How 2 Canadians Attempted to Celebrate Canada Day... in Japan
Eventhough me and all my neighbors prayed the Rain God to spare us on Canada day weekend, it rained anyways. So Brandon (my fellow Canadian friend from Vancouver) and I, decided to celebrate it in Hiroshima city. I tried my best to be a great Canadian (I even wore my Canada shirt), but it didn't feel like Canada Day at all. Instead, it was a night of harassing random Japanese people and a verbal war between the Canuck and the Cowgirl. The first group we harassed were a Japanese street band who played jazz (see picture below). Being the "Great Canadian," I tried to educate them about Canada Day. As you may have guessed, they didn't really care.
Our next victim would be Taka, who I renamed Tako (octopus) (see picture below for Taka's Okinawan look). Taka is a bartender of a really comfy lounge we discovered and he spoke English really well so I was able to get to know him better. He's a drummer in his band, really laid back and traveled to many parts of Asia. I told him he reminded me of an Okinawan and apparently, that was a compliment because he seemed pretty pleased. As we were putting him through the grinder, two other Japanese from Tokyo decided to step up. We had a really good conversation with them, that is, until Brandon began to talk down about Calgary and I felt the need to defend my beloved hometown. IT'S CALGARY... you gotta love it!
Well after a few martinis and house whites, it was finally time to call it a night. Looking for a capsule hotel is a real pain for us ladies since many of them are exclusively for men. We went to a couple before we found a co-gendered hotel. It was more expensive so I felt bad for Brandon. The capsule hotels were actually quite comfy and not as small as I'd imagined. There was a t.v., light, alarm. At the beginning I felt like I had walked into a coin laundromat.
The next morning, Brandon just HAD to introduce me to the new Nintendo DS Lite. I said I would look at it but I think my brain is confused about the idea of "looking" because the next thing I knew, I was bringing it to the register's and punching in my bank account digits. Shopaholic syndrome. I felt guilty for a few minutes until I reasoned out my purchase with playing video games as a means to immerse myself in Japanese culture. All in all, eventhough our surroundings were anything but Canadian, just know that I tried with my shirt, my lectures to Japanese people and my little fight with the filthy Canuck (just kidding).
posted by DiVa @ 8:45 PM
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