God Bless You, Mr. Vonnegut

Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. (November 11, 1922 – April 11, 2007)

Tokyo Wedding

Former KGIC Toronto student and THE man, Masato “Mark” Takahashi got marriaged to the very lovely Sayaka on April 7 in the Ikebukuro area of Tokyo.

In the Japanese nuptial tradition, the couple has at least two wedding receptions: the first one a rather stiff gathering for the family members with early bedtimes, and the final one being less formal for drunkard friends, lasting until the sun comes up. It was the latter, organized by Yuuki Imamura and Kyoko Inoue, which I attended.

Back Row: Sadatomo, Tomoko, Masayuki, Masumi, Me, Michio,
Middle Row: Hiro, Junko, Ryoko, Nanase, Kohei, Kyoko, Yuuki
Bottom: Yusuke

We all ate, drank, played darts and sang karaoke until the wee hours to celebrate Masato and Sayaka’s new life together. Not since my first night in Japan in November 2005 have I seen this many former KGIC students all together. Some of them hadn’t seen each other since leaving Toronto.

The groom was surprised by his Canadian friend Stefano (far left with his Korean friend Lisa), who was travelling through Asia when Kyoko invited him to the wedding.

Lovely, lovely, lovely…

Singing 80’s Japanese anime theme songs…with their spoons as microphones.

The groom’s older brother getting down

The karaoke getting a little out of hand

Smile!

Spring is in the air

To be perfectly honest, the past winter was pretty boring. I hadn’t been inspired to take any pictures, nor write anything, so my blog had practically come to grinding halt. But great joy…Spring has arrived! Which means three things in this part of Japan… the surfing season has opened; the Cherry Blossoms have bloomed and there are weddings to attend!

April Fools Day started with a surf sighting out my front window. The small waves brought the long-boarders and the die-hards trying to maximize their time during the busy spring months. I usually see surfers outside my window during typhoon season between July-October, so I was a little surprised to see them out there.

This is the view of surfers from my front window… On a clear day, if you turn about 45° to the left, you can see Mount Fuji.

I met up with Akihito Tanaka and Ranie Bowers, and we made our way to POT, our regular bar in Fujieda, to join the caravan of cars heading for the POT Hanami Party in the nearby town of Shimada. Hanami (Cherry Blossom) Parties are a Japanese tradition, which happen in the first couple of weeks in April. Groups of friends gather in parks where cherry blossoms bloom, under the pretense of celebrating nature and spring. But the parties are actually just an excuse to drink their faces off.

Cherry Blossoms

Kampai! We’re getting lubed up.

The POT staff set up a sound system in the park using a portable generator; brought endless amounts of hand drums and percussions; supplied tons of food, a keg of beer and of course, a lot of cool and creative folks.

The DJs spun breakbeats and rare grooves and almost immediately attracted breakdancers from many of the other parties in the park. Our area became party central. At one point, our infectious drum jam attracted a very cute and precocious little 10-month old girl who wanted to get in on the fun.

An extremely stoned DJ

Little drummer girl

“I wonder what Smokey’s gonna sound like with no percussion”

One of the most surreal moments happened when a small-time politician named Toshio Yamamura, who is running for Prefectural Government, ran in and started shaking hands with everyone in the park. By the time he got to our party, we were all hyped up, only half-mockingly chanting his name and making all kinds of noise, as if we were at an election rally. We offered him a beer, but I think he quickly realized he was a bit out of his element. It was fantastico!

…little does he know that he’s shaking the hand of an extremely stoned DJ!

We continued well into the night, even hours after everyone else had left the park; not even a rain shower deterring us from continuing on. The POT staff simply set up a tent and moved all the DJ equipment into it. Easy peasy, Japanesy. We spent our evening climbing trees, eating barbecue, and playing with the dogs that have become regular POT picnic guests. It was an incredibly long, but enjoyable day.

I am gearing up to go to the Ikebukuro area of Tokyo to attend Masato Takehashi (better known as Dancer Mark to the KGIC folks) next Saturday, April 7. I bought a couple of new suits last week with the help of my friend Misato Okada, because she always gives me good advice when it comes to clothes. Nowadays, I only go clothes shopping with women, because they can advise on and define my style much better than I can. But most importantly, I can ask the imperative question: “Would sleep with a guy who wore this…?”

In the parlance of WKRP’s Herb Tarlek and Lester Nessman, I’m a dungaree who happens to like wearing a suit from time to time.

Stay tuned for pictures and words from Mark’s wedding party.