Saturday, December 2, 2006At 10 there was this IES thing where you could go see a kabuki performance at the kabuki theatre in Ginza. It was free, so I went, and so Lisa, Pat, Anna, Audrey, Matt, etc. It was, of course, at the Kabuki-za, the historical theatre, and there were all these people waiting in lines outside before it began. It turns out kabuki is just like sumo in that it begins in the morning and goes on all day. We, however, were only staying for one act, so we sat in the veeeeery top seats separate from all the rest for the people who are doing that.
I wasn't expecting much from the performance itself but I really liked it. It was so cool and pretty. Most of it, yes, not understood, but it was still cool, and only 1 hour long, which was just enough. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Pat and I before the performance, silly picture.
Then most of us went to grab lunch, and when Lisa and I saw they were headed for a sushi restaurant, we decided "too fishy" and went to find this Thai buffet she'd been to once before. We successfully found it, and it was pretty amazing. Go Thai food! Then we met back up with Matt, Audrey, Marius, Pat, and Allie and we all went to Shibuya so we could find that Daichu store and satisfy everyone's cute earmuffs craving. Upon arriving in Shibuya, we stopped at the Citibank so some of us could get money and then found the Daichu again. We browsed around there for a while and those who wanted their cute things got them, and then it was time to go alllllll the way to Lisa's host family's house for their Christmas party :)
The hour-and-a-half commute, which gave me a newfound respect for Lisa, was grueling, but so worth it! We all had such a good time at the party. :D They had a little Christmas tree and decorations for us to decorate it with, which we happily did, and it was so much fun. Then there was all this amazing food set out and we got to eat it! And eventually we all had some good conversations with Lisa's host family, in Japanese too! Then we all walked back to the monorail station together, and most of everyone set off for either home or Shibuya (again!).
After we decorated the tree. So much fun!!
Sunday, December 3, 2006I met my host mom in Shin-Urayasu at 12:30 to see her gospel choir perform again, this time at their "Christmas live" (hahaha). She led me to the performance place and then left me to go practice so I waited for her younger sister (whose name I have forgotten, ahhh) to get there. Of course she was able to recognize me easily, the only gaijin hanging around! Kanako-san had told me they had the same face, but that's not true at all, they look so different! She had her 3-year-old son, Hi-kun, with her, who was all shy and wouldn't tell me how old he was and kept hiding away from me. He was pretty cute though.
Pretty soon the doors opened and we could go inside, and we were shortly joined by my host dad and my host mom's younger brother, Shu (who his sisters call "Shu-chan," hilariously), who I had met earlier at the party they had for me. I was wondering where Nanase was, but she was practicing for her own Christmas concert, which we were going to after this one. So we all watched the concert together, which was again highly entertaining. There is nothing better than a bunch of Japanese women trying to sing English gospel songs. NOTHING. They did a good job, of course, but the pronunciation..!! Oh, it was too good. ahahaaa
UH Gospel Choir (HAHAHA they say it 'yuu-ecchi' but when it's written out it's like 'Uh' HAHAHAHA). I took another sound file, which you can hear
here.
After it was over, I got into Shu's car with him, my host dad, my host mom's sister, and Hi-kun, and we drove over to the Tokyo Bay Hilton, which is one of the Disney hotels in the Disney complex. So we were passing by all the Disney park landmarks and my host mom's sister was pointing them all out to Hi-kun, who also asked about a million times if we were going to see Nanase. Of course we were! Inside that Hilton (which is so nice and cool and looks beautiful all decorated for Christmas), there is a big dining room with couches and tables that they have set up as a dessert buffet. There was a stage in that room, and on that stage is where Na-chan was performing as part of this Christmas concert with a bunch of other little girls (and 2 boys) from her school, as well as several middle-school-age-looking girls. There was a mezzanine overlooking the room, so we stood up there to watch. It was pretty much adorable and awesome. Everyone was dressed in matching green plaid skirts, white knee socks, white turtlenecks, and Santa hats, and doing some extremely well-coordinated dances considering their age while they sung Christmas songs--of course in Japanese. So cute!!
cuuuuute
Na-chan is in the front, second from the right
When it was over, we all sort of wandered around until Nanase was done with this little reception/photo taking thing with the hotel staff, and once she came out (after getting desserts and breakfast for the next day at the AMAZING pastry shop they have) we went hoooome!
