A Girl Who Is A Friend

Today couldn't have been better.
I all started with a girl who invited me to go to a soccer game with her today. Everything was going hunky-dorey until I realized...
I am in the middle of the great Tokyo Station. There must be like 100 train terminals here. Ok, maybe 30. I don't understand the maps written in Kanji here. I'm low on time. My Cell Phone's batteries just died. I think my Sandisk MP3 player just kicked the bucket. I'm lost. I think I just wet my pants.

I am not exagerting except for that last part... though I wouldn't be suprised if I did. I was lost without use of a phone. I didn't see any payphones, but even if I did, I didn't have any numbers written down. I was in a huge mix of bad preperation and bad luck. Yes, its true... fate was even cruel in taking away my $50 Sandisk Mp3 Player. It just stopped playing...

But I didn't panic. I kept fighting. I asked for directions and used the best Japanese I could. I learned the names of the stations in kanji on the fly.

I come to Urawa Misono station, nearby where a big soccer game is happening. I run around and do not see her. I run to the mall and frantically search for any freakin thing that will get my cell phone on. I throw down 880 yen for an attachable battery pack with 15 minutes before the game and call her.

After about 5 minutes of fighting the language barrier and running to a quieter place outside, I learn that she never went to the game because she couldn't contact me and meet up with me.

Great. Just great. I'm tired, out of breath, haven't eaten, and I'm on the other side of Tokyo. And I cost her her visit to the game because she couldn't reach me. I feel like the most horrible jerk and most unlucky person in the world.

But it seriously wasn't all that bad.






See?
Introducing my new friend, Saiko.

After several more station hops (and staring at unknown city kanji at several stations trying to figure out their names) I arrive in Omiya. There, I meet up with Saiko and she shows me to her Shinto Temple.
A very sureal place... I'm sorry I didn't take a picture. I'll get one next time I'm there. I think I will be back. =)
After we apologize to eachother how we each cost eachother that game (honestly it was my fault... but I'm sure she thinks the opposite) she first shows me her sister and a friend practicing for their Koto performance.


Beautiful, eh?

After that, I was shown the art of Johrei.
Blatently stolen from Wikipedia is the definition:
According to followers of Mokichi Okada, Johrei is a method of channeling divine light into the body of a patient through the palm of the administrator. To do this, the administrator holds his/her hand about a foot away from the area to which the spiritual power is purported to be directed.


So at Saiko's temple I learn about Johrei in a smashing video in British English. Saiko also performed Johrei on me. Being the Baka Gaijin as I am, I can't say for sure that it worked... but my brain did feel a little tingly and it felt good.

After that, refer to first picture. Me, Saiko, her sisters and brother and mother all went out to a family restaraunt. We had a good time.
But the night rolled on and time flew. Before long I was on a train (actually, several trains) bound back for campus.

I would say as my first time out with a girl (who isn't my already taken tutor or a family member) it was pretty nice. Even if I was with other people the whole time. It was still nice. I also met some new people at the temple, I was polite and bowed, and I think they liked me.

Now if I can just get over the frelling language barrier this would go a lot smoother.