Sarah In Japan

New blog

2006-12-22T05:29:00.000+09:00

Even though I studied abroad in Japan, I'm actually a French major, so I'm going to spend the following spring semester (2007) studying abroad in Paris, France, and I'll also keep a blog of that. In case you want to visit it, here's the link.

>> http://sarah-france.blogspot.com

Useful Links & How To Go To The Butler Cafe

2006-12-22T04:40:00.000+09:00

So my time in Japan studying abroad is now over, which means I will also no longer post in this blog anymore. I hope it can still remain a good educational tool for anyone considering studying abroad in Tokyo/Japan, however, and that anyone reading these entries gains insight into the experience. Here I'll provide a list of helpful links and advice for anyone needing help and information about studying abroad in Japan.

Programs
- IES Tokyo (this is the one I did. There's also IES Nagoya)
- List of other study abroad programs in Japan (the first thing to do, however, is to check with your school and see what programs they offer for studying abroad in Japan. Often those will limit which program you can do)

Financial Aid/Scholarships
- Freeman Asia (I wound up getting $5,000 from them, which helped me out immensely, so it's definitely worth a shot)
- Bridging Scholarship
- IES scholarships (if your program is IES, of course. I got $500 from the Foreign Language scholarship, and $250 from the Need-Based scholarship)
- List of other study abroad in Japan scholarships
- your school's own scholarships; mine has study abroad-based scholarships

As for studying abroad, I can say wholeheartedly that it is a worthwhile experience and if you want to do it, you definitely should. Don't let financial problems get in the way, there are always scholarships you can apply for and if you're passionate about going you're likely to get them.

If you have any more questions, you can feel free to email me or leave a comment on this entry (link at the bottom). I'd be more than happy to answer whatever you want to know. :)

One more thing...

How To Go To Swallowtail Butler Cafe In Tokyo

I'm sure there are people that want to know how to do this, so I wrote this how-to to help you all out. I hope you have a more successful experience than mine (where, in the end, I didn't make the reservation right and didn't get to go, even though I found it!). :)

Making The Reservation

Basic Japanese knowledge is pretty much necessary for this step, so if you don't know any, try to ask a Japanese friend or a friend who knows Japanese to help you here. (If you don't know much, you can use Rikaichan on the pages to help you figure out what's going on.) Because Swallowtail is so popular, reservations fill up fast. You make your reservation online (HERE), and new reservations for a date exactly a month from a given day are made available at midnight, Japan time. (So if you want to reserve for December 17, be online at midnight November 16 [as it becomes the 17th].)

1. Have the window with the list of reservations open about 5 minutes before midnight, and keep refreshing (there will be several pages, with the oldest times on the first page. The newest times will show up on the last page, so be sure to click through to the end). Pretty soon a new list of times will appear. You will need to know beforehand how many people are coming (if you don't know exactly, make a larger reservation than necessary. They can't add seats) and it's best to be flexible about the time.
2. Act quick. When you find a time and a number of people that suits you, click on the link immediately (they really do go fast). Put in your email address and your number of people, and hit the button.
3. You will get sent an email asking you to confirm your reservation. Follow the instructions in the email and finalize your reservation (this is the step I missed, so it's very important. If you don't finalize it, your reservation becomes invalid).
4. Wait for a month until you can go.

It's also not necessary to reserve a month in advance if you see a date and time on the website's list of open reservations that suits you, but those are usually for weekdays and/or for small numbers of people--which is why no one wants them--and probably won't work with your schedule if you're not a tourist, which is why reserving for a month in advance is good for trying to get weekend times with larger amounts of people.

If you don't live in Tokyo and you're planning to visit either from somewhere else in Japan or from another country, you can also plan out a day to go to the butler cafe and make the reservation in advance accordingly. Be sure to look up what time Japan time midnight is where you are (Time Zone Converter). For example, midnight in Tokyo on a certain day is 9:00 a.m. U.S. central time the PRECEDING day.

Getting There

Swallowtail Butler Cafe is located in Ikebukuro, which is a major station that both Tokyo Metro and JR Yamanote stop at. You can use the website Hyperdia to help you find the fastest and cheapest route there from wherever you are. Arrange to have your party meet at the East Entrance about 30 minutes before your reservation.

(These directions are translated and adapted from the Japanese directions provided on the Butler Cafe website)
1. From the East Entrance, cross the street directly. Once you are across, begin walking right.
2. Continue walking for a couple of minutes. You will come to a fairly busy-looking street (one landmark is the Sanrio Hello Kitty store on the right side). This is Sunshine 60. Turn left onto it and begin walking down it. You should pass by a couple of movie theatres, as well as a Saizeriya and some other things (a Tokyu Hands too).
3. You will come to an overhead pass. Go straight underneath it. There should be a Libro bookstore, a Family Mart, and an am-pm on the left side of the street. You should also begin to see some billboards that will let you know you have arrived at "Otome Doori."
4. Keep walking. When you see a second Family Mart, you are there and you should be able to find it easily. The Butler Cafe is on the basement level, so there will be steps leading down to it. There will probably be a line of women going up the steps. Join the line, and wait for the butler with a clipboard to get to you. He will ask your name, and if you did everything right your reservation will be there and you can soon go in. Have fun!!

Last Days In Japan

2006-12-22T04:05:00.006+09:00

All right, FINALLY, here it is, my last days in Japan.

Friday, December 15, 2006

Even though we'd taken the Japanese final the previous day, we still had to come to school for one last final thing. We all recited our Japanese compositions, and my class had to do ours completely memorized. Mine was fine, whatever, and then afterwards we had a little goodbye party (with food!) in the Meikai Club restaurant just like they'd had for us at the beginning of the year. It was fine, we said goodbye to our teachers and then I left with Deborah, Yuki, Trisha, Casey, Matt, Joe Kim/Riidaa and Adam (aka my Meikai Crew--I'll really miss eating with them after class, ahh!). We sort of puttered around the Daiei outside the station before separating. I went to the 300y store in Shin-Urayasu Station one last time to pick up some more presents (it's such a good place to find good, cute presents!) and then went home.

Aly was already there, and Brette got there later, and we mostly just spent the afternoon packing. Then around 4:30 we left for the Sayonara Party, which was of course in Kaihin Makuhari--in the Sumitomo building IES is in, no less, on the 14th floor or so where the cafeteria place (to which I still have a card with 640y on it that I never used up--arrgh) normally is. The Sayonara Party was pretty nice, I ran around getting just about everyone I'm friends with to sign my yearbook and take a picture with me. Matt Farrell was in charge of the slideshow that was supposed to be all nostalgic and awesome, but of course he forgot it, being Matt, and we were deprived of that. I'm sorry, I'm a huge sucker for watching a nostalgic slideshow at the end of something, and I don't like when it gets taken away from me because people, however much my friend they are, are irresponsible. grrrrr

This whole getting pictures of my friends with me thing is the same thing I did at the end of senior year in high school. I didn't get every single person I considered my friend, but I got a lot of them! Allie and I

Marius and Yuki

Ishikawa-san and I

Yuriko and I

Deborah and I

Atsumi and I

SHIN-SANNNN!

Yukiiiii

Marius, hahaha

Naoki!

hahahaaaa Audrey

Melissaaaa!

RYAN LEARY! I'm doing my impression of the Ryan Leary face, which Ryan of course does naturally

Adam hahaha

ENDO-RYO!!! ♥ beautiful roommates Brette and Aly

Sogo 2!! Most of my wonderful Japanese class ♥ I think Riidaa is the only (important) one missing!

