The plan was simple; meet at Noborito station and from there go to a spot to watch the hanabi (fireworks). Mostly it was simple for everyone- mostly. Things weren't helped by the fact that I couldn't find my phone (baka, ne?) therefore people couldn't phone or email me and since I was the organizer it had the potential to make things difficult.
First difficulty was that nobody else had Johnboy's details. The second difficulty was that, for some reason Johnboy went to Chofu instead, on a completely different line and direction. So we caclled Phil to get Johnboy's details the first call was no prob. But next they couldn't here me. BRAD! ITS BRAD- who?- BRAAAD. This went on for several minutes- who is it? - ITS BRAD!- Are you with Brad now? I AM F^%$ing BRAD NOW!
Eventually we were able to tell Johnboy to meet us at Inadazatsumi (say that 10 times quickly). So we went to Inadazatsumi and waited for him. He called to say he'd arrived and i told him to meet us at the North gate. 10 minutes later, still no Johnboy. We called again and thats when he realised he was once again in the wrong place, so we had to go on without him.
The crowds were significant ( its a euphemism for crushingly insane). So we decided it was best to watch the fireworks while walking back to Noborito because it would have been impossible to get on the train with all those people.
Halfway along an American guy (dude looks deadset like Chris Tucker. seriously. Its remarkable. We have to find a Jackie Chan lookalike for him to hang out with) came up to us and says- Hey do you know why they have the fireworks here. I gave my standard answer- cos its summer and they really like fireworks. Oh cool, i just left my house to get cigarettes and saw all these people. So he joined us.
The fireworks kept going and so did we. Slowly walking along enjoying the spectacle. Once the fireworks were finisheds Kazu informed us that it was the same distance to Noborito or Ikuta (where I live) so we opted for Ikuta.
It was quite a trek but we got there. We went to the Fish Bar. A local establishment which none of the local gaijin knows the actual name of, but since they serve a lot of fish, we gave it that name.
Slowly over the next few hours the numbers in our ranks whittled down (people had to work next day etc) until there was only me and Imari (chris tucker) . So we joined a group of Japanese people. They couldn't really speak any English and I can't really speak any Japanese, so Imari was kinda the translator.
Anyways, I mari was challenging the guys to arm wrestle. Since my arma are basically twigs with hands attached I stayed away. But when one guy presented his middle finger for a finger wrestle, I thought- hell, why not? Big mistake. In less than one second my finger was snapped.
I knew it straight away. The guys had a bottle of soju, now usually with this you get a bottle of green tea and a bucket of ice. The bucket of ice has tongs for hygiene, well screw hygiene, my hand was plunged straight in that bucket. The guy was obviously sorry cos he bought me a bottle of sake, which helped numb the pain (until the next day)
Anyways 2 days later I showed the injury to Shoko, who dragged me by the hair (no mean feat cos I got no hair) to the hospital. My finger was put in a splint and wrapped in bandages for 3 weeks.
Moral: If some guy challenges you to a finger wrestle, RUN AWAY!
After 2 years and 4 months I've finally gotten that pink bunnies filthy paws off my throat. For those who don't know the pinl bunny is the NOVA usagi, a character generated to create awareness of, and buttloads of cash for NOVA, the place where I was working until yesterday.
