Requiem, yopparaimashou & bureaucracy

(late entry, sorry) Friday was bittersweet. One of many great friends were going back to his home country, France, so we had a going-away party at a local Izakaya here in Matsudo. The bitter part was that he was leaving, the sweet part is the sheer awesomeness of that night. We (26 people from the guesthouse) had reserved a big section of the izakaya to be our domain for the evening. We all payed 1400 Yen each (80 SEK or 12 dollars) per 90-minutes to get unlimited amounts of beer, cocktails, drinks, soft drinks and sake at no additonal charge. Then there's the cheap, delicious japanese dishes which we of course also ordered from time to time =)

I love izakayas, we have absolutely NO equivalent place anywhere in Sweden. I just love the ambiance and 'closeness' of the eating and drinking experience. In izakayas, people at tables usually share the food, having only their own chopstix, soy sauce, etc, while sitting on cushins on the floor.

Anyway, after a while we all made short speeches about the guy leaving - Raphaël. You might remember him from a previous entry, he was the founding member of the Mr.PoPo cult and probably the only sane french guy here. Now when he's gone, I was tasked with the utmost privilage... I was to continue the legacy of Mr. Po Po! *Dun dun duuuun* (dramatic music cue) ...


After being in the izakaya the whole evening we went down to the river to continue the partying. Some people stopped by the 'kombini' stores to buy more beverage (mind you, at 2AM you can buy almost *anything* xD). Afterwards, we went back to the guesthouse to slow things down a little bit. Oh, and I met a cool korean singer there! She's been living in the guesthouse for quite some time but I never knew she was a musician! So the night ended with me, her and a japanese guy named Nobuo (another musician here) chatting about everything ranging from rave to old 'Hoven.

Raphaël will be missed by everyone, but this night was one great night alright! :) Okay, so on to the less exciting bureaucracy part...

Yesterday I dropped my phone somewhere. I really don't know where, because I noticed several hours after I got home that I was missing my cell. Anyway, I went to Softbank here in Matsudo, (Softbank being a japanese cell-operator) to explain my clumsiness to the clerks and ask them what to do now. They told me to wait, so I did. A few minutes later they handed me a telephone with an english-speaking woman on the other line, telling me that my phone was 700 metres from Abiko station, on a street called 我孫子に. First I thought they tried to call my cellphone in order to see if someone had stolen it, or better yet; found it and looking for its owner. But, instead this woman worked for the government, and they had *traced* my cellphone and pinpointed its exact location! To the swedish people complaining about the FRA-act: Fuck you ;P The swedish government will have the power of internet surveillance, sure, but the japanese government probably knows what my dog ate for breakfast three days ago, and consequently where the remains of the poo were dumped and buried.

Anyway, they gave me a new cellphone (a newer model!) since I didn't want to go chase after my phone on the other side of town =)

Nothing more to report for the time being, hm... Ah, I also have a few new nicknames here. My friends call me Christian or Chris, my teachers call me Kurisu-san or Kurisuchan-san, and some korean classmates call me Kuchan with a giggling suffix.

I'll try to update more frequently, but I never find the time to just sit down and write... if you have any requests about subjects, do tell.

Until then!