WAKAYAMMMMAAA?!?!

The past few weeks have been so much fun that I have not even bothered to write. Though I suppose my computer being broken may have also had something to do with it. Anyway, last weekend was especially memorable. Another JET in the area, Mariel, is really into Japanese hip hop, and had found a concert in Mie, the next prefecture over. We werent really sure what to think, as Mie is a pretty rural prefecture, but it sounded exciting none the less. Despite that Mie is only about 4 hours away,it is rural enough that train tickets are really expensive, so it actually worked out to be cheaper for us to rent a car. I dont have an international drivers license, so poor Mariel had to drive the entire 4 hour trip. I was in charge of naviagtion. It is safe to say that the ONLY reason I didnt get us horribly lost is because all Japanese rental cars come with a built in GPS system which you can program to find your destination. That said, the system is only in Japanese, which made things a bit tricky. There is even a voice that comes on in the car to tell you when a turn is coming up. The trip up went remarakably smoothly given that we were driving on the other side of the road with a crazy Japanese voice coming on in the car all the time. The drive was beautiful, through lots of very lush mountains, and there was no shortage of food, given that both Mariel and I share an appretiation for Mr. Donut.



The biggest suprise was when we arrived in the "city". The music venue was at the top of a run down, almost abandoned mall, and there seemed to be nothing in the vacinity but snack bars (hostess bars). Despite first impressions, the seemingly deserted area picked up when it was time for the concert. Unlike other concerts I have been to in Tokyo at which there were many many foreigners, Mariel and I were the only gaijin there (save a guy from one of the groups who actually lived in japan). We had a great time at the concert, but were kinda bummed that we didnt really get to talk to anyone after the concert. Then all the sudden, one person started talking to us and it seemed like everyone at the concert wanted to. We met all of the acts on stage, including one of the guys from Rip Slyme, which according to Mariel is a really famous Japanese hip hop group.



There were about 3 people there who spoke English, so for the most part we were limited to our very elementary Japanese. Naturally, one of the first questions in every conversations was "where do you live?" As soon as we mentioned Wakayama everyone without fail said WAKAYAMMMMMAAAA?!?! Honto ni? (Wakayama is considered to be a very rural prefecture, apparently even in Mie, and people could not believe that was where we lived.)
Our expereience at the concert seems to be a prime example of the gaigin expereience in areas outside of the largest cities. Either you are ignored completley, and often thought incapable of a lot (you should have seen the stares we got when two gaijin emerged from the car at rest stops-- all the old japanese men seemed to be thinking "they can drive here?!") OR you are paraded around as the center of attention. Regardless it was was a great weekend!