Wait, this is me at the Hilton in front of the cute little train exhibit.
Me with Na-chan and Hi-kun.
Me + host mom, Kanako-san
Once back at their house, I helped get dinner ready (yeah! go me!) and then we all sat down to dinner. We just had a bunch of random stuff, chicken and whatnot, it was good. We also had edamame mochi--YES. A plain mochi, but with like edamame goo all around the outside. It was so weird and good! Then our Hilton patisserie desserts, yummm. I had the marble cheesecake... mmmmmm. Then play with the kids a little bit, then BEDTIME yay! Since Kanako-san's brother and sister were sleeping in the tatami room I usually sleep in, I slept in Nanase's bed on the second floor (and she slept with her parents). It's like a bunk bed but without the bottom bunk. That was probably the first time since orientation that I haven't slept in a futon on the floor. Crazy!!
And in the morning I got up, ate breakfast with everyone, and then walked over to Meikai for class. I didn't really know the way, and Kanako-san had already left for work, so her younger sister and Hi-kun walked over there with me. I could tell that Hi-kun had warmed up to me because when I left them at the bridge he called out "Bye bye!!" like five times and kept waving even after I had walked a ways away. It was nice of them to escort me over there :)
This visit was really fun and interesting for me. I'm happy that I've gotten to meet so many of Kanako-san's family members. I really feel like I've improved a lot in my Japanese communication; I don't think we had to bust out the dictionary once, although maybe that's because we weren't talking about subjects that required it.
I also observed some interesting things. One was how Kanako-san's sister interacted with her 3-year-old son. Lots of times she would prompt him to say the proper phrases in a situation, like "Nice to meet you" and "Hello" and whatnot, and it was so interesting to watch someone be taught their language like that. I am a lot like a child in learning Japanese, and while I have an advantage over children in knowing more kanji than them (HA), they can also speak it fluently and can express themselves in any situation. It's interesting when our shortcomings overlap though... like kanji that neither of us knows (that happened once with Na-chan: "Do you know what this kanji says?" "Nope" "Me neither"). Another thing was that she calls my host dad "Sato-san" (his last name) which I guess surprised me, but it makes sense, he's her older sister's husband, she owes him respect I suppose. It made me double-check myself; if I have to call him by name, which doesn't happen often at all, I will say "Nobu-san," but I wonder if that's not too familiar? Kanako-san told me to call her "Kanako-san," so I assumed the parallel was true for Nobu-san... I hope I'm not making a mistake and being too familiar!! ahhh. Oh well.
Monday, December 4, 2006Oh, well, today was fun. When I got to school I went to go say hi to Brette, since I hadn't seen her for like 2 days due to being out of the apartment so much this weekend, and she informed me that Endo-san had been talking (complaining) about me to her. AGAIN. On Friday I didn't feel too good so I stayed home and I was in the kitchen when Endo-san came over to do whatever, and she was asking me a bunch of stuff like if we ate dinner last night, and I got in late so I was just like "Oh, I don't know" and she asked me some other things I didn't know the answer to. I was also wearing my usual at-home uniform, which is pajama pants and a shirt that rides pretty short on me, so there's a gap between my pajama pants and the shirt, but WHATEVER BECAUSE I'M AT HOME SO WHO CARES.
Brette told me Endo-san was complaining about how all I said was "I don't know" and then she was remarking/making fun of how short my pants were. OH HEY, THANKS ENDO-SAN. I'm so glad you feel entitled to comment on
what I'm wearing when I'm home alone sick and not exactly dressing to impress. And those "I don't know" responses? Maybe I ACTUALLY DIDN'T KNOW. IT'S NOT AN ALIEN CONCEPT.
