21 Sep Manga in Japantown and Frozen sing-along with seven year olds

Hi again,

A short blog about last weekend’s adventures.

Japantown    

Japantown was very nice! The part of San Francisco known as Japantown only stretches over a couple of blocks, so it´s not as big as Chinatown. However, those blocks are very cozy and when you enter the malls it close to actually being in Japan, according to my Japanese friends.

The people I went to Japantown with, from the left: Timi, Minami (great guide #1), Sara, Kota (great guide #2), and Felicia.

Among other things we went into a bookstore, containing only books in Japanese, which you are supposed to read the “wrong way” (compared to what I am used to), i.e. starting in the back and reading youreself to the front. Confusing! The store actually had a floor with only manga-books. I thought that manga being crazy popular in Japan was kind of a stereotype, but according to Kota it is actually spot on.

The Bookstore

Besides that we had lunch in Japantown. For you who are reading this and are in San Francisco I strongly recommend a visit to Japantown for some food (or just a chill couple of hours). It was delicious!

The restaurant

Frozen sing-along

What can I say?! It was great! I don´t know where the childish excitement for this event comes from, but it might have something to do with the fact that me and my closest friends in Sweden would mix playing Avicii, David Guetta etc. with playing “Let it go” (and of course singing along) at our pre-parties. “What?” you might think, “that´s lame!” Try it I say! You´ll be surprised how much fun it is!

Anyway I guess I expected something similar but on a bigger scale this time; Castro Theatre vs. random living room in Sweden. And I wasn´t disappointed. Let´s take it from the start.

Me, Erik, and Bas arrived first of the exchange students. When we arrived we took a look at the line to enter Castro Theatre. Everyone but us was either a seven year old dressed in blue shining dress (looking like one of the two main characters in Frozen) or a parent. We didn´t get any weird looks though, since the parents had their arms full with keeping their children from watching the ongoing promotion for Folsom Street Fair on the other side of the street. If you don´t know what Folsom Street Fair is, I dare you to google it and you will understand the parents eagerness to try focusing the children´s attention elsewhere.

Once we entered everyone were given a goodie-bag containing, a plastic crown, a small light pole and equipment for blowing soap bubbles. Woop woop! The plastic crown was my personal favorite.

Before the movie, with Senaite and Bas. (Photo: Stephanie Härdi)

Before the movie started they brought every dressed-up seven year old up on stage one by one, receiving an applaud each for their costume. So American! That would not happen in Sweden.

Then the movie started and, like expected, during every song they had subtitles so everyone could sing-along. The best song, of course, being “Let it go”. A small disappointment though that the audience weren´t singing louder (maybe rather logical since the parents didn´t sing, and that seven year olds can only sing so loud, anyway), but I think me, Erik, and the rest of the 20isch exchange students that were there compensated for that.

All in all a great afternoon at the Castro Theatre!

Some of the exchange students that attended the sing-along. (Photo: Bas Geerling)

Vi hörs! (Swedish for “see you”)