Don't worry, you're not missing parts I and II. This is just simply my write-up of my third trip to Japan, which took place over the weekend of May 21-24. It was going to be several days longer than that, BUUUUUUUUUT...
This trip was a "WWOOF" trip. "WWOOF," if you're not aware, is a worldwide program where tourists can go work on an organic farm somewhere instead of staying at a hotel. In exchange for a few hours' work each day, you get free room and board. Nice. And since I love Japan and had been there twice before, I figured that would be a good place for my first WWOOF trip. I looked through the list of available farms in Japan, and one in particular caught my eye: a place down in Tateyama (about a three hour train ride south of Narita) which featured a music studio. Ahh, music to my...well, ears. I wrote to them and asked if I could stay with them for a week or so. The proprietor, Miko, wrote back and asked if I had experience connecting a sequencer to a computer. I said no, but that I'd love to try! She said I could stay with her. Groovy.
I flew (first class!) to Narita, and hopped on the train to Tateyama. I packed light, utilizing one of those funky Ziploc bags that you can push all the air out of through a one-way valve. So with just my backpack, I arrived in Tateyama at around 7pm. I decided to get some dinner before heading to the farm, juuuust in case, and found a restaurant across the street from the train station. There were a few businessmen in there having dinner, and they got a kick out of the large American tourist who spoke little to no Japanese. I read to them some of the crazier passages from my insane Japanese phrasebook - "Can you recommend a good obstetrician?" - and the laughs continued into the night. I ordered something off a wall-mounted menu that I could not read, and was not disappointed - a few small but extremely flavorful slices of meat, and a cold bottle of sake.
I made my way via taxi to the farm, and was greeted by a handsome young American lad by the name of Ben. Turns out I wasn't the only WWOOFer! Ben was from Austin and had been at the farm for several weeks. He told me there were also two kids from Denmark, August and Vera. He led me to the main house where they were all having dinner, so I met all of them as well as Miko. I was extremely tired but had a good time chatting with all of them - they all had been there for a while and had a good rapport with one another. Soon Miko led me to my room, which was in a different building on the grounds. It was a little musty but I was okay with that.
What I wasn't okay with was the spider situation. As soon as I walked into my room (which was traditional tatami floor and futon arrangement), I saw a not-very-small spider scurrying along one of the walls. I ignored it for the moment and listened to Miko's instructions about how to make up the futon, etc. Then she left, and Ben showed me the toilet...which was not only small, too small for me to even fit in fact, but also featured a gigantic specimen of spider, easily the size of my outstretched hand, which had apparently been there for quite a while. It may actually have been dead, but I wasn't about to poke it in the name of science. I just decided I wouldn't use that bathroom.
Which led to a problem, of course. I'd been feeling a #2 urge for quite some time at that point, but just held it until I got to the farm. But now the farm was less than hospitable for that purpose. I knew there was a bathroom in Miko's house, but...that's Miko's house. I didn't want to create an international incident my first night there. I decided I would continue to hold it until the next morning - Miko had invited me to come over around 8:30 for breakfast, so I figured I'd sneak in around 8:20, relieve myself quietly, and then negotiate future bathroom use with her then.
Throughout the night, I simply peed outside. I felt a little disrespectful doing so...this is Japan for God's sake, such things simply aren't done! ...Are they?
After a very long night (the sun comes up incredibly early in Japan...like 4am), I was finally able to use the bathroom in Miko's house...and of course, it was at that exact moment that she, not realizing I was there, tried to open the door without knocking. Thankfully the door had a lock. But I still startled her.
Anyway...my first and only full day at Miko's farm included boxing up some books she wanted to take to the used bookstore, and helping them set up for a jam session they had planned for the evening. That part was fun - I got to play with their tiny little mixing board, and got to play my music from my iPhone throughout the day. Miko made it clear that the musicians would be handling the sound board on their own, which was a disappointment, but it took a bit of pressure off as well so I didn't care too much.
The jam session started, and one of Miko's friends made a very tasty curry rice meal which hit the spot with me. I listened to the music for an hour or so, and Ben played along on his saxophone. Everyone had a great time and it was a fun way to spend the evening.
I got pretty tired around 9pm, though, so I quietly headed up to my room to go to sleep. I discovered, however, that I had a new roommate - yet another gigantic spider, not quite the size of the one in the bathroom but still substantial, and it was busy gyrating away on a wall tapestry, laying down a circle of silk. I sat on my futon and watched in fascinated horror. I knew that I'd reached my limit, that I did not want to stay here any longer. I kept watching the spider doing its thing, and when it was done, it crawled around behind the tapestry. I reached for my iPad and made arrangements to fly out of Narita the next day. I slept with one eye open that night, delivered the bad news to Miko in the morning, called a cab, and got the hell out of there.
I considered just going to Tokyo instead, but that would've only been like half a vacation. If I flew back home, I could get my three vacation days back and use them for a proper vacation later, so that's what I opted to do (again, first class!). I have no regrets - I always enjoy being in Japan and look forward to going back. I just don't think I'm going to be WWOOFing it anymore.
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