Maybe this wouldn't be so bad if it wasn't just really the last straw. She plays favorites and I am dead last on the list. What have I done to warrant this? Who even knows. Maybe because I'm (usually deliberately) not around when she is, so I don't have a chance to defend myself, and she makes assumptions about me (as she has done, if we will remember, from the START, with her little
'wagamama' [selfish] personality decree re: me. True or not, this was after she'd known me a WEEK). I will tell you right now that I am PERFECTLY polite and civil to her face. I'm never rude in my responses and I always smile and stuff. I even got her that
omiyage from Nagano (which she classically GAVE BACK TO US for breakfast, not once, but TWICE when we didn't eat it the first time. I'm not going to eat my own present to you, and how unbelievably rude that she gave it back to me like that). She has absolutely no reason to dislike me, but she does. I can't do anything right. If someone's left stuff out, she always asks "Is it Sarah who did this?" when it's NOT ME, if anyone leaves stuff out it's Aly, I keep all my stuff in my room all the time, but who cares who ACTUALLY does stuff, Sarah is the least favorite so it has to be her doing it. We've also run out of toilet paper twice now, and Endo-san never checks so we'll be running low/out for a couple days and someone has to alert her, so I wrote a note: "トイレペーパーはなくなった。Toire peepaa wa nakunatta. / The toilet paper is gone."
Apparently, that note was RUDE. You know. Because I'm so rude and all. She was all talking about me to Brette about how I should have put a "
Sumimasen / I'm sorry" in there. I probably should have, but WHATEVER, YOU'RE THE ONE WHO'S LETTING IT RUN OUT WHEN IT'S YOUR JOB TO KEEP IT REFILLED. I DON'T OWE YOU AN APOLOGY FOR YOUR CARELESSNESS.
So, yeah, whatever. I had intended to just let it all go, only two more weeks and all, but that was it. At the class break I called Kudo-san, essentially in tears telling her what had happened and that she needed to call Endo-san and tell her to stop it, because it's not fair that I'm the only one she does this to. She has NO RIGHT to complain--even MAKE FUN--of me to my housemates, just because she has an irrational personal problem with me. Kudo-san of course wanted the three of us to sit down and talk about it, but no. This isn't a topic open for discussion. What she's doing is wrong and needs to stop. So Kudo-san said she'd call her and hopefully that will be the end of it. I am so sick of all of this. It's been fine (read: tolerable) for a while, but I can't take her doing this to me!
Wednesday, December 6, 2006Odaiba day!! In the morning I met Lisa and Allie at Shimbashi Station and we got on the Yurikamome NEW TRANSIT line over to Odaiba (which is a man-made island in Tokyo Bay that has been developed with several malls and interesting buildings and a Ferris wheel). The Yurikamome is a totally cool new line, completely automated (no conductor) and zipping along its special little path across the Rainbow Bridge over to Odaiba. It's pretty expensive but it provides great views of Tokyo and the skyline as you go over. Plus it's so cool and new. I like it a lot. yaaay Yurikamome!
So we got off at Daiba Station, where the Aqua City mall and miniature Statue of Liberty are. First we went to go see the mini Statue of Liberty, and as we were taking pictures this old woman comes up, gets in front of the statue, and
begins to read off a piece of paper to it.ohhhkaaay... right.
Theeere it is
So after that we went into Aqua City and explored that (well, I shouldn't say explored, both Lisa and Allie had been to Odaiba before, I was the only one who hadn't been yet!). We had lunch at this place called ZEST (hahah) and I had chicken quesadillas which were very good. Walked around and shopped some more, I didn't buy anything.
heh heh, Engrish
Random shrine on top of the mall. ...Yes.
Dedicated to foxies!
After that, we got back on the train (we'd gotten DAY PASSES, which made everything so convenient, and also you can keep them as a souvenir!) and rode it down to Aomi Station, the location of the VenusFort mall and the Ferris wheel.
Yurikamome platform. It's "New Transit," so that means suicide barriers. See em? They don't open until the train is there. Suicide-proof!
Allie
Lisa
heee hee, oh ads
Palette Town!!
So we hit VenusFort first... which is, of course, amazing. It's an Italian-themed mall, with floors that look like stone pathways, ceilings that have projections of the sky on them, a cool fountain... just so, so cool. Lots of high-end boutiques and such, mostly targeted at women. There's also a Kiddy Land! How exciting. I got a skirt at this really cool skirts-only store called "Jumble!", 6000y, kinda steep but not too bad, and then we all got sucked into buying stuff at LeSportsac. That stuff is just too cute! And I'd been wanting one for a while... so I got a small bag, still 6000y, but oh it's adorable! Lisa got a same size bag but with a different pattern, and Allie got a little square bag with a mushroom pattern.