J.Lo!! Jeffrey Logan-san!! yeaaaaahhh!

Hyung-Hye

After that, some people went to Shinjuku but most of us went to the Carrefour food court. We were there for an hour or two, I spent most of it talking with Melissa Nylander and Ryan Leary and sometimes Naoki, since I hardly ever got the chance to talk to them! Then the food court was closing and a policeman told us to leave, and since I was tired I just went home after saying several goodbyes.

Saturday, December 16, 2006

I was so exhausted, I hadn't had a full night's sleep for several days, but since this was the Butler Cafe Day, I couldn't sleep in as I so desperately wanted to. I got up very early for some reason, said my last goodbyes to Aly who was leaving that day for Thailand (bye Aly! wah) and made my way over to Ikebukuro. When we rolled into Ikebukuro, I was delighted to see that there were SUICIDE BARRIERS there. AWESOME!!! The suicide barriers crack me up. Of course I had to take a picture.

When I got there, I was early so I was the first one there, so I wandered around to find where the butler cafe would be. I found the general direction we needed to go in and went back to wait for the others. Matt F, Priscilla, and Allie showed up, but no Lisa. It was 11 and our reservation was 11:15 so we had no choice but to leave without her. We found the butler cafe successfully, where there was a line of women going up the steps, who all looked astonished to see a group of foreigners intrude on them. I didn't know what the line was for, so I barged up to the front and told the butler there with a clipboard that we had a reservation (only I didn't use the right word, 'yoyaku,' I said 'yakusoku,' which is more like 'appointment' [usually 'promise'], ahhhhhhhh. I regret this entire action in general) and he looked so taken aback and told me to "shoushou omachi kudasai" (wait just a little please). We got in line. When we got closer to the front, he asked my name. Now, the night before I had re-examined the email they sent me and saw that there was a link for "confirmation" of my reservation. And I could not recall if I had confirmed my reservation within the right time frame or not. If I hadn't, my reservation would have become invalid. Uh... oh. So yeah, I already knew there was a chance we weren't getting in. Plus, when I made the reservation, I only put down my email address. No name. So of course, my name wasn't on his list. I started trying to ask about email addresses, to see if THAT was on there, but he didn't really get it--I bet when you "confirm," you put your name down.

Anyway, so he keeps checking his clipboard list, going away to confer with other staff on his headset, coming back to ask me if I'm sure I have the right day and time, to which I know I have the right day... but we're all really doubting if we're going to get in now, since they have no record of our reservation (anymore). :/ Of course, he is busting OUT the keigo (Japanese super-formal language), which I guess more or less thanks to JSL I pretty much have down by this point. He also takes down my name, which I give as "Sara" and he repeats as "Sara...-sama" which is pretty amusing (it's a highly formal name suffix). Sara-sama!!!! (he also couldn't pronounce my last name so I had to write it down for him in katakana on his little clipboard. hahaha)

So then ANOTHER butler comes out and starts to talk to me in English. I'm pretty surprised and respond in Japanese, so he then SWITCHES TO JAPANESE for the rest of the conversation!! What was even the point of having him come out?! I can't believe Mr Bouncer Butler was all "Oh no, the reservation isn't here, so clearly it's because she's a foreigner and someone has to speak in English to her! Despite the fact that we've been communicating just fine in Japanese this whole time, and she even wrote katakana on my clipboard!" Like seriously, I was understanding him perfectly and vice versa. How insulting. But I do love that English-Speaking Butler switched to Japanese, HA HA. (I've heard stories of people speaking in perfect Japanese to a Japanese store clerk or whoever, who will reply with "Ahhh, no speak English"! ahhh what the heck) Anyway, at first he was going to take down my cell phone number and see if they could squeeze us in, since I could tell they felt so bad about our reservation getting lost, but in the end he was like "We just don't have any spots left, we are so sorry, moushiwake gozaimasen." That's RIGHT moushiwake gozaimasen ("it's inexcusable")... oh weeellllll.

So we didn't get to go inside the butler cafe, but we got pretty darn close, I know exactly where it is now, and I talked to butlers in Japanese. What more can I ask, really. Next time I come to Japan I'm gonna make those reservations properly and I AM GOING.

Then we just wandered around the area some more, browsing shops and such, and after that Priscilla had to go, so we said our FINAL GOODBYES to her, and then went to go get something to eat at Saizeriya (in the more normal part of Ikebukuro). Ahhh, Saizeriya, you're so great. After that, we said goodbye to Matt F (another goodbye!!) and Allie and I went to go see ERAGON. It was 1800y because movies in Japan are way expensive and we had ASSIGNED SEATS (what is this madness), but I did get to have the experience of seeing a movie in Japan, which was cool.

BYE PRISCILLA!

Matt and I before he left!

I had already decided that afterwards I was going to go to Meiji Jingu Shrine in Harajuku, because I hadn't been and had been really wanting to (Aly always raves about it), and Allie accompanied me because she was meeting some of the guys in Omotesando to go to the Brazilian meat place later that night. We took Yamanote down to Harajuku and it was freaking PACKED full of people--like, we're talking even worse than usual. We could barely get up the hill towards Yoyogi, the people were packed so thick. It was insanity. We found out later there was a show at Shibuya-AX (so THAT'S where it is!!! Across the street from Yoyogi by the old Olympics buildings) so a lot of people were there for that. And of course, as soon as we get to the Meiji Jingu entrance... they're CLOSING THE GATES. It like, never closes!!! I don't even understand it! That was sooooo frustrating. The one thing I came there to do and it was my best and only chance to do it! So that day was a day of doing some things I'd been wanting to do for a while... and not getting to do some others. D: Oh wellll...

However, we had a very acceptable alternative. Yoyogi Park was, after all, right there. So Allie and I went for a very lovely walk around Yoyogi Park as night fell. We found a group of people battling with lightsabers (oh, that's a new one), the homeless people's tents, the drum circle people, beautiful fall foliage (FINALLY!!) and many other things. I love Yoyogi Park so much, and I only wish I'd gone more often. We had a lot of great discussions, and it was just amazing :D

Me in the park!

We left the park around the back end of Shibuya-AX (I can't believe Shibuya-AX is in HARAJUKU! Who knew?!) and found ourselves in Omotesando. And there was a LeSportsac! Of course we had to go in. And there was this awesome print with owls and forest creatures on it, so of course I had to get a pencil bag with it on it. OWLS! And porcupines! I love LeSportsac so much.

Then we could see Shibuya, so we walked over there so I could go to Tower Records. This is like the third or fourth time I've walked from Harajuku to Shibuya, I'm pretty good at it now. We browsed around there for a while, and I bought an album, wishing I hadn't left my Tower Records point card at home... oh well.

After that, Allie walked me back to Shibuya Station, since I had to start heading to Shin-kiba to meet Lisa. Allie also took the subway with me, riding it ONE STOP to Omotesando hahah, and that is where we said our last goodbye! So saaaddd! I continued on my way to Shin-kiba, where I met Lisa and we had some Lotteria Burger while waiting for her host sister and her friends to get there. They did, and we went over to the restaurant where they were having this "Christmas party" dinner thing. They had reserved for like 25 people, and AT LEAST that many showed up, definitely more. So yeah, a bunch of Japanese people + me and Lisa. A looottttt of explaining why we were here, demonstrating our ability to speak Japanese (so a lot of typical surprised remarks following that. By that point I had reached my personal threshold with that kind of behavior, so that wasn't the best thing for me to be having to experience at that point...), a couple requests to teach some English right then (another personal threshold there, I DO NOT TEACH ENGLISH/EXIST FOR YOU TO PRACTICE YOURS), etc. It was fun but yeaahh... our presence was not required like Lisa thought it was going to be. Oh welll.

