DAY 1
As I am prone to do every summer, I had Josh Smurr drive me to the aerospaceport so I could lose a day of my life in order to travel to China or Japan or whatever. Honestly, I didn't even really want to go. I hate that place.
SIKE!
When I made my first winter return trip to YARPON earlier this year, I told my friends that I was going to come back this summer and do the usual "travel around and see everyone" thing, because that trip was mostly all about spending time with Miwako. Well... I lied. Sorry, frieands. Or at least, frieands who aren't Miwako. So anyway, after a billion hours on a plane, I arrived at Narita Airport, only to meet Antique◇Cube (the coolest nickname ever) holding one of Los Dorados' shop rags! I sort of told sora (who came to visit Seattle for our moped rally a month earlier) that I was going to be in around 5, but I was planning on just taking a bus to the city like I usually do and figuring things out from there. Instead, she managed to use that information to figure out exactly what flight I was on. That's pretty damn impressive, because I didn't fly directly from Seattle, I had a layover in Portland. Also, my flight showed up 40 minutes early. Also, I didn't bother checking luggage (for the first time ever, actually), so I wasted no time getting through Customs because I had no idea what I was going to do that first night. But there was Cube, waiting to drive me around in his chariot. Wow! The moped kids also worked together to find a place for me to stay, since I hadn't really figured that out, either. So Cube took me to Akazou's ("Red Elephant") place. I took a desperately needed shower and we ate some korokke before Cube drove me to my next destination, Yukotopia. I didn't think I would have a chance to see Dachambo this time around unless I went to Kyoto, something I didn't really have the time or money to pull off. But then I found out they were doing a show my first night in Tokyo, so I couldn't miss it. I could have sworn Yukotopia was in Yokohama, so I was all confused when the address was in some place called Adachi-ku. Good thing Cube gave me a ride, I probably would have gotten lost trying to figure out how to get there by train. After a while it became apparent that I was thinking of Grass Roots, and that I actually had been to Yukotopia before. Five years previously, it was where I saw and met Dachambo for the first time. With that mystery solved... sorry about the boring story.
It was a good show. Dachambo's very own AO (who had cut off his beautiful dreadlocks due to having a child now and Japan being "dangerous") warned me that Dachambo's shows were getting more and more awesome. He wasn't kidding... they totally rocked out. This is good news, because it should make attempting to get them back to the States easier than promoting them as a "jam band". After the show, I hung out and got drunk with the band and other Dachambo Villagers (including a friend from Sapporo, which was random) for a while. They didn't have someone to drive their bus to the event in Kyoto on Friday, and knowing that I had my International Driver's License, they asked if I wanted to do it. Driving a tour bus, a free ticket to a wicked awesome show, a place to stay, and a chance to meet up with my old friend Brian before he comes back to The Americraine? HELL YEAH I'll do it! Later I realized that it was kind of a terrible idea. Between jet lag and never having had driven in Japan (on the left side of the road and everything), I would have felt really bad when I fell asleep behind the wheel during a 6-hour drive and killed my favorite band. Miwako would have been pissed about that, too.
Yeah, so yeah. If I'm ever going to get through this adventure recap, I need to stop typing so much. I barely made the last train(s) back to Akazou's house, where Cube and Tsuchee! (also of Blood Drive 7 fame) and Akazou were waiting for me so we could continue drinking until I basically passed out due to exhaustion. Welcomed back to Tokyo, it was!
2010.08.04
