Coldplay came to Japan and I went to see them! I've always wanted to see them live, but I've never had the opportunity... so I was not going to let this one pass me by. My friends and I bought tickets to this concert before Christmas break! We were really excited to see Coldplay perform live and they did not let us down. They are AWESOME live. I haven't been to very many concerts, but this one tops them all. I'd pay to go see them again... definitely. The concert was actually in Kobe and not Osaka... even though all of their promotions say Osaka. Even the t-shirts they were selling said Osaka instead of Kobe... and they were selling them right there at the venue in Kobe.
It was an unusually warm weekend, too. There was a fluke heatwave and the weather was great all weekend! I went all the way up there just to go to the concert, but I also met up with my friend Mina and a friend of hers for lunch. Actually, I went to her house and she cooked lunch! She made this really nice pasta and a nice appetizer of mozzarella, basil, and tomatoes. It was great!
It was a really nice weekend that just-so-happened to fall on Valentine's Day... so I guess I can say this was the best Valentine's Day I've ever had! They actually celebrate Valentine's Day here as well. It's a little backwards though - girls are expected to give chocolates or flowers to boys. Then in a month or so they have "White Day" where boys are expected to give chocolates or flowers to girls. I got Valentine's Day chocolate in the mail from my mom!... even though I am 22... almost 23... I still get excited when my mom gives me Valentine's day candy... I don't think I'll ever grow out of that either : )
So yeah, great weekend! and I'd go see Coldplay live again in a heartbeat!
This building was near our hostel... it has a road running through the middle of it!
I also wanted to mention something that happened on my way back to Yamaguchi. I was sitting on the shinkansen (bullet train) when this guy walks into the car I was in. He was in a nice suit and was really hasty in his movements. He seemed really pissed off at the world and was irritated about something. Anyway, he hastily sat down next to this guy and throws his jacket into the seat in front of him. He kept moving around trying to get comfortable or something - leaned his seat all the way back, kept putting his feat up on the seat in front of him and then would take them down. Just really angsty. Then he stood up to get ready to get off - at the Hiroshima station stop - and he spit on the floor.
I joked about meeting members of the yakuza (Japanese mafia) on the overnight ferry to Osaka back in September, but I honestly believe that he was a member of the yakuza. There was just something about him - he gave off an "I don't care about the world, I'd do anything including murder to get what I want, I'm going to be as rude as possible to everyone around me and try to act like a badass" type of vibe. It turns out he wasn't the only one on there either. As one of his buddies got off, we made eye contact and this guy seriously growled profanities at me. It was so weird! and a little creepy. I don't know much about Japanese profanities... but I do know that they don't have profanities like we do. They don't have the "f-word" or the "b-word" or the "a-word", etc etc etc. Those words just don't exist in the Japanese language. Japanese profanities would be talking down to someone or using inappropriate verb forms for people who aren't your friends... stuff like that.
There is a controversial word "gaijin" which means foreigner. Some people find it offensive because it's a shortened form of "gaikokujin"... gaijin is just one of those words that people debate whether or not somebody is trying to be offensive when they use it. It really just all depends on context. I think it's kind of like the "n-word"... black people use it with each other, but if a white person were to use it then it becomes offensive. ANYWAY, when the guy growled these profanities at me he used that word - that's how I know they were directed at me and only me. People around me just kind of looked at the guy in disgust while at the same time ignored him because he was itching for attention. The woman in my row actually bowed and apologized. I have no idea what he said since I've never studied "profanities in Japanese," but his tone was really nasty and I don't need a translator to tell me that it was offensive. It was weird.
I actually took a picture of the guy (discretely with my cell phone) that I was watching at first - the guy who spit on the floor - because I was shocked at his overall demeanour. You can only see the back of his head, but I'm going to post it for my own enjoyment. Here's a picture of the bullet train too! I was on the Nozomi which is the fastest bullet train in Japan!
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