After that Lisa and I said our last goodbyes and I went home at last... to continue the packing. Oh, fun times!

Sunday, December 17, 2006

Got up, said final goodbyes to Brette who was leaving that day for the airport, then waited around for the ABC people to come by and pick up my bigger bag that I was going to forward on to the airport. Umm, yeah, due to a combination of the address on the sheet of paper IES had given me way back at the beginning of the year having errors and the supposed "English-speaking staff" woman not, actually, speaking very good English, they got the address wrong and couldn't find the apartment. Kanako-san had arrived by that point, and we needed to get to the Disney Hilton by a certain time to see Nanase perform, so it was like AGH and I had to ask Endo-san to sort it out and she sounded so annoyed when she was correcting the address, like, "Oh, of course Sarah got something wrong, she can't do anything right" and was just being really rude to me overall and I could tell was not sad to see me go at all when the guy finally did show up and we could leave. Same here!!! I loved Endo-ryo and my roommates but that woman... I hope to never see her again.

So Kanako-san and I drove over to the Disney Hilton (and I was really sad I hadn't bothered to dress up and was just in a shirt and jeans, I really wanted to look nice while I was there and didn't realize I wouldn't get a chance to change!) and went into the dinner area, finally! Oh, delicious lunch buffet and dessert buffet. IT WAS AMAZINGGGGGG. Suuuuch gooood fooooddd! mmmm. And one of Nanase's fellow chorusmembers is a girl who's a "half/haffu"--half Japanese, half American, and her American father was there and talked to me in English (later I summarized the conversation in Japanese for my host mom, hee. She was all "It went so fast!"). He's from Florida and is a MAGICIAN who's worked for Disney for a while... and my Japanese accent is better than his, strangely enough. He also speaks with his wife in English, which is weird to me!

So we got food and watched the show and it was adorable, again, and then afterwards we went into the same backstage area where I just kind of hung around and waited for Na-chan to finish changing out of her costume and be done. In addition to the elementary-school-age kids in the chorus (Mickey's Junior Chorus--awww), there were a few junior high age girls too, and I was just hanging out with Na-chan when one of them comes up and says some stuff to Na-chan and then says "Hey, introduce us" so Na-chan is all "Okay, this is gaikokujin no Sara-chan [Sara-chan the foreigner]." THANK YOU, NANASE. I LOVE YOU TOO. I made a big show of being all offended... ohhhh, oh Na-chan. I have known you so long and I am still just that strange foreigner. It is not her fault though, it's just the Japanese People Way.

I also have a sound clip of them singing, which you can hear here.

And two very short but cute movies I took:

"Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer" in Japanese (lyrics & explanation). Nanase is on the far left, front row

"Santa Claus Is Coming To Town" in Japanese (lyrics). Nanase isn't in this one.

Later I was introduced to some of the other girls a bit and found out that some of them had been drawing some ridiculous conclusions about me--the word my host mom used was "sutaa/star" but I highly doubt they went that far! I just wish in these situations, even though it's impossible, that I could just be approached and asked, instead of everyone assuming I don't speak Japanese and drawing all kinds of other assumptions. --Which are then always negated when they talk to me, and I speak it just fine, and I get the usual "Oh, what jouzu [skilled] Japanese!"--directed either to me, or to my host mom, irritatingly enough, as if I can't understand DESPITE THE FACT THAT I JUST SPOKE TO YOU IN JAPANESE. Yeah. Um. I got kind of sick of that. Although the girls I talked to were definitely cute and everything.

After that we went to the grocery store and got some pasta and stuff for dinner. I think we used the same delicious sauce as that one time before... I really should have purchased a lifetime supply! Mmm, it was so good again. ♥ Then it was time to "yukkuri nete kudasai"--ahh, the most beautiful words ever. "Please take your time sleeping." As I had not gotten a full night's sleep for the past, oh, 5 nights or so, I was so happy to be able to do that, and in that lovely futon to boot.

Na-chan playing with my cat earmuffs, hahah

Monday, December 17, 2006

So sleep in I did... but unbeknownst to me, Na-chan had said she was too tired to go to school, and that she wanted to stay home (the added benefit being that she could play with me one last time). So I had kept sleeping until 11 or noon, Na-chan had not known what to do and called her mom to tell her I wouldn't get up, and poor Kanako-san had to come home from work to get me up! So I got up, Kanako-san left, and Na-chan and I had lunch together and then played together the rest of the day. We found some plastic bow and arrow sets and shot arrows up into the loft to see whose could go farthest, something that drove Koron CRAZY and he ran around barking madly trying to bite the arrows we'd drop down. It was pretty amusing. Then Kanako-san came home and she took me to the post office so I could mail a box of stuff that wouldn't fit in my suitcase. It was pretty expensive to mail it and I accidentally withdrew too much money at the ATM ($500 as opposed to $50... oops), but ohhh welll. Then we went to Ito Yokado and Na-chan and I looked at toys while Kanako-san went to order New Year's cards. I found some really cute stuff in that toy section and got some more presents for people there. :)

Then we went down to the grocery store and got things for that night's dinner. They asked me what I wanted and, remembering a particularly delicious meal I'd had at their house back in January, requested hamburger and corn soup. :) So we had hamburger, rice, and corn soup, along with edamame-mochi (again!) and strawberries for dinner. Mmm, so good. They also had some pink "child's champagne" that we had with dinner since it was my last night there! Aww, so nice! And then after dinner I took a bath with Na-chan. YES, A REAL BATH--NO SWIMSUITS THIS TIME. Back in January they asked me to do the same thing, but at that time I had never even been in an onsen before, so I was really freaked out and did it wearing my swimsuit, which was weird. This time, while it was also not my first preference, I could more or less do it no hesitation. We had fun playing in the bathtub together with her toys ("Zurui yo~!" whenever one of us did something unfair, hahah).

Tuesday, December 18, 2006

Got up; last day in Japan!! We all got up pretty early and Kanako-san took the morning off work so that she could take me to the hotel where I was going to catch the bus to the airport (so nice!). We ate breakfast and took Na-chan to the house across the street where she would stay until school started (my last words to Na-chan: "Sayounara, Na-chan! Mata aeru yo ne! [Goodbye, Na-chan! We'll see each other again, okay?]" Of course, the neighbor woman was then prompted to comment to Kanako-san on how good my Japanese is. sigh). Then Kanako-san and I loaded all my stuff up in the van and she drove me to the Oriental Hotel, whose shuttle bus I was going to take. I could have ridden the train to the airport, but that would have meant like 3 transfers, and just no. It was only 2200y anyway. So we sat on a bench and waited for the bus to come, chatting about what we'd done so far, and Kanako-san was totally crying. I was pretty sad too. I know I'll be back, but when? Who can say? ahh...

Then the bus came, so I got on it (waving goodbye to Kanako-san as it pulled away), and we got to the airport, where I sat around until I could get my other bag back from ABC. Then I checked in (I hate those check-in lines), went through security, waited again for the plane, uneventful flight back (I did, however, have not only a window seat but no one in the seat next to me. yess!), and then my mom and sister were there to meet me at the airport! And we went home.

