The International Pole-Dancing Competiton and Nikko

I've had quite the exciting time since my last post. Two things of note, I got a gig working at the International Pole-Dancing Competition and went to a village north of Tokyo, Nikko.

The IPC was amazing. A few Koganeiates decided to hop on the bandwagon going around the University's gajin to help out with the International Pole-Dancing Competition. We were to be paid and have access to the after-party. A good deal for sure, we thought. We had no idea. What an amazing time! Upon our arrival, we were greeted and hurriedly rushed into the hall. We had no real idea what our job would be, we knew vaguely that we would be handling "security", thus we were filled with anxiousness to find out exactly how we were to be spending the next 8 hours. Quickly I was granted a somewhat authoritative position -- I was closest to the manager at the appropriate time. I learned that me and a team of two others who had yet to arrive were to guard the elevator and make sure no one was to enter said elevator without a pass. The other Koganeiates I tagged along with were taxed with the duty of VIP guards. We arrived at 16:00 and the show didn't start until 19:00, so we helped get the event to set-up. In the interim, we got shirts!
The event began and we were in our said positions. I quickly realized that my floor for which I was guarding the elevator on was insanely boring. No one, and I mean NO ONE, came on the floor intentionally. I took this as sign from Shiva to go and check on my Koganeiates. In doing this, I heard a familiar tune coming from the hall. It sounded as if Solid Snake from Metal Gear was climbing a Metal Pole. (You see what I did there?) It was "Metal Gear Saga" from Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots. It was freaking awesome. I ran into the VIP to get a better listen and enjoyed the music. I should also point out that the first performer did her dance to the opening of Suikoden III. The performers was amazing -- built like houses, for sure. The women were muscular and the men were flamboyant -- one things is for sure: the all knew to how to handle the pole.

Overall, the event was amazing and we were paid to experience it. My Koganei- buddies even met a famous author and were so delighted to have done so. The after-party was to be the next day and, from what I heard, was quite fun. I passed out beforehand due to having only got 4 hours of sleep because the day after the IPC I had a Doctors appointment at 8:45 and a presentation at 13:30 in Post-Colonialism.

The following weekend me and three others went to Nikko. Nikko is a village to the north of Tokyo and is famous for its shrines and the tomb of Tokugawa Shogun, Tokugawa Ieyasu. We woke up at 6:20 and hoped on the 8:15 train for Nikko. After arriving we headed put for the Shrines and we enjoyed them to the fullest. The most problematic thing about Nikko, besides the tourists, is that EVERYTHING costs money. You want to see Shrine 3-B9j4-squared? That'll be 200 yen, please. Yikes. Luckily, we had master planner Zach who found out for 4000 yen ($50) that we get access to the Temples and Shrines, Bus and Train fare included. I definitely recommend it to all who are ever in Tokyo to visit Nikko. We had lunch at a quaint noodle shop off the beaten path -- not really, it was the main road, but no tourists were there. Afterward, we wondered Nikko and before we departed we decided to cheeky and see the Nikko Waterfalls. Problem being, it was 2 km away and we were rapidly running out of sunlight. More so, those 2 km were all uphill. We made it, barely. My camera had difficulty capturing the falls, but Zach got quite the nice picture. Now, the next problem. Walking down a bloody mountain in the dark with only a 45 minutes to make it to the train station that was 4-5 kilometers away. We, being mighty Koganeiates, made the journey with time to spare. Exhausted, we relaxed on the train ride back trying to catch up on sleep.

That's been my weekends these past two weeks. On top of that, I've had a few quizzes and tests and designing a "hoodie" for SSMAA. All-in-all, a very exciting time. I'm looking forward to Christmas and the New Year and will miss everybody terribly. But, thankfully, a good number of the Koganeiates will be hanging around so I won't be lonely.

Until next time!

-Gregor the Wizard