SEE, Japan IS Diverse

I'm a terrible blogger lol. Let me try to make it up to you guys...though I'm aiming for less detail because my cell phone is currently traveling around Shibuya on the #64 bus...without me...like the worried mommy I am, I need to be alert for news of my baby, I mean, phone.

Reasons Why I Think Japan is a Tiny Bit Diverse, or At Least Has Been in Strange Ways in the Past Week or So:

1. July 4th.

Everybody celebrates July 4th, right? I mean, it's July 4th. Fireworks and barbecues. It also happens to be Independence Day. Who wouldn't celebrate independence?
Oh. You mean it's not a worldwide independence? It's just a celebration of independence for the United States? Oh. Well. Huh. Good point. Then I guess I can see why Japan wasn't throwing a party that night...

Japan might not have been throwing us a party, but for us SANC kids and all the ex-pats out there, they gave us the tools to start our own party (riiiiight).
Long story short, we had great company, great (American) food, great second-language conversations/mess-ups, great (American) karaoke songs, and a terrible night out after that haha. BUT 2 am gyooza (dumplings) makes everything better, I swear.

2. I SPOKE SPANISH.

So Sunday we went to Harajuku, the fashion-forward area of Tokyo made famous by Gwen Stefani's Harajuku Girls (those 4 Japanese chicks she takes everywhere). Diana/Usagi, Ming, John, Tommy, Kisho, and I ventured out to the land of gigantic 100 yen shops, heavenly crepes, all the clothes I've ever wanted, purikura, and cosplay.
Purikura is where you enter a photo booth with a green screen behind you and take pictures with your friends that you can later add things like kanji, words, stars, background colors, cupcakes, and even pigs and little poop things to (Nick...). The end result is an AMAZING quality picture that makes you smile everytime you look at it =]
And cosplay is the main attraction in Harajuku, basically people dressed up in elaborate anime/character costumes. You pass by, gawk at them, giggle a little at the pink hair-ed ones, and then surreptitiously take a picture. If you're REALLY lucky, you get a picture with them, not just of them. And if you're suffering from a backlog of Bad Karma like we apparently were (I can pinpoint the reason for every BK incident...same reason every time haha), you'll miss the cosplay-ers(?) completely.
Post Harajuku, we went to the Meiji Shrine (again for Minty, Kisho, and me), where I experienced pure happiness. I passed a man who was with a little old lady, and as I glanced at them, I thought, "They look Hispanic..." (Just saying, I'm ALLOWED to say that because I'm Hispanic haha). Since I had been bitchin' for 3 weeks about wanting to run into random Spanish-speaking people in Tokyo (usually a rant that started when all the Chinese-language kids had some sort of epiphany together and I was like *sigh* another language I don't know), I didn't think twice and just asked, "Ustedes hablan español?"

"Sí!"

=D

I talked to them for probably 5 minutes, because I didn't want to keep my friends waiting, but as was pointed out at the time, I had the BIGGEST smile on my face. They were from Mexico, were spending a total of 2 weeks in Tokyo(quince días, como decímos nosotros), and were really nice and just as happy as I was to have someone to talk to in their native tongue =] We were each other's first Hispanic-person encounters--Good Karma!

3. Chinese Valentine's Day

Is today! And though I don't yet fully understand the whole concept (the story goes something like two lovers separated by the Milky Way, are able to unite once a year, on the 7th of the 7th month when the stars align and allow them a bridge to get across to each other), I'm so excited because we're going to a matsuri (festival) in Asakusa tonight! WHY Japan regularly celebrates China's version of Valentine's Day, I have no idea, but my guess is because the heavens want to give me and Nick a chance to take couple-pictures at this festival.

Or maybe I was RIGHT about my entry title =]