BYE JAPAN! I had a truly amazing semester and I just hope that I've learned from the experience and can successfully integrate it into my life in the U.S. (as opposed to either forgetting all about it and closing the chapter completely, or spending all of my time yearning for it unheathily). I also met some of the best people and dearly hope that I will see them again someday. ♥

December so far

2006-12-14T22:59:00.006+09:00

Saturday, December 2, 2006

At 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, 2006

I 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, 2006

Oh, 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, 2006

Odaiba 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, 2006

Against 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...

The last of November

2006-11-27T22:59:00.002+09:00

Big entry catching up on the rest of November! Nikko trip, Thanksgiving, and other things!

Tuesday, November 21, 2006

Same as Nagano trip, meet in Kaihin at 8:30 to get on the bus. This time we only had one bus since a lot less people went on this trip, which by the time I got on it was mostly full. I semi-unknowingly made Joe give me the seat next to him he had been saving for Chris... oh no! But he'd brought his laptop and we watched Enemy of the State for most of the way down. So intense!! I got really into it and it distracted me completely.

At one of the rest stops... was a bear-themed stall.

Around 1 or so we were in the Nikko area and stopped at Toshogu Shrine, one of the Nikko landmarks. This shrine is all famous cause it's the resting place of Tokugawa Ieyasu, one of the three 'unifiers' of Japan... etc etc. And there's some famous things there like the three 'hear no evil, speak no evil, see no evil' monkeys and this carving of a sleeping cat. I was mostly happy because it was a (Shinto) shrine, automatically cooler and less boring than a (Buddhist) temple to me (although it was heavily Chinese influenced, so it felt more like a temple anyway), and because the fall foliage made it look extra beautiful.

There were lots of things to explore and look at all over the shrine grounds so we spent a while looking at everything and running around. Audrey and I bought postcards and sat on this bench writing some, I got most of the ones to my AC friends done. That was also where an old lady swooped down on me and began praising and touching my hair, I guess amazed at the color...? Yes indeed, human hair comes in other colors besides dark brown/black! Did you know eyes do too!? wow!!!

Oh, check it out, some real fall foliage. Looks like you have to go to the MOUNTAINS to actually see some!!!

sup torii

These are in fact the very "Hear no evil, speak no evil, see no evil" monkeys that inspired the saying.

Casey and roommate-Aly

Nemuri-neko! (sleeping cat) The teacher for the art class who accompanied us, who had this really shrill annoying voice, WOULD NOT STOP TALKING about this cat. "Did you see the cat!??!"

Lisa and I ambushed Shin-san with my new cat earmuffs. It was pretty amazing. :D

I tried to find a shrine arrow like my ones from Itsukushima (Miyajima) and Tsurugaoka-Hachimangu (Kamakura) but there were NONE. What kind of famous shrine doesn't sell arrows?!?

Then we got back on the bus and drove to the next famous place, the Kegon Falls. Basically a big waterfall. You get there and ride down in this huge elevator to get to a prime vantage point. Of course there are multiple gift shops there as well. It was pretty fun and cool to see.

HAHAHA Audrey dangling her scarf down

After that we drove to our hotel, which was so interesting. It wasn't a traditional ryokan; from the outside it looked like a Western-style hotel. The lobby was this sort of glamour decor, red carpeting. And yet there was a woman who stood at the entrance and bowed to you as you came in. And the rooms we were in were all traditional tatami rooms (though some of them had 2 beds off to the side as well). So interesting.

Once we got to our rooms (mine was the Nagano room + roommate Aly and Meikai-sogo-3-class Trisha), we sat around chatting until dinner. Then after dinner it was ONSEN TIME!! Lisa, Audrey and I went down. This onsen... was... AMAZING. It was like an onsen paradise. The main pool was much more than the tiny tub we'd had at Nagano--it was a real pool, about 1 foot deep and very very wide, so we could actually swim around in it a little (which we did, naturally). It was huuuuge. There was also a small cold-water pool off to the side, which I hadn't seen since the onsen by our ryokan in Asakusa we'd gone to so often in January. Too late we remembered that there was also an OUTDOOR onsen at this place! I went and looked at it, but we had already finished our bath so I decided to go tomorrow.

woohoooo, yukata tiiime!

After that we stayed up talking but then eventually went to bed cause we were tired.

Wednesday, November 22, 2006

I woke up around 7 or so because people were moving around, and decided to go down to the onsen, where I knew Lisa already was. I took a short dip in the big indoor pool before going OUTSIDE YEAAHH. There were 3 medium-sized pools out there (all different somehow, but I didn't feel like attempting to decipher the descriptions detailing exactly how) and then at the far end, three small SCENTED POOLS, called the "sleepy cat" pools! Each of the three had a different scent: rose, lemon grass, etc. So cool! Although the scent wasn't that strong. It was still really cool and fun. Again, the only other people we saw in the onsen area besides us were really old women. We saw quite a few gaggles of them roaming the hotel. The only tourists in Japan are old people. FACT.

After that, Lisa and I (still in our yukata robes, scandalous!) went to breakfast, which this time was a big buffet-style affair, which made me incredibly happy because they had tons of things I liked. Corn soup, toast, rolls, scrambled eggs, and those little yogurt-y breakfast drinks they have in Japan that I love so much. Hyung-Hye and Shin-san joined us shortly and we all had a very nice conversation; good times.

Then back up to the room where I packed up my stuff, quickly went to the hotel souvenir shop with Hyung-Hye to get omiyage for my host family and work (all strawberry themed, one of Nikko's little famous things) and then brought everything down and back onto the bus. Once we were all on, we set off for the Ryuokyo Ravine, this really cool ravine area you can hike around in, which we did. When you say 'hike' it makes it sound like a lot of work but it really wasn't, it was just us walking all over this place until we did the whole trail. It was so, so beautiful, and made me think of Colorado. Hardly ever in Japan do I come across places I think my parents would really enjoy going to, but this place made me think of them and wish they could come see it, I know it's the kind of thing they would really, really like. Nikko is a place that they would definitely enjoy going to. Maybe someday!

Obligatory shrine along the way

Joe Kim/Riidaa!

Hahaha Hyung-Hye

Dramatic Ryan!

yeaaah :D

Dramatic Anna!

I'm out on a ledge here, so I had this picture taken to freak out my mom, but you can't really see it, oh well!

Dramatic Anna again! (It was toooo easy hahah)

HAHAHHAAHHA LOOK AT THE TREE FAMILY. DON'T SMOKE IN THE WOODS, BABY TREES CRY!

When we got back to the parking lot/souvenir shop area, we had lunch in one of the places, where they had given us bowls of meat and vegetables and we could cook them on this open grill thing. There was also soba and stuff. It was really good. After that we took advantage of the ice cream places because that's just what you have to do when traveling around in Japan. I got chestnut, and then grape. Mmmmm ice cream.

Lunchtime

Awwww, how cute.

After that we went to this handicrafts place where we did woodcarving!! Another Nikko famous-thing, obviously. I chose the sakura handmirror design, so I painstakingly carved that out, and I don't think it turned out too bad, though not perfect... oh well.

Mirror pre-carving

Almost done

And here it is!

While waiting for everyone to finish, we discovered a HORSE FARM across the street!! So some of us went over and petted the horsies. This white one was really nice and loved us petting it! yay horses!!

Taryn, me, and Matt. And our horse buddy!

The handicrafts center place.

