It was around 2:30 when we had finished visiting the three temples. The other two ryuugakusei and our tutor went to Osaka to check into the hotel while I went to my friend Ryota's house. Ryota goes by the nickname Captain Jack after a Eurobeat musical artist of the same name, who's most famous for his Dance Dance Revolution songs. True to his name, as soon as I got in Captain Jack's car there was DDR music playing.
I met Captain Jack about 4 years ago at a Super Smash Bros. Melee tournament in San Jose. He had flown in from Japan to participate. At that tournament we spent the night at the venue (my friend's house). He, his friend Takuto, and I spent the trying to understand each other (I was attempting to use what Japanese I heard learned from my year of community college Japanese my Junior year in high school). We became good friends and he promised me then that if I ever came to Japan I could come stay with him. I'm glad I made good on that promise :)
I met Captain Jack about 4 years ago at a Super Smash Bros. Melee tournament in San Jose. He had flown in from Japan to participate. At that tournament we spent the night at the venue (my friend's house). He, his friend Takuto, and I spent the trying to understand each other (I was attempting to use what Japanese I heard learned from my year of community college Japanese my Junior year in high school). We became good friends and he promised me then that if I ever came to Japan I could come stay with him. I'm glad I made good on that promise :)
Jack lives in Kyoto, about 20 minutes by car from the main eki (train station). He has a nice house and a nice family. This is his gaming room. He's the one closest to the TV.
The other guy's name is Ii. He lives north of Tokyo and came all the way down to Kyoto just to play with us that afternoon. I'd say he and I are pretty even at Melee. CJ is, of course, elite. I was able to beat him once, though he was playing a random character and was probably sandbagging (not trying his hardest). His friend, Takuto, whom I had met at the tournament in the United States four years ago, came later. He had been preparing for "The Last Big Melee Tournament" in America this past weekend, so he was on his game. I was consistently getting 4-stocked and 3-stocked by him (in other words, I could barely scathe him).
For dinner Jack took us to his favorite ramen-ya (Ramen shop). This is where Takuto met up with us. He had previously eaten and said he was full, so he and CJ (as well as Ii and myself) did squats while we waited outside to build an appetite. I ain't gonna lie, it was kind of hazukashii (embarassing), but fun at the same :)
A cool little turtle on a sign next to us.
"Tan Tan Ramen"
OISHII~!! (Delicious!) I love these huge ramen dishes in Japan. Thankfully they give you napkins here, which I mainly use to blow my nose in. For some reason eating hot & spicy ramen or other similar dishes makes my nose run.
Switching from food to bathrooms, this is the inside of Captain Jack's bathroom. I've never seen a urinal inside a house bathroom before. Sick.
Omoroi (interesting, slang) nuigurumi (stuffed animal)...
The line up (from the left): Takuto, Ii, Ore (me), and Jack
Jack was, and still is, Japan's premier Smasher. Currently he sells the raw materials for car parts for some Japanese company. He likes to travel a lot - he spent last year studying abroad in France (his French is better than his English, he says). He leaves for Africa this week for two months, just because he thinks Africa is interesting. Thankfully he plans on playing Super Smash Bros. Brawl, the sequel to Super Smash Bros. Melee coming out for the Nintendo Wii this winter, as heavily as he did Melee, so hopefully our paths will be able to cross again in the future.
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