Horror Bugs

You never know what new and exciting experience Japan is going to give you to turn an ordinary day into a great story for a blog.

The other night I was lying (laying?) in bed reading a book when I was brutally attacked (emotionally) by a horror bug. It was past midnight and my eyes had just started to flutter and close when sudden dark movement woke me up to a panic. Crawling down my wall was a fantastically evil looking centipede with one thought on its mind—“get into Justin’s bed”. See picture below for a visual:

I image that if Satan, Medusa, and my 5^th grade math teacher (she was a bit evil) got together to design a horror bug, this is what it would look like. A hundred(ish) long legs flowing around a dark, insidious body…poisonous stinger and venom-covered fangs…defensive shielding and the ability to both absorb and discharge electrical energy…some of this may be my own imaginings, but you get the point. It’s scary! And nothing with that many legs should move that silently down a person’s wall in the middle of the night.

Anyway, the creature rapidly approached me, I jumped up and thought, “oh my gosh oh my gosh of my gosh” and started looking around for something to kill it with. The centipede was so huge that I honestly had to search my room for something big enough to kill it (cause it had to be done in one shot or else I risked being shot with a poison dart or having it regenerate before I could finish it off). I finally chose an anthology of Asian mythology and readied myself for the battle.

After some maneuvering and getting it out of my bed and back on the wall, I slammed the creature with the book and squinted as legs and antenna flew everywhere and guts splattered on the wall. UNBELIEVEABLE.

Needless to say, my dreams that night were less than charming.

Good morning sunshine

The sun is very, very bright outside the bus. My left eye won’t open because a dry contact is screaming for attention and my right eye is squinting blindly in the morning light. I’m searching through my pockets for my bus ticket…barely aware of things around me. I finally find it, hand it over to the driver, and weakly bow as the bus doors close and the bus drives away. I turn around in the parking lot and see about two dozen junior high school baseball players staring at me. My shirt is rumbled, my hair a bit askew, I feel all out of sorts. But, I try to maintain dignity and walk away towards home. Oh geeze, why did I stay out all night?

My mind begins to search through the past 24 hours…remembering the events that led to my current state.

It all began Saturday afternoon when I thought it was a good idea to hitch hike to Fukuoka. Sure I could have taken a bus or train…but then I wouldn’t have met the Tanaka family from Kitakyushu who had been attending their eldest son’s wedding that morning. I rode in their fancy car and chatted with Mrs. Tanaka about her enthusiasm for watching sports, but not playing them.

They dropped me off at the expressway entrance to the city where I hailed another ride into downtown. This time I got an English-speaking business man who owes several diners and shops in town. He asked me to hand out some flyers on the street in return for the ride…a trade I happily agreed to. I only had to pass out 6…but about 40 people walked by before I was able to give them away (I don’t think I was aggressive enough).

Then came a series of random encounters with friends and strangers, old and new, that eventually led to me staying out all night in the smoke and lights of Tenjin. I met loads of new folks and ended up joining up with them for the night. Since my hitch hiking trip last month I’ve found that I have no trouble meeting new people and becoming instant friends. By 5am we were eating McDonald’s and going through the usual lament of, “why did we stay out all night?”

The sun came up and the responsible people who had gone to bed the night before were starting to come out onto the streets. This is always a weird time when the tired/drunk/crazy people who partied all night meet the clean/genki/responsible people who are on their way to work/wherever. It really puts the “out all night” thing into perspective.

The bus arrived; I stumbled aboard and shut the curtain. Ah yes, now is the time for sleep.

Mud Volleyball!

These pictures are real. No photoshopping was used. The mud, the filth, and utter abandonment of all things clean is exactly what a day of mud volleyball is all about.

Our two teams: Freedom and No Borders. The former was well suited for a rousing battle cry (freedom!). Our teams’ motto: “We are CRAZY!” All of this was chosen by the Japanese members.

Start of the day. Sheena and I are pumped and ready (and clean).

This quickly changed when Sheena decided to tackle me. I showed her!

Utterly muddy thanks to Matt. We look like orcs from Lord of the Rings.