Then, at last, back on the bus to head for home. After we got back to Kaihin, Allie's twin sister Tricia had just arrived so Lisa, Marius, Casey and I went to go meet her outside her hotel, and then we went to that little 'Mexican' place in one of the malls which I like because you go up to the front and order and pay there, which is just so less stressful than getting the bill at the end, especially if they don't divide it up (which most places don't). So we had some dinner there and it was fun.

Thursday, November 23, 2006

Thanksgiving!! After a more or less stressful day because we knew we were only going to have 20 people when we reserved for 25 and the woman who runs the restaurant was not happy with us... things turned out all right in the end. We met at Hachiko in Shibuya and all 20 of everyone showed up, which is really pretty amazing. From there we walked about 10 minutes or so over to the Pink Cow, where our Thanksgiving dinner awaited us :)

And it was soooo gooood. Bread, turkey, peas, pasta, brownies, pies, mashed potatoes, gravy... soooo deliciousssss. Everyone was really happy and satisfied with it, which was very good since Aly and I worked hard to organize it. And we apologized to the owner, Traci, who ended up hitting it off really well with Aly later on, so I think she forgave us for our screwup. So yeah... it was a big success and we were happy and full and satisfied. Mmm American Thanksgiving in Japan! It is possible. :D

My (first) plate :)

Priscilla is full and satisfied hahaha

Casey, me, Deborah, Ryan.

mmmmm

Hahaha the guys were so full they had to loosen their belts.

Me and the owner, Traci (she's from California!).

Sunday, November 26, 2006

At around 2 I went down to Omotesando to wait for Sarah (AC graduate Sarah) and Hyung-Hye to get done with a hair appointment they had nearby. I was early so I just wandered around the area. I found the Oriental Bazaar, which is the place that's in all the guidebooks, and sure enough, every single gaijin tourist in Tokyo was in that place. It basically just has a bunch of traditional Japanese things like ceramics, kimono, whatever whatever. Really boring, but for some reason a lot of tourists go crazy for it and buy tons of gifts there.

Walking a little more down Omotesando (which is a street that pretty much connects Aoyama and Harajuku, and leads up to Meiji Jingu Shrine--the name "Omotesando" means "road leading up to a shrine." It's become a really fancy area, and Burberry, Louis Vuitton, and all that have their flagship stores there), I found Kiddy Land. Yay, Kiddy Land! I hadn't been before so I thoroughly explored all 5 floors of toys and random things. I got an adorable planner full of Engrish, some postcards with pretty art on them, and a strawberry wallet that's really cute. That place is so much fun, everyone needs to go.

Finally Hyung-Hye got done with her hair appt, and she found me, and we met up with Milin to walk around some more until Sarah was done. Milin showed us the back alleys of Harajuku where he'd found all these hip-hop clothing stores and such. Sarah finished up and joined us and we went to this REALLY COOL art gallery, Design Festa Gallery, that had been made out of a converted apartment complex building. It was the coolest thing ever. They had completely repainted the place all funkily and turned the individual rooms into places for each artist to exhibit their work, and in the patio outside there was all this cool art stuff. It was amazing.

The patio. Soooo coooollll!

Then we went to the okonomiyaki place right next to it (loosely connected to it), Sakuratei, and got the tabehodai (all you can eat). I don't like okonomiyaki but fortunately they had yakisoba and yakiudon options. It was really nice but that was where I lost the original cat earmuffs (from the earlier pictures). I'd put them down on the windowsill next to our table and then forgot to get them. Usually if you lose something in Japan you get it back immediately cause people turn stuff in there... which makes me think the foreigners at the table behind us stole them. Grrrr. But oh well, I did find new ones and all, eventually.

Wednesday, November 29, 2006

After work I went over to Omotesando (again!) to meet up with Casey, Joe Kim/Riidaa, Adam, Deborah, Yuki, and Chandra. Joe wanted to go to Kiddy Land so we met outside of that, and Casey had been there since earlier so he'd already run around excitedly and bought his stuff. We walked over to Shibuya in search of a place to eat, and (after parting with Casey and Joe Kim, who went to go have dinner with Matt K's parents) Adam showed us to the customize-your-own-ramen place. It's really pretty cool. You sit at individual booths, they give you a piece of paper with the options on it (like at Which Wich), you choose, they bring you your ramen, close the screen to give you privacy, and it's pretty much delicious. It's open 24/7, too. The perfect place to go when you're alone and craving ramen, essentially. How cool.

This is what the place was like. There were two sides, with the servers/kitchen in the middle, and Yuki and Adam ended up on the other side, so we could see them across the way before they pulled our screens down.

Across the street I could see the Disney store, so we went over to check it out. The one in Ikspiari isn't anything special really so I wasn't expecting much, but the Shibuya one is SO COOL! The stairway!! From the first floor, you go down a corridor painted to look like you're going through the hole from Alice in Wonderland, and the theming continues as you go up the stairs. On the second floor it becomes princess theming, then on the top (third floor), the ceiling is painted with stars and Tinkerbell is at the top. SO COOOOOLLLLL. Good job, Shibuya Disney store!!

Across the street from that is the Shibuya Apple store, so we went over to look at that. Nanos are so cute! If they had a purple one I'd be almost tempted. Then down the street was Parco, a department store, so we went over there. They had their Christmas decorations out in front so we perused that before going down to the basement and browsing around the bookstores. Next to the Parco is this side street that Yuki knew about and was saying was "like Harajuku," so on our way back to the station we went through there. I was sort of half-heartedly checking the stores there for the cat earmuffs, not really expecting to find them, but in the third store I checked (Daichu), there they were!! yay!!! And all was right in the world again. :)

Us outside the Parco.

DisneySea + the rest of the week

2006-11-19T23:06:00.004+09:00

Wednesday, November 15
DisneySea report!! wooohooo. :) At 10 am I met Deborah, Matt, Casey, Joe and Adam outside Maihama Station. From there we got on the Disney Resort Line monorail train (which costs money!!! It so should not. 200 yen, what a ripoff!) and rode it to the DisneySea stop, where we got off, bought tickets, and went in!! yaaayyy :D

Ohhhh, Matt and Casey. This was probably right after I make the mistake of sitting down next to them.

How AMAZINGLY cute is this train!? I love it!!

Joe!

cuuuuute!

The big entrance thing. So beautiful with the 5-year anniversary decorations. DisneySea is the most beautiful Disney park, I think!

I pretty much steered everyone towards the Tower of Terror so we could go ahead and get Fastpasses for it, since I knew it was so new there was a good chance the line would be insane, and even though the standby line was only 60-70 minutes at that point, the Fastpasses we got at 11 am were definitely not until 6:30 pm. Crazy!! Luckily, at 12:30 we could get more Fastpasses (which actually wasn't that necessary, because since it was Wednesday it was really not that insanely crowded in the park as it could have been). While we were in the area we made reservations at the Sailing Day Buffet restaurant, mostly because it was a buffet for 2400 yen, which is actually pretty good. Then we went and rode some rides, namely Indiana Jones, StormRider, etc, and then we came back to eat there and it was SO GOOD. They also had caramel ice cream, yummmm.

Two Jews and a Christmas tree!!! hee hee

Adam and Matt sacrificing Casey as we were walking to Indiana Jones. Hahahhahaaa

Duck!!!

Sailing Day Buffet

I love Engrish. This was in the women's restroom.

Deborah and I bought the ear hair clips, yes we did. Hers are Minnie Mouse and mine are Bambi. Just admit it, they're awesome.

