"Please know the train will...shake."

(] Alert [) If you want to read about the hidden black population in Japan keep reading...if not...keep reading...really I like to see comments, people!

There have been so many candidates for today's title so I'll use them to separate the past couple of days...let's first there was...

"Japanese Communist Party Central Committee"

I'd like to start by saying that there's about 4~5 kilometers (yeah I'm gonna start using metric just because) separating the hearts of Shinjuku and Shibuya...nestled in between are two well known cities, Yoyogi and Harajuku. So even though I didn't know where I was most of the time...everything was within walking distance...but I didn't know that in the beginning. So I got off the train at Harajuku and headed...I guess it was about south and saw these huge gymnasiums...and I mean huge...like two things the size the BCC...well not quite that big but one of them was and the other was about a third the size. After looking at it for a while I decided it would be cool to get a map and figure out where the heck I was. Not being able to find one, I simple did what I always do...I found the tallest building in the area and headed towards it. I turned around in place a couple of times (which must've looked weird) and found two large buildings in almost opposite directions. One, I found out later, was the NTT DoCoMo headquarters in Shinjuku and the other was the 109 building in Shibuya, I think (I actually asked what happened to the 108 building...there isn't one). The DoCoMo building looked bigger...so I went that way. Walking there wasn't so bad except before I realized I was walking in the suburbs between cities...I had lost sight of my target and I was wandering around on small streets...oops. Anyway along the way I found it...the Headquaters of the Japanese Communist Party. "Uuuuuh...yeah..." is what I thought. The good news was I found my target and somehow wound up on a main road after that. I got to it but it turned out it was for business only...no observation deck or anything. Dejected I set out to find the second tallest building in my area...which was harder this time because I was in the middle of a city this time but then I saw something weird. A ellipsoid building that looked familiar. After some thinking I got it! I saw it on the train once, it was the site of the soon-to-open HAL University of Digital Arts or something. So naturally I wanted to go in, right? Turns out it's still under construction...oh well. It still looked kewl...like a huge erect football covered with spiderwebs with two huge baseballs on either side of the base...not phallic at all. Continuing on my new quest for an observation deck, I found a map of the area and I recognized the Tokyo Town Hall from a Sketch Up model on Google Earth. I also remembered that that building had a observation deck! So I made a B-line for it...though...I'm not sure why they call it B-line...it's more like an I-line...sometimes an L-line...but I digress. By the way at this point I was in Shinjuku

"We're Chinese...we don't understand you"

So I decided which view I thought I'd like better, the north view or the south view...I chose the south view though even now I kinda wish I did both...but I only chose that side because I didn't know what I was doing and I followed some other people in. They were checking bags...of course...and when they got to me, my scissors raised a flag...again...but it was ok. They just gave me a like slip so I can get it back when I was ready to leave. So...the deck was on the 45 floor...I was in the basement...the elevator ride took 10 seconds just about...my ears popped to say the least. When I got to the top I was entertained by a rather curious baby and his moma calling him. "This way, this way!" she said but the baby just kept running in random directions stopping to wait for another call to try to echo locate the voice but I guess there were too many voices and he was confused. There were also Gundams to buy up there...for some reason but they were actually more expensive than at Yodabashi, which I figured. So I took in the sights and got in line for the elevator back down. There was this girl...just standing in front of me in line swinging her hair to which I said, in Japanese, "that's dangerous...doing that..." Kinda creepy I know. She went over to her friend seeming kinda confused, then I said, "just kidding, just kidding," in Japanese. At this point she seemed more confused and less entertained...which confused me. On the elevator, I noticed them talking to each other...not in Japanese...something else...maybe Korean I thought...but it didn't sound like Korean...but I gave it another shot. I said, "was that Korean?" in Korean. Then they said..."we're...Chinese...we don't understand you." "GACK!" I thought, "that's what was going on!" My cryptonite! The thing that throws me off so effectively...Chinese! Made me feel pretty bad...not stupid or rude...just the feeling that I need more practice listening to Chinese...ah well. Shaking it off I headed for Shibuya...I couldn't remember why I wanted to go to Shibuya for the life of me though...then it hit me! Hachiko! There's a golden statue of a dog called Hachiko that represents a dog who supposedly sat loyally and waited at the Shibuya station for his human to come back from work. But when the guy died the dog just sat there until *he* died as well. Kinda sad but it does make for a nifty meeting spot. So I went to the Yoyogi station to ask for walking directions for Shibuya. I asked, in Japanese, "where's Shibuya from here," and the guy started to respond in Japanese but then he started making attempts at English and made these weird car sounds I guess hinting at the direction of traffic I should follow but I thought, "I started the conversation in Japanese...don't you think I can understand you?" But I've been getting that a lot. There are three things that are beginning to annoy me...when people go, "oh you're so good? How long have you been here? Where did you learn to speak so well? How long have you been studying?" I know it's because they're interested in me and are only being friendly but every single person I've met just about have begun like that and it's kind of prerecorded conversation for me by now. I just need a t-shirt that says it all then I can point to the different parts I need to say...then there's when I start a conversation and the person insists on speaking English when I obviously understand basic Japanese...then there's hard one; when I start a conversation and the person starts shooting out all sorts of weird technical terms in Japanese at me with no explanation! I mean jeez even in English I'd get confused, man!

"I was born here!"

