玖珠玖珠クリスマス： A Very Kusu Christmas

Well, as of this writing Kusu is officially a white winter wonderland--it started snowing today finally after days, no, weeks of bogus warnings and false starts. I bought a third "laser beam" heater that is pointed at my computer desk and only keeps me warm (as opposed to the kerosene and electric space heaters I already have, but that ran up my total energy bill last month to just under 10,000 J-bucks). Despite the infrared ray bath I can still see my breath anywhere in my apartment and it takes wearing socks and slippers constantly to be able to actually feel my feet. I'm past complaining though, especially since certain friends of mine in the mountainous West are grappling with far worse. Besides, I got a spiffy and massive new parka from my parents for Xmas and it's like putting on a localized Spanish Riviera microclimate. (あったかい～！）

Concerning the holidays in Japan, there's no way to pad it so I'll just come out and say Xmas in Japan tends to blow. It's got all the disadvantages of the holidays (annoying Xmas songs played 24/7 repetitiously, soul-sucking consumer rush, all the stores closed on Xmas Eve and day, etc.) with none of the advantages (quality time with family, special foods, airing of grievances, tests of strength, etc.) so I found myself doing a whole lot of nothing for a couple days really. It didn't help that my friend Mayumi canceled on our field trip into Beppu to see the fireworks on the 23rd, but I guess her wheezing breath and hacking cough was reason to bail.

It wasn't an entire washout though. When I went to visit my pal Lindsey down in Hita and reconnect with that crew I had no idea the night that lay ahead. First, it seems relations within the already-high-drama Hita Faction have soured as of late and it turned out being just Lindsey and I grabbing a bite, after which I expected to turn the car around and head home. A stop off for fried chicken at one of her friend's restaurants yielded other plans for the evening though: it was after all the winter equinox and why not spend it at a bar celebrating it like they do in Morocco? Yeah, why not. The host was a Japanese man who's taken to calling himself "Luchie", apparently after a stint living in Morocco, and the venue was a very chill bar in Hita made all the more impressive by the candlelight illumination and wood burning stove in the middle of the room. Luchie and his wife brought with them a veritable truckload of African musical instruments and we all got down to the inelegant task of losing ourselves in a beautiful cacophony of bongo beats, bell-ringing, dancing and micro brew beer. Nobody really got that drunk--I mean, who would want to forget this unique evening?

Almost instantly that night I made two good friends and I look forward to spending more time and writing more here about them. First is obviously Luchie who must be the most free-spirited and giving Japanese I have ever met. His English is excellent, his fried chicken is sublime (and I am not a man that likes fried chicken) and he volunteers to teach at preschools with his wife. Like, for no money. The second is Chizuru, a paradoxical woman from Hita who moved to Tokyo to attend university and then unbelievably moved back to her hometown to help manage her parents' music store. I can't begin to express how rare that is. Chi-chan is also the only Japanese I have ever met who knows and enjoys Advantage Lucy, my favorite J-indie rock band.

Next year, come hell or high water, (this is so cliche...) I'll be coming home for Christmas. If anything it'll give me a chance to examine the fascinating ins and outs of holiday traveling, particularly the social and mental effects of prolonged airport confinement. Am I the only one who sees those places as giant-sized habitrails?

--Matt