The Plan
- 9/14 – Pottery and Card games
- 11 AM Pottery class with Kai
- ~3-4 PM EVO Cafe playing some Grand Archive!
The Reality
- 9/14 – Pottery and Card games
- 11 AM Pottery class with Kai
- ~3-4 PM EVO Cafe playing some Grand Archive!
The Details
Okay, so the day started kinda crappy because I was on 4 hours of sleep. Capsules are no place for people without earplugs! That aside… I was staying in the same place as Kai and we had a reservation for a kintsugi lesson from one of the country’s nationally recognized kintsugi artists. So we stopped and grabbed some coffee at a cafe nearby. I fumbled through ordering, and got an espresso and a caramel scone. The cashier came out after and talked with us. Asking where we’re from, what we’re doing and how long was our stay. We chatted for a bit, and added each other on insta. A lot of people who interact with Americans want to practice English, and it’s always a treat interacting with locals 🙂
Kintsugi Hardships
Kintsugi is founded in Wabi-Sabi and it is the art of repairing broken items with gold. For this we were given a pre-broken piece of ceramic that we put back together. The repaired item is often times stronger than the original. It is interesting to consider the implications of intentionally breaking something beautiful in order to make it aesthetically imperfect while simultaneously bringing the integrity of the item closer to perfection… Hmm, I will ruminate on that in private. The lesson was incredible, and Wabi-Sabi is something that I intend to incorporate into my life. Ultimately, in finding beauty in the realization of imperfection, embracing it and using it as a way to steel oneself against hardship and adversity in life is really what the lesson was about. The incredibly cool ceramic dish I fixed is just icing on the cake. 🙂
Honestly, what a beautiful way to start my day!
Shibuya Subway Dungeon
I think people overstate how confusing the Shibuya station is. It’s really not that bad. I successfully navigated it on my first attempt by simply following the signs. I can see where sometimes it might not be obvious because a sign is obscured by a pillar or around a corner, or the arrow means “GO REALLY FAR in that direction before we provide more instruction”, but overall it’s not too bad. The amount of people in that station though… Whoa. It’s one of the busiest in the world, if not THE busiest.
Meeting my Japanese Card Game Friends from Twitter
I’ve been playing Grand Archive (an anime TCG with western mechanics) for well over a year and have many accolades under my belt with it. The game is incredible and mechanically the best TCG I’ve ever played– but I digress. I met a few Japanese people on Twitter who play the game and they’re super friendly and it’s really fun talking with them in what little Japanese I can write lol. So one of them owns EvoCafe in Shinjuku, it’s a small 2nd floor cafe where you pay for table time and you can get drinks and whatnot. It’s actually really awesome and I don’t know why we don’t have that kind of stuff in the USA. The other is just someone who frequents the place. I saw them mention Grand Archive on Twitter and I worked with them on some deck ideas and we became acquainted that way. I’ll just say this– if you have the opportunity to, take a chance on strangers. It’s really awesome. They’re going to Singapore and I’m gonna hang out with them there too 🙂 I’m gonna make them do Karaoke with me lmao.
Fortunately, they speak a little English as well and I played in their local tournament on Saturday! I went 2-2 lol. People were really friendly overall, but some people I had to like, “warm up” by saying like, “Ah, niasu caado” (Ah, nice card) and “Ee? Honto ni??” (“What? Really??) And like, I can’t really speak Japanese that well but was really fun for me and they thought it was really funny too, and then after I’d say “Tanoshikatta! Good Gaamu” (“That was fun! Good Game”) regardless of winning or losing. I had such a good time with it. Thankfully my friend Ruy was able to translate a lot of my advice and stuff. My other friend was there too! He speaks both fluent English and Japanese so it was an awesome time talking with him. I met another person there who also spoke fluent English which made it easier for me to convey ideas. Overall, the language barrier isn’t that bad if you speak _some_ Japanese you can make most things work. I don’t see a lot of people with their phones out using Google translate, so I’m trying not to as much as possible as well.
Oh, probably my best memory was my opponent being awestruck by my 1st Ed Foil Grand Crusader’s Ring (there’s only 96 in the world) and asking if he could touch it. I told him absolutely! And the way he picked it up and then gently placed it back down, and then thanked me, I don’t think I’ll ever forget.
Hotel Loisir by Shinagawa Seaside
This hotel is awesome. I am a bit remiss that I didn’t book a hotel in Kyoto and instead opted for a hostel. Dude I’m staying in a SMOKING ROOM. Like, man… I didn’t even know that still existed. I think there’s a growing stigma about smoking in Japan, but they really don’t like vaping at all and I think it’s considered less sophisticated. I am inclined to agree. OH MAN! Apparently the 2000 Yen note is EXTREMELY rare in Tokyo and not used much outside Okinawa, as far as what my friend was telling me when I paid at EvoCafe with one. I have like, 5 from when my bank exchanged my currency. So I’ve been using them to pay for things when I interact with a cashier because their reaction is so priceless. The woman at the register here said, “Ee?? SUBARASHII!” And then ran over to show her other coworker lol. It was really cute and fun. I think creating those kinds of moments for people is really cool, and I’m gonna bring a few more next time for that very reason.
Laundry and HEAT OMG
Ok so idk if I addressed this yet, but like… The heat here is ABSOLUTELY BRUTAL. I’m sweating just standing there and I sweat through like 2 shirts a day. Unfortunately, my shorts are all COTTON so they just soak it up. I want to throw out all my clothes and just go shopping. I will probably do that after I go to teamLabs today if I have time before our dinner meetup. It was 95 degrees today and the humidity is also absolutely killer. I stepped into a Lawson, grabbed a kelp onigiri and a huge bottle of water and just downed the whole thing. Thankfully there’s a bunch of vending machines everywhere with cheap drinks and they’re ice cold, but it’s like really tough in the train stations when you’re standing at the platform just sweating through your clothes.
Bulls in a Porcelain Pantry
I think there are all kinds of people from all walks of life, and it’s important to consider the impression you leave on people so they don’t hold your wrongdoings against the next person. I have found some tourists don’t follow societal rules and I think it sours the impression of tourists as a whole. The most you can do if you find yourself accidentally not following Japanese convention is apologize if it’s appropriate to do so and stop doing it. Forgive yourself for faux pas, but prevention is best.
I appreciate the Japanese dedication to harmonious and peaceful society through consideration of others. Enough said. If you visit, please remember, “You’re a guest.”
Conclusion
Yesterday was so awesome. Kintsugi is something I will be doing whenever I break things. The lacquer technique is even what they used to apply the gold leaf to the Golden Pavilion, and it’s what they use to apply the gold leaf and powders to traditional pottery. It’s actually an incredible skill to have learned, and I’m so thankful for my friend Kai for taking a chance and booking the class with me. Since the minimum was two people per booking, we were both solo travelers and found each other on discord 🙂
The heat kills your appetite (I had one scone and one rice ball yesterday and that’s all the food I ate). Today I’m gonna get an egg salad sandwich and maybe an onigiri for breakfast on my way to teamLabs.
Sleeping is tough. The sun rises super early and sets pretty early too.
Be mindful of yourself and others! See you tomorrow!