So I was on my way to Shibuya, when I realized I was headed right back at Harajuku!!! This is when I realized the cities were so close together. This is also when I decided I wasn't gonna pass Harajuku again without seeing someone dressed funny. On my way I heard Japanese that didn't quite sound right...it had some rhythm to it...it had some soul in it...I turned around and it was a black kid of about 15. Now I've seen about 15~20 black guys up until there but none were speaking Japanese. I asked him the thing that annoys me, "man, you're fluent, how come?" but his answer surprised me, I expected, "I've been studying since before high school," or something...but this guy...this guy! "Was born here!" he said...I was like, "word?!" "yeah," he said, "Lucky you," I complimented. It was so cool. He seemed happy enough...and he was accompanied but two teenaged girls so life for him was apparently good. There could've been a chance to start up some kind of friendship there on the spot, but I thought, "man, forget it, yo homes to Shibuya!" a la Fresh Prince...no...nobody saw that comin'? Anyways, I lost them but I found some funny lookin' kids going down some ally called Harajuku ave..."OH you gotta be kiddin' me!!!" I thought...it was right there next to the station!

"It's ok, I got you, come with me, I got your size..."

So I was walkin' down the street thinkin', "man, it would be cool to be born in Japan...and I always said I'd never trade being black for anything but I would trade my birthplace for Japan," I was also thinkin', "this would be an awesome place to get a leather jacket...but nothin' would fit me." Then it hit me...I just saw about 8 Nigerian lookin' guys just standing around back there! I looked a little ahead, thank goodness I'm tall, and I saw about 10 more...if you've been paying attention, you know that the number of black in Japan that I've seen so far has just doubled on this one street! Then the moment of truth came, one of them approached me...we locked eyes and greeted each other with a nod like black people do...then he said, "you lookin' for shoe or somethin'?" Then in a split second a commercial flashed in my head were a French guy approaches a couple, one Japanese woman and one black guy, on a park bench asking for directions or something...in French. Then the Japanese woman nudges the black guy and asks, "what did he say?" but the black guy quickly says, "I don't know English," "heh?" goes the woman. The rest of the commercial is actually quite funny but it didn't matter, I had my inspiration! The native Japanese, black guy, this commercial memory, this encounter on the street with a stranger!!! Without thinking much, I blurted the line from the commercial, "I don't know English!" in Japanese. "So it begins!" I thought. The guy goes, "oh, you don't speak English, huh?" then he continues in Japanese, "ok, that's fine." That's when I realize..."oh, man, what if this guy knows more Japanese than I do...that's not gonna look so good...oh well...here we go."

"Where are your parents from?"

And so continued my pretense. If you know me you know I'm not much of a lair. So thinking I can get out of it quickly, I say, "ah, but you don't have size 33 shoes (they use centimeters to measure things here, shoe sizes are about twice the equivalent US shoe sizes) do you, don't worry about it." "It's ok, I got you," he says carrying some kind of accent in his Japanese...sounded Caribbean. "GACK!" "Come with me," he says. Sweat! "Here, take off your shoes...here try these on...try these on..." No, William, no Bathin' Apes...just American names. Once it looked like I couldn't fit any of the shoes, we moved on to pants. Once we found pants that fit me I had to explain politely, Japanesely explain to him that I didn't come to Harajuku to shop, I came to see funny lookin' people! Then he started askin' personal questions! Where are your parents from? Which of your parents is Japanese? Where do you go to college? So basically I told him my dad, who's black, is from Okinawa (seemed believable), but we live in Gunma (I stole it from Yamato Damacy), and I go to Akihabara Animation Specialty Institute (the only university I thought wouldn't lead to more questions). I think he believed me. I asked him for any kind of interesting place in the area, he pointed me in the direction of a shrine in the city, and high tailed it out of there!!! Usually I want to see the people I'll probably never see again but in this case...

"I've found you, HACHIKO!!!"

So after leaving Little Baltimore in the middle of Harajuku, I felt I was getting closer to a lot people...I could just feel it...that and the fact the buildings around me were getting very tall very fast...that's when I saw it. A...no...three big screens on the side of some buildings showing ads for Soul Calibur 4 and other things soon to come out. The particular intersection I found myself standing at just happened to be the one that is referenced often to illustrate just how dense the Japanese population is. This is where I found this ad for a Japanese singer who sounds just like Sean Paul...his name was Fire Ball or something. When I finally got to the stinkin' dog, it seemed that everyone else had the same idea. The poor dog was all surrounded by people tryin' to get their picture with it. So I found the stinkin' golden hound, now it was about 8pm and I was thinkin' about findin' a place to sleep. So I went to the kouban, the local cops on duty, to get a map of the hotels in the area. He commented on my height and sent me off with a map. I went to the nearest capsule hotel.

"Just as I Thought, Orange Drink..."

On the train back I noticed the British lady's voice saying the English version of the Japanese announcements, "Ladies and gentlemen, please know the train will *short pause* shake." Before now I hadn't really noticed how it sounded (I had always ignored the English, and the Japanese version didn't seem so dangerous) but when translated, it really scared me. "Shake? Shake how?" I thought. I knew what the train did at that point, it just added a new sense of tension to it. Also, because of her accent the word "Tsukuba" always sound like she's saying "Tsukuber", and "rapid service" sounds like "rocket service". I at this point was pretty tired I was still looking forward to the new Naruto movie comin' out here. I got back to Ninomiya, the place I'm staying at with Ryan, and went to the fridge...because I had some aweful tasting gummies. I smelled orange juice poured not too long ago...then I found it but when I poured it...it was definitely orange but...it was too weak in color...no pulp...took one sip...ORANGE DRINK!!! It has been too long I thought...but why Japan, of all places...oh well that brings you up to now.