total: 116

Manga I've Completed - Cowboy Bebop - FLCL - Manga Messiah - Manga Metamorphosis - Q*Ko-chan - Saiyuki - Shirahime-Syo Total: 7 Manga I Haven't Completed - .hack//Legend of the Twilight - Black Cat - Blame! - Chobits - D.Gray-man - Darkside Blues - Death Note - The Demon Ororon - Desert Coral - Disgaea - Eureka Seven: Gravity Boys and Lifting Girl - Fruits Basket - Getbackers - Hayate the Combat Butler - Kamunagara - Legal Drug - Love Hina - Loveless - Megatokyo - Naruto - Negima - Read Or Die - Rurouni Kenshin - Tactics - Trigun Maximum - XXXHolic Total: 26

Anime I'm Currently Watching
Samurai 7, InuYasha, Samurai Deeper Kyo,
Boogiepop Phantom, and Shrine of the Morning Mist

Manga I'm Currently Reading
Read Or Die, Hayate the Combat Butler, and Megatokyo.hack//Roots, .hack//Sign, 5 cm per Second, Ah! My Goddess, Angelic Layer, Avenger, Basilisk, Binchou-tan, Black Cat, Bleach, Blood+, Boogiepop Phantom, Case Closed, Le Chevalier d'Eon, Chobits, Chrono Crusade, Coyote Ragtime Show, D.Gray-Man, D.N.Angel, DearS, Death Note, Dennou Coil, Desert Punk, Digimon, Dragon Ball Z, Ergo Proxy, Eureka 7, Excel Saga, Fighting Beauty Wulong, Final Fantasy Unlimited, Flag, Full Moon, Gantz, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, Gintama, Great Teacher Onizuka, Gundam Seed, Gundam Wing, Hayate the Combat Butler, Hellsing Ultimate, Higurashi no Naku Koro ni, Innocent Venus, InuYasha, Jigoku Shojo, Kage Kara Mamoru, Karin, Kino?s Journey, Love Hina, Loveless, Lovely Complex, Lucky Star, Makai Senki Disgaea, Marchen Awakens Romance, Meine Liebe, The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, Mononoke, Monster, Naruto Shippuuden, Negima?!, Neon Genesis Evangelion: End of Evangelion, Nerima Daikon Brothers, NHK ni Youkoso, Night Walker, Ninja Nonsense, Noir, Ouran High School Host Club, Peacemaker Kurogane, Pokemon, Prince of Tennis, R.G. Veda, Ragnarok, Rec, Red Garden, Robotech, Romeo x Juliet, Rosen Maiden, Rurouni Kenshin, Saikano, Sailor Moon, Samurai Deeper Kyo, Sci-fi Harry, School Rumble, Scrapped Princess, Serial Experiments Lain, Shingu, Shuffle!, Shrine of the Morning Mist, So Long Mr. Despair, Solty Rei, Sousei no Aquarion, Speed Grapher, Super Milk Chan, Tales of Phantasia, Tenchi Muyo, Tenjhou Tenge, Texnolyze, The Third. Trinity Blood, Tsubasa Chronicles, Urusei Yatsura, Welcome to the N.H.K., Winter Cicada, X-1999, Xenosaga, XxxHolic, Yu Yu Hakushou, Yume Tsukai, Zero no Tsukaima, Zipang

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