Then we rode some more rides, Journey to the Center of the Earth (which I had forgotten turned into a roller coaster at the end, and which took all of us way off guard!), and the submarine ride which I hadn't been on before (kind of claustrophobic since each tiny submarine only holds 6 people!). Then we split up cause the boys wanted to go on the roller coaster and Deborah is not a huge fan of rides like that and I'd already ridden it and knew it wasn't anything special, so we wandered around the Arabian area and ogled over all the pretty Jasmine merchandise (that was where we encountered those dumb-looking Western girls we'd seen in Shin Urayasu a couple days ago puzzling over the train system--and may or may not have nearly burst out laughing in their faces) until they were done. It rained a little bit, not very hard, but still RAIN and we were not pleased. Fortunately the sun came out shortly afterward, which made for some cool pictures actually.

Mysterious Island area

Outside the roller coaster.

Picture of the sun coming out WHILE it's still raining

Arabian Coast

A Gothic Lolita!!! hahahahaaaa. (The girl in the huge shoes)

I love those ears!!

When we met back up with the boys they were all exhausted from spending an hour and a half in line for a lackluster ride, and we went on the Aladdin carousel thing and then to the Mystic Rhythms show since it happened to be nearby and it was a place we could sit down and rest at. I thought it was still just as amazing as it had been in January, but of course everyone else though it was over-the-top and silly. Whatever!! It's a great show. At least we got to sit down.

Matt and Deborah hahaha

Casey and Joe

How cool do I look here? No, seriously. I look like some kind of forest princess. I'm just in awe.

Then we rode Journey one more time, then it was time for Tower of Terror. Deborah chickened out, unfortunately, and Joe Kim had gone home by that time, so it was just me and the three boys. It was pretty cool to see how they had reimagined it but it also wasn't as cool as I had been expecting it, and DEFINITELY not as intense as the American versions--I was right, they dumbed it down for wimpy Japanese people. The seatbelts also went over your shoulder! Unbelievable! You only need a lap belt, people! I just could not believe there were shoulder seatbelts as if this ride was WAY INTENSE, when if anything it was LESS intense than its American cousins, which only require a lap belt. So insane.

Tower of Terror with fountains outside

The fountains.

Matt and I in the middle of the fountains

When we got out it had started to rain again, a bit harder, so we browsed some souvenir shops until finally leaving the park. When we got back to the main station we went to the Planet Hollywood in the Ikspiari mall, which was so goooood. mmm turkey sandwich!

The globe thing again only at night

It's already Christmas there of course

Adam actually bought the ride picture, so I took a picture of it hahaha

TURKEYYYY

I wish I looked a little less crazy, but it's worth it for Matt's expression. hahahaaa

Then time to go home! After a very long but fun day. My only regret is that we didn't get to properly watch the cool parade on the water thing. We saw parts of it but didn't have a clear view. I wanted to watch it from start to finish. But that is what happens when you go with boys!

Thursday, November 16
Lisa's grown-up host sister invited her to go with her and her friends to this "wine tasting" in Yurakucho, so Anna, Allie and I went along for that. It was more like a wine FESTIVAL, with a bunch of food/beverage stalls set up and tons of tables, ALL of which were full--of classy-looking people who looked like they'd just got off work, no doubt, so we set up camp along one wall and sat on the ground. I am not a huge wine person, I actually tried to tell that to Lisa, but she just said "so this is your chance to try some!" so I did and it actually wasn't that bad. We had fun trying to talk in Japanese to Lisa's host sister's friends and I went home around 9 to sleeeep.

I also got some good food there, some naan bread and chicken curry to dip it in from this Indian curry place, which was amazing, and a waffle with ice cream. OOoh, so good. We also posed for a lot of silly pictures, including a series where we all pretended to be various people. There was Audrey posing, and Lisa posing, and Matt Kaminsky posing (aka just glaring). Those pictures are on Allie's camera though, which she is missing a cord for, but I'm dying to see them!

On the train on the way over, this ad is new and we were laughing at it. We figured it out though. Okay, so it says "An aroma that makes you go PIN." The seal thing is illustrating the "pin"--the coffee flavor is so crisp it wakes you right up and makes you sit up straight. Really, only in Japan.

Anna and Lisa on the train

The International Forum where the wine thing was held at. The floor is made out of light!

On Friday, November 17 instead of hanging out with IES people like usual I went to work around 5, because there were these two artists here from Germany. Their original work, In the End, has only been published in Germany so far (by TOKYOPOP's German office) but the art is so amazing! They also play in a band and design clothes too. Basically their dream is to live and work in Japan doing one of those three things. So Kiyomi-san and I talked about them with manga for awhile, and Sho-san showed them the rough sheets of Ch. 1 of the Dracula story (English title Worriers of the Darkness), which is OMG so adorable, I really think it's gonna be a good series and I hope it does well and gets published in America too.

Then we went down to the 5th floor where some other offices and the meeting rooms are, and in one of the meeting rooms is like the entire history of MixxZine/TOKYOPOP. It was SO FREAKING COOL. There was the very first issue of MixxZine ever, and all of Sailormoon and flipped-Rayearth (now out of print, so super-rare, although I have them), and Kiyomi-san told me how she did the sound effects and text on the first volumes by herself in Photoshop on a Mac when she'd never used Photoshop before. Oh, the humble origins of this company! I don't know if the German guys cared much about us getting all natsukashii on them, but whatever, it was so amazing and cool. I mean I've been following this stuff since SEVENTH GRADE, and did I ever think then I'd be in Japan talking to the people responsible for it? No, never, I can't even believe it sometimes. Anyway, then on other shelves there were other rare/out of print titles, such as Clover, which I brought back up to the 8th floor with me to read later (I never finished Clover).

Then we went back up, and sort of chilled there for a while while people finished up work and then we went to this traditional Japanese restaurant just down the road. On the way there I talked to Sho-san about Nagano, where he grew up. I think we saw kids from his old kindergarten outside Zenkoji Temple!

I've never had much luck with traditional Japanese restaurants, as much of the menu tends to contain fish/seafood, which I detest, but it turns out all I need is a Japanese person to order for me, haha. Sho-san ordered all the sausage/meat/pork dishes for me, and they were all FANTASTIC. The pork in particular was incredible; probably the best meat I've eaten in Japan since I've been here. We had a wonderful dinner at that restaurant, and then headed over to Awajicho, where we went to a recording studio.

Left side, me, Heath, and Kiyomi-san. Right side, Sho-san, Nheira, and Rie-san.

Earlier the German guys (well, one of them, Nheira) had confessed their desire to play music in Japan, and since TOKYOPOP has an iTunes Japan store, they offered to record a song of his and release it there. He sings and writes songs in Japanese, so it's no problem. The session at the studio was only for 30 more minutes by the time we got there, and he hadn't sung or played in a while so it wasn't a complete success in his eyes, but it was cool to hear him sing the songs he had written himself--in Japanese! He asked everyone if the Japanese was off and no one could really hear anything wrong, which is very cool. We all spoke English amongst each other the whole time, though--it's funny that I was the only one for whom it is their native language!

After that, the rest of TP went to escort the guys back to their hotel in nearby Jimbocho and I went home. :) Pretty fun!

Saturday, November 18 was the history field trip to the Showa-kan and this other place, and after that was over 6 of us went out to this expensive-but-goood Brazilian meat place in Omotesando, you know the kind where they bring the different meat around to your table, and it was sooooo good. I know there are places like that in Dallas but I'd never been to one because they're so expensive, so it was fun to get a chance to go here. There were quite a few other foreigners there too, including several little American girls running around. I ran into them in the bathroom primping, which was adorably hilarious.

