Swans and Raves

Swans and Raves...two things that are polar opposites, much like electrons and protons, north and south, and Sumo and featherweight. Swans and Raves -- elegance and purity vs. crazy and unpredictable. Swans and Raves.


Part I: The Swan

I had a 3-day weekend this last weekend because of a very important holiday: Respect for the Aged Day. Japan respects everyone and shows it in designating a day for it. The thing is, though, once that day is over you no longer have to respect the aged. I just can't wait for the upcoming holidays of Respect for the Newborns and Respect for the Mid-life Crisis Days. Anyway, because of the extended weekend I decided to travel around beautiful Gunma prefecture. First, I went to Haruna, where one of the 3 most famous mountains of Gunma grows upward toward the heavens. A friend and I went to the famous shrines of Haruna and made the trek up the mountain. The trek was really a trek. So, when the trail abruptly ended at the road that goes up the mountain, we decided to do some thumbin' (thumbin' = hitch-hiking).


















This is a view from atop a waterfall. You can't see my barrel, but I am just about going to take the plunge. AHH! Oh, and yes, I have gotten tanner since being in Japan.

The top of the mountain reminded me of Lake Tahoe, even though I have never been to Lake Tahoe. There is a lake surrounded by mountains, which are covered in trees, lifts, ice cream parlors, and people eating ice cream. It is a bit of a resort type area. We looked out over the serene lake and noticed the huge white swan paddle boats floating in the water. So, we did like anyone would've done and rented a swan and climbed aboard. There were also pink dinosaurs, but we thought we would go for something a little more traditional.


















This is my friend Maci and our swan, Don Swan--he is latin and can really shake his tail feather.

There were also huge, motor-powered swan boats that I referred to as the Mama Swan. I thought it would be funny to round up all the little swan paddle-boats and follow the Mama Swan singing our swan song, or other swan noise.


Part II: The Rave

As many of you astronomers and astrologers know, last weekend there was a full moon. And what better way to celebrate another full moon than to dance the night away at a full moon party in the middle of the woods on the side of a mountain, dancing to trance music and drinking expensive (not because of taste) beer.

Sadly, I don't have any pictures of the party, but let me describe it for you. Ok, imagine about 500 Japanese people, none taller than 5'5" and then one big, tall foreigner. Also, imagine an enormous screen surrounded by enormous speakers that pump out so much bass it puts defibrilators to shame. Alright, dancing in Japan is a little different than dancing in America. First, this was trance music, so it was all about self-expression, so what better way to dance than to conform to all the other Japanese people and dance facing the screen. That's right, no one dances with one another. Instead you are in lines dancing and going crazy and facing forward the entire time. I think it was a sign of respect for the DJ up front or something, however, it wasn't Respect for the Disc Jockey Day (that is sometime in August I think). Go figure. Now, imagine all these small people doing their techno line dancing thing, and then imagine one huge white man jumping so high in the air it blocks out the projected images going toward the screen. Also, imagine lots of groans and moans from my 104 kilogram frame coming crashing down onto someone's foot. I would always say "sumimasen (excuse me)" and then they would just smile and say something like "No problem" even though 5 metatarsals were broken and they were contemplating amputation. I think they didn't want to offend the big ogre/giant. Finally, imagine staying up to 5:30 am and feeling as though you made the trek back to the U.S. and are suffering from an extreme case of jet-lag.