There was a pretty good crowd there, although smaller than I expected, and it turned out that one of the bands that was playing was a band that I had seen and met before, so not only did I know one of the bands there, but I knew a bunch of people who were there to see them play, as well. So I was in good company at the festival, and afterwards a bunch of us (10 people total) went out to eat. We went to another place where you sit on the floor and take your shoes off, and the food was exceptional, and Taro would not stop ordering beers for the table! haha. But it actually ended up being really cheap after we split up the check -- about 12 bucks per person. Then after that they all wanted to go to a hookah bar (side note: the word for "hookah" in Japanese is mizu-tabaco, which just means "water tobacco"), which isn't really my thing but I was enjoying the company so I tagged along, but when we got there it was totally filled up so we went to a normal bar that was right next door, which was SO cool. the bar had 4 floors. The bottom two were more for dining purposes and the third floor was for live music. We went all the way up to the 4th floor, which was actually the roof. It was gorgeous. They had it decorated really well with some antique lounge furniture and christmas lights. You could see the tall buildings of Shibuya in the distance. It was awesome. I mean, seriously. I would start going there all the time if it wasn't so damn far away.
My time here is drawing to a close, for real. It's really sad, but I'm starting to become mentally ready to go back.
My friends taught me a phrase that they said is used fairly commonly here: 一期一会 pronounced ichigo-ichie. The meaning is sort of hard to explain, but in the simplest way, it means that it's a once-in-a-lifetime meeting--that we're extremely lucky to have found each other and it's something that we can treasure forever. I'm glad to hear that they all feel that way because I certainly treasure the friends I've made here.
On a related note, Ayako made a post on Yucca's (her band) blog about me, the going-away party, and ichigo-ichie. You all will most certainly not be able to read it, but you can click here to see it. There are a few pictures (some of which are also posted below), at least. In the post she says how we've become good friends and it will be sad to see me go, but that we expect to meet again in the future. She thought a little bit about the meaning of ichigo-ichie and how if you meet someone for a short time or for a long time, they can still have just as big of an impression on you. She writes that when she was in school, she had a dear friend who moved away and changed schools and when they had a going-away party for her, Ayako gave a speech in which she said, "In life there are meetings and there are partings--hellos and goodbyes-- and those are the things that make a person grow," to which her classmates responded with a roar of laughter, which shocked her and made her turn red. But she thinks the same way now that she did back then.
Alright, that may be boring to you all, but it means a lot to me. Now then, pictures from Ayako (not great quality, but hey, a picture's a picture--even the bad quality ones are still worth a thousand words):
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