And umm, yeah, I should maybe study for my Japanese test tomorrow. Fortunately, after tomorrow we're off until Friday! Tuesday-Wednesday is our Nikko trip, and Thursday is Labor Day in Japan, which also happens to be Thanksgiving, how coincidental. :) Which, by the way, we're having!!!! There's several restaurants in Tokyo, most of them run by foreigners, who serve it, and Aly and I got reservations for 25 people at one of the best/most popular ones, The Pink Cow in Shibuya. It's gonna be gooood! About $35 for a buffet from 8:30 to 10 pm on the day of Thanksgiving. yummmmm, Thanksgiving! I'm so glad I don't have to miss out on it this year. :)

2006-11-18T11:23:00.003+09:00

So my iPod broke and I had to order a new one from the Japan site, which got here on Thursday. I really prefer my old one.... but oh well, there's no way I can use it again, so I'm just going to have to get used to this new one. At least it has a cool engraving on the back that I got for free!

princess fire-dog

That's the literal meaning-translation of my first and last name, hahaha.

Saturday this past weekend was our Ladies Night Out for the women of IES. Organized mainly by Allie and Harsha, they invited all the girls in IES, and about 18 of us showed up. We dressed up nice (everyone wore the cocktail dresses they had brought with them... why didn't I bring mine? I have one that would have been perfect... AT HOME, agh) and hung out in Shibuya. It was really fun and cool.

Sunday was our anime class field trip to Akihabara, and we met outside Ochanomizu Station at 2.

Crazy Japan-nationalist guys set up a little propaganda area outside the station as we were gathering. It's cool, these guys aren't the ones who hate foreigners!

Anyway, the field trip. We all agreed that it was kind of worthless, especially for those of us (just about everyone) that have already been to Akihabara. He took us around to some various stores, trying to talk about "liminal space" and whatever. I guess we have to write some sort of paper or whatever over this later or whatever. That class is kind of... worthless. Oh well.

When the field trip part ended I hung out there more with some people from my class, going around to various stores, which was pretty fun.

Akihabara as we were walking towards it.

We passed a shrine on the way in.

There was a maid cafe on the 2nd floor of one of the buildings so we hit that up for desserts. The maids there were CAT MAIDS which was kind of adorable, and the 'rare cheesecake' I got was delicious. They also gave us a sheet full of Engrish descriptions of their point card system, which was absolutely hilarious.

My food. That cheesecake was sooooo good!

The hilarious point card explanation sheet. Seriously, read these, it's just too good.

Please enjoy it with the color cat!

After that we went home and I made dinner, which was the tortellini I got at Carrefour so it should have been amazing but it WASN'T, the cheese inside tasted disgusting and I can't figure out why (it was imported from Italy, too!). aagghhh good non-disgusting pasta in Japan is somehow so hard to come by!! At least I had edamame, yummm...

And here's the people in my Japanese class except for Yuki and Matt. We have fun sometimes (I look terrible).

Oh yeah, and I discovered that I can Bittorrent Daily Show and Colbert Report, so that's amazing, and thus I was able to watch the election coverage. It was all hilarious, and YAY DEMOCRATS WOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOO (sorry, Mom, you gloated to me about Bush in 2004, so I can't resist this time around) :D

Nagano: A tale of public baths, apples, and MONKEYS

2006-11-07T22:34:00.002+09:00

Naganooooo! At last.

Wednesday, October 25, 2006

Everyone met up at Kaihin Makuhari outside of the building IES is in at 8:30 (ahhhh early), where we had two buses ready to go. We loaded up our stuff and got on the buses. The bus I was on was totally the cool bus (hahaha), we just tended to have more fun amusing people than it seemed the other bus had (and some unsavory characters like Jakub, but you know). On the way there Lisa and I listened to the Avenue Q soundtrack (the good songs, anyway) most of which she hadn't heard, which was good times. :D We stopped twice along the way at service areas (the second time for lunch, yumm katsu curry), where we quickly discovered the awesomeness of fruit-flavored ice cream. Oh myyy, blueberry & vanilla was the first one I got, and then apple! Sooo goooooddd.

Audrey and I at the lunch stop

We stopped at Matsumoto Castle, one of those famous Japanese landmarks that I never seem to really know that much about before I go to them. It was cool too, and a lot like Himeji Castle that we went to in January. Taking off your shoes (and carrying them in little plastic bags), climbing up the steep wooden stairs to reach the very top of the castle, etc etc. It was fun wandering around the grounds after we went through the castle, though.

The ceremonial Pokemon of Matsumoto Castle. Okay, not really. But what IS this thing?

The castle

Me in front of it! Looking spectacularly awful, sigh!

Our group picture

After the castle exploration... Aly, my roommate!

I am a master photographer

Hahaha Hyung-Hye

...ambushed by Casey and Aubrey

scary Allie!

hahaha Audrey

Then we got back on the bus and drove the rest of the way to our ryokans (Japanese-style inns) in Nagano. About 3/4 of our group was in one ryokan, Hatsunoyu, and then about 15 of us were at the other, Matsuya. Which was totally better! Lisa, Anna, Audrey and I were in one room and it was very nice. Just like the ryokans we stayed at in Hiroshima and Kyoto, we had a large tatami area where we laid out our futons and also had a low table, and then off to the side by the window was an area we could partition off with sliding paper-window doors that had a little table and our sink and fridge. Hyung-Hye and Ishikawa-san's room was across the way, as was Aly, Allie and Lauren's. It was very traditional, so of course we left our shoes at the downstairs entry area and then put on slippers to climb up two flights to our rooms.

After arrival, we went down to dinner, which was in the basement area, and was just like the traditional dinners we had in the Hiroshima ryokan, low tables and cushions on the floor, with many different dishes in their own special bowls/plates. I don't remember what we had that night but all our food there was really, really good, and I enjoyed every meal a lot. :D

yummm

After dinner, we went up to our room and put on our complimentary yukata robes and went downstairs to use the onsen in our ryokan. Which turned out to be REALLY small, like I went with my roommates + Allie, so that was 5 people and it was a tight fit in the tiny little tub. (Later they switched the men's and women's sides and the other side was definitely a LOT nicer and bigger!) It was their first time doing the onsen thing, so they were a little nervous but then we all just DID IT and it was fine.

After that we just chilled in our room until bedtime. :)

Thursday, October 26th, 2006

We all got up and went down to breakfast at 8, which was delicious as always, which made up for the ungodly hour. After that, we left to get back on the bus...

The gorgeous scenery we passed by walking to the bus from our ryokan

...and went to Zenkoji Temple (yay, the only temple! Via, by the way, this beautiful mountain route--like, a giant double-car highway arcing up into the mountains, so cool) which is a famous temple in Nagano. There was this "monk tour" thing there, which was a completely dark passage under the temple that you wander along blindly. Even though I had been told what a monk tour was going to entail beforehand, when I went down those stairs I was still thinking of it as a 'tour by monks' and was thus EXTREMELY surprised to find myself in complete darkness, feeling my way along an enclosed tunnel. Oh, that was fun. And by fun I mean terrifying. Adam was in front of me and Lisa behind me, and I definitely grabbed onto their hands at parts. Finally I made it out. OHTHANKGOD. But now reading the Wikipedia article about it, we were supposed to find and touch this key thing to 'gain enlightenment.' I felt no key!!! Now I feel cheated. I suffered through that crazy thing and I didn't even do the thing you're supposed to do!

