So long ago, was it in a dream?

I am awake at 1:30 am, eating hash browns and eggs and worrying about the immediate future. For, although it is no surprise that I have no money, it is something of a surprise that the value of the dollar has dropped nearly 25% in the time since I first came to Japan and right now. For me, with all my money still sitting in an American bank and being converted to yen when I withdraw it, this means in a very real way that everything in this country has steadily become more expensive for me since last July, even though all the prices have stayed the same. This is pretty terrible news when you consider that I am already poor and terrible with money anyway. So now, I am so worried, that I almost didn't make the food I am eating now, because these are my last hash browns and who knows how much they will cost when I go to buy them again! Insanity reigns.

If I could stop worrying about money for 15 minutes (I can't), I would be able to say that things are actually going quite well. I have put medicine back in my body and my body is happy again, the weather is growing warm and mild, and yesterday I even enjoyed the experience of seeing a parade. A parade! I met up with two of my classmates in Harajuku, and we watched the annual St. Paddy's day parade -- and I can't think of more fun I have had at seeing a parade so far. Usually, "parade" evokes a very strong mental image for me -- it is cold outside and early on a sunday morning, I am with a group of other children (cousins and the kids of family friends), and we are standing next to the curb of a road a few blocks from my childhood home. The adults are all standing behind us, drinking irish coffee and making jokes that aren't appropriate for children. Soon, the parade will begin, and we kids will fight the other kids and each other to dig out the most Tootsie Rolls from the dried leaves gathered in the gutter. It will be a point of honor to gather the most candy, and I will snatch a Dum-dum away from one of my sisters' outstretched hands with absolutely no remorse.

Luckily, yesterday's parade was nothing like that. Though the irish coffee might have been nice.

Instead, I was surprised by the professionalism and dedication the parade-planners put out for this most un-Japanese of holidays. There were no floats or anything of that nature, but there were many groups of different people doing traditional Irish dances or playing music (often, the entire group doing such was Japanese), people with Irish purebred dogs brought them out to be showed off, a heavily-tattooed Asian man in a kilt and green mohawk played bagpipes, children threw and caught batons, and several marching bands played. Though perhaps someone should tell the Japanese marching bands that there is not much Irish about the theme to "Star Wars". There was even a section of people representing the Bretons, dressed in a French-y manner of black-and-white stripted shirts and berets, out showing off their Celtic pride. And! The parade leader was dressed like a rainbow-kissed leprechaun, and I believe he was actually Irish. I took approximately 264 pictures of all of this, which I will get up on my Flickr as soon as the next time I remember to do it rolls around.

Sidenote: I like how red wine makes me feel like I'm eating something savory, like cheese, even when I am having it by itself. As I am now, having finished all my eggs and hash browns.

So, that is it for now? I also saw a lot more of the coolness of Harajuku that exists a little farther off from the station -- interesting speciality shops, cute cafes, all the things I think about when I think "big city life". And near the station, I saw the coolest group of dressed-up attention-seekers ever -- a big group of dancing rockabillies, done up to a T with leather pants, poodle skirts, greased-up hair, the works. They danced like crazy, posed for pictures playing air guitar, and were just generally totally awesome. The only part that was a disappointment was that no one went in and joined them, except for one girl who seemed too embarrassed to get into the show once she was out there. They're out every Sunday, so I want to go back and join in one day soon -- maybe I will even wear a skirt that I can shake out while I dance. How many chances like that am I going to get, after all?