VenusFort... one tiny section of it
Fountainnn
The fountain put on a snow show for us. First we all made wishes... then our wishes floated up to the sky and returned to us as "snow." Okay, bubbles. Still. It was MAGICAL.
Then we saw the cute animals at the pet store, which were all purebred and insanely expensive, but I really want a Maine Coon they are sooo cute, and departed the mall for the big Ferris wheel nearby. It was dark by that point so we could see all of the Tokyo skyline panorama... pretty cool. I had been wanting to ride a Ferris wheel for a very long time by that point (I think the last time I rode one that big was at the State Fair when I was 8), so I was very happy :)
Ferris wheel! (daikanransha in Japanese)
Obligatory blurry skyline attempt photo.
HAHAHA the picture they took of everyone before the ride. I actually bought it; it was overpriced but I like this photo. The thing they packaged it in is hilarious, too.
After that we went back to VenusFort to have dinner, which we had at one of the many Italian restaurants there, and the food was actually GOOD! I've come not to trust pasta in Japan, but I really liked my cream-sauce spaghetti with chicken and broccoli :) PLUS, the waitresses at that place (even though it was semi fancy) were dressed up in Santa dresses, and one of the waiters... IN A FULL-BODY REINDEER COSTUME. HAHAHAHHAHAHAA. Japan, you're too good sometimes.
After that it was ONSEN TIIIIME!
Oedo Onsen Monogatari, one of those themed onsen park type places with all the different pools and stuff. This one was Edo-period-themed, and though usually pretty expensive, after 6, 1900y, still expensive but less than it could be! I find the whole onsen-establishment setup to be kinda fascinating, so I'm going to describe it here. When we walked in the door, we took our shoes off and stepped up to the main floor. We took our shoes over to the rows of rectangular shoe boxes on the left, put our shoes in a box, locked it and took the key with us. Then we went to go stand in line to "check in" and pay the admission. We were given a wristband with a barcode on it (so that if we purchase anything more inside the place, they can just scan the barcode and we pay at the front again when we leave), which also had a key to a locker in it. Then we went to go get yukata. We had OPTIONS! We could choose the pattern of the yukata and the color of the obi sash. I got a pink yukata with a picture of a girl in traditional dress on the back, and a red obi. Then we entered the women's changing area and found our lockers according to the number on our wristband. Undress, put on the yukata, lock the locker and take the wristband with you.
Allie
Lisa
Allie took a series of pictures of me tying the obi on the yukata, hahah.
I don't know the proper way to do it at all so this isn't really much of a successful "done" picture! But I really like the long sleeves, those are the best kinds of kimono/yukata.
Then you go out into the common area, where there are souvenir shops, restaurants, food stalls, etc, and everyone is walking around in their yukata. This is the area where you can relax between/after onsen jaunts. On one side, it leads out to the outdoor foot bath area, and another leads to the main onsen area.
We decided to ease into it and do the foot bath first. Since it was outdoors and COLD, they had a bunch of heavy coats you could put on, so we put on the coats and went outside. Lots of warm shallow winding pools--with ROCKS on the bottom! Designed to stimulate your feet, I guess, but they hurt!! Then, in the back, was DOCTOR FISH--the reason I wanted to come to this place. Fish that eat the dead skin off your feet!!! Dokutaa Fisshu!! It sounded so strange, and I heard it only tickled, that I had to try it. Of course, it cost extra--about $10 for 15 minutes. But since I had come here pretty much to do it, I sucked it up and paid, and so did Lisa and Allie. It was a little room with seats on the edges of a square pool, where a bunch of tiny black fish were swimming about. You sat on the bench, put your feet in, and waited--and soon enough, the fish came up and nibbled on your feet, eating the dead skin off!! SO CRAZY! It was the strangest sensation, but so, so cool. The fish really liked Lisa, her feet were COVERED in fish, but Allie really found the whole thing creepy and eventually took her feet out cause she couldn't handle it (the guy saw her and gave her her money back, which was good). Oh man, that was just such a cool thing to do, I'm so glad I did it.
After meandering around the foot bath some more, we decided to go over to the real bath. Allie remembered that she had that huge tattoo on her back (which she'd kinda forgotten about!) and wondered if it would be a problem... of course, it was. Stupid yakuza, stupid bad reputation for people with tattoos. We go into the changing area and start to disrobe, and as soon as they see Allie's tattoo this woman comes over with a strip of gauze to cover it up with. But it's a small sheet, and she's gonna need like 10 to cover the whole thing. So this other woman who works there comes over and is all "No, it's impossible, she can't go in the bath." And then they just kinda... WANDER AWAY. No direct-to-us "I'm so sorry, but you can't go in the bath," no NOTHING. I get that we're gaijin, but that doesn't mean you can just be RUDE! Allie was all "I'm gonna go hang out outside" so Lisa and I decided to go in for 15 minutes or so and then come back and join her. aaagghhh, that sucked!! I really wanted everyone to enjoy the onsen D: BUT NO, tattoos have to be a stigma, so whatever, Japan!
[I later checked the sheet they gave us when we came in, and sure enough, along the bottom it says "Those with tattoos not allowed." Hmmph.]
And it was such a shame cause the pools were all really cool! A very hot middle pool, several lukewarm pools, a water-massage-thing pool, a steam pool, the requisite cold-water pool.... then outside onsen too! Sunk into the ground with the rocks and everything, and then some pools in big wooden tubs. I went in EVERY SINGLE ONE, and then came back out and found Allie and Lisa (who had left early) chilling in that common food area. They had tea and I got some ramune, and after that, we left. I really liked it a lot, but I'm just so mad that they wouldn't let Allie go in! and were so rude about it! rrrrr.
Oh, the leaving process. We went back to the changing area, changed back into our normal clothes, threw the yukata in the big laundry baskets there, then went to check out/pay for any extra things we'd bought while there. They give you a big gold coin, which you give to the girl at the exit as a sign that you've properly checked out. Then you go over and unlock the box with your shoes in it, carry them to the door, put them on, and leave! So many series of keys and lockers... but that's just the onsen place experience, pretty much.
After that we rode the Yurikamome back to Shimbashi (back across the Rainbow Bridge at night!) and then went home. yay!!
Thursday, December 7, 2006
Instead of history class we had a field trip to the controversial Yasukuni Shrine and its attached Yushukan museum. This is the shrine that honors the spirits of all the soldiers fallen in war as divinities, and its museum is very politically loaded with a subtle but pervasive agenda ("Japan is either the victim in every conflict it has suffered, or it was only trying to do what was best for all of Asia and other nations pushed it into war"--aka a load of bull), so whenever a politician visits the shrine, it's all controversial. So we walked all around that and it was cold and they didn't have any arrows EVEN THOUGH I SAW A PICTURE OF A GIRL WITH ONE, so largely not that cool but at least I can say I've been there.
Main offering place. After I took this picture, we were all told not to take photos by this guy. Uh oh!Saturday, December 9, 2006Against my better judgment (it was raining and coolllldd) I joined Matt, Lisa, and Liz in Ueno to go to the Ueno Zoo. We saw the PANDAS (cutest little red panda/FIREFOX ever!!) but the rest of it was rainy, miserable, and cold. Would have been cooler if there was no rain, not so late in the day, and if the monorail had been running. Oh well. After that, I had wanted to go to Yoshiwara and Kabuki-cho to do 'fieldwork' (hahah) for my history paper, but it was toooo cold and wet, so I just went home. sad day.
RED PANDA/FIREFOX!!
The zoo's pride and joy, a panda named Ling Ling. It liked to scratch its butt against the wall, hee, hee
Then there were birds
And DEER
And ducks
And bigger ducks
Just all kinda chillin outside this old pagoda, apparently it is the birdhouse now
And now we're caught up to this week. My anime class final and 6-page paper was Tuesday, my last day of work in TOKYOPOP's Tokyo office was Wednesday (so bittersweet and sad!), and today, Thursday, I had my Japanese final and 10-page history class paper due, which served as our final. There's a recital of our short compositions for Japanese tomorrow, and the Sayonara Party that night, and then DONE, DONE, DONE.
But of course, I'm still very sad about leaving--mainly the thought of leaving the great friends I've made here that I really don't want to lose touch with. I told myself I was going to hold off on the sadness--and also the packing--until I finished the schoolwork. Now I guess it's time to turn my attention to that...