After that we just wandered around the grounds. Someone caught a huge praying mantis and we all crowded around to take pictures and watch it. ...Not that that went on for 10 minutes, or anything. Then this adorable group of like 60 kindergarteners paraded past us and we had fun waving to them and hearing their "Herro!" greetings, hahahha.

Temple entrance

Grounds

The praying mantis that amused us all a bit longer than it should have

Adorable kindergarten kids!

"Herroo!"

Lisa tying her fortune to the thingy

More kids + pigeons

Pigeons... everywhere

Lisa scaring the pigeons away. The other Lisa and I did the exact same thing a couple minutes later. It was GLORIOUS.

Kiddies huddling around the incense pot thing

Then we got back on the bus and drove up to the place where we made soba noodles (and that was our lunch. Hmmmm. I like soba well enough, it's not my favorite, but ONLY that for lunch?). Soba is one of Nagano's yuumei na mono (things it's famous for), along with fruits (blueberries and apples). My group was my roommates and we totally rolled out some soba dough and then chopped it into noodles with the special knife. Then the people took our noodles and cooked them for us and we ate them. Pretty good!

My group!

The other groups!

We started with this

and after adding liquids and stuff it became dough!

Eating tiime! Casey and Matt

Lisa, Audrey

Even better was the HUGE SLIDE right outside the place. As someone (possibly Matt) said "I like soba. I like slides. Why not combine them?!" So everyone went down the slide multiple times and it was lots of fun.

Then we drove to the ninja museum/amusement park place. It's hard to find words for this place aside from "TOTALLY AWESOME." I was skeptical cause I don't think ninjas are the coolest things ever, but it ROCKED. It was pretty much just this little park-sized area with a bunch of buildings and fun ninja-themed games and activities, like a rickety suspension bridge, a circular tower building that wobbled from side to side, a 'trick house' with secret doors and trapdoors and mazes that you had to find your way out of (which was HARD!), and just all sorts of really cool, really fun things. I highly, highly recommend it.

walking up to the place

Ninja dolls on wires moving through the air

Hahaha Lisa and I

Anna on the climbing wall

Anna and Aubrey on the cool suspension bridge!

Tightrope walking

On the bridge! But wait! We're in the middle, vulnerable and alone!

So Casey...

...and Matt ambush us. Like boys on a playground. honestly!

Finally, we enter the Karakuri-zashiki (Trick House). We are greeted with a lame ninja robot.

Later we discover a 35 DEGREE TILTED ROOOOMMM! Oh, we are all such children. But it was so fun!!

Look! Both of my roommates are in this picture. Aly on the far right, and Brette in the middle. ENDO-RYO, REPREZENT!

Of course, when we all piled back onto the bus we realized what IES had done. They had let us run around and get all tired out and exhausted, just like you do with little kids! And to top it all off, on the way back to the ryokans we watched a movie! They kept us distracted with a movie! Pirates of the Caribbean (dubbed in Japanese, so extra hilarious), but still. How dare they.

When we got back we had an hour or so to kill before dinner, so we put on our yukata and hit up some onsen. In the area there are 9 different onsen we can visit for free, so we went to three or four of them. They turned out to be really tiny places that could barely fit all 7 of us that went, and the water was EXTREMELY hot and turned all of our skin lobster red, but it was still fun. We had a little bandanna thing that we could get stamped at each place, so we collected stamps for that too :)

Then dinnertime, and bed cause we were all really tired!

Friday, October 27th, 2006

Thursday was just so awesome, there was no way Friday could compete. Sadly. So yeah, you know, the drill, get up, breakfast (though I had a pre-breakfast onsen shower, which was wonderful since it had been switched to the other side which is MUCH nicer and bigger and I had time to soak in the tub a little bit and it was sooooo nice and peaceful!), get in the bus and go! Our first stop was apple picking at an apple farm, which was pretty cool (if muddy) and I got like 4 apples. Then we just stood around eating them. I don't usually just eat apples plain, since the skin is pretty hard for me to eat, but I toughed it out and was rewarded with a lovely crisp apple taste. Fresh picked off the tree. Yummmm :)

The digital macro setting on my camera? Amazing. I taught Trisha and Priscilla how to use theirs, too. It is just wonderful.

My delicious apple

Then we went to a different area of the same farm whatever place and made mochi (rice paste stuff). That pretty much entailed putting some rice in this giant wooden bucket and then pounding it down with a mallet repeatedly until it gave in and formed a gooey paste. First the guys showed us how and then we all got to try (I did not). Then after we made it they brought it out and they had the stuff you can roll it in or roll inside it to eat it. It was pretty tasty but most of the stuff you mix with mochi is gross to me. At that point this was all seeming to take WAY TOO LONG for me, and I was bored, and luckily there was an abandoned shrine across the street that Lisa discovered so I went and explored that, and it was pretty and peaceful, yay.

Mochi and stuff to dip the mochi in. I only tried that black-and-white stuff, and it was actually pretty good.

The shrine!

I don't think this video can really truly explain the amazing sense of tranquility that was going on here... but it can maybe give you a good idea. :)
Ahh, I was so tired already by that point in the day (only 11 am). I wanted to sleeeep! But no, we must keep going!

Our next stop was Fruitsland (FURUUTSURANDO!) where we had a lunch consisting of a bunch of dishes all centered around one thing: mushrooms. Mushroom rice, mushroom miso soup, mushrooms all on their own, mushrooms mushrooms mushrooms! Well.. yay. I hate mushrooms. And we were not asked beforehand if any of us had problems with mushrooms. But it was okay, I could eat the non-mushroomy parts of the rice. Then we explored Fruitsland, which was just this huge store selling every possible product having to do with fruits, namely apples and blueberries. It was, in a word, AMAZING. I got omiyage (souvenirs) for my host family and for work there, and a bottle of blueberry ramune (YES) for myself. Oooohhh what a GREAT place. They of course had the ice cream so I got the sakuranbo (cherry) flavor. YUM!

Cherry ice cream!!!

Then I explored the (Buddhist) cemetery across the street with Priscilla and Lisa. Japanese cemeteries are so cool! All Buddhist, with a family shrine and place to burn incense! Japanese are so weird about religion. To make a pretty big but also, I suspect, largely true generalization... that whole "born Shinto, live Christian, die Buddhist" thing is so true. They just really don't care; as with everything (food, words), they import what they like, mix it all up together with what they already had and that's what works for them. It's something rooted so deep in the culture that I doubt it will ever change, no matter how many Christian missionaries are sent.

Then back on the bus...

Chris after buying perhaps a few too many apple souvenirs

After that we went to this little downtown area and went to like three museums, all devoted in some way to Hokusai Katsushika, the inventor of the word "manga" and the guy who made that famous Japanese painting of the giant wave about to crush the tiny boats. Of which we saw the original at one of the museums. yeaaahhhh!

Uhh... yeah. It was a mistake for one of the museums to have stuffed animals set out, because we definitely played with them.

Then we did a tour of a sake brewery, which was kiiiinda boring!

I got this pretty picture out of it, though. Digital macro = so great.

Then back on the bus, and home! Nap attempt (it wound up us giggling about funny things people had said on the bus instead) and then dinner, which was ridiculously delicious even though it was probably 'Western themed.' Hamburger + carrots + broccoli + potato wedges. yessss

At 8 there was this karaoke thing IES organized, and even though I thought there wouldn't be many people there, in reality just about everyone turned out.

Lots of people posing at the beginning.

Ryan and Allie got us started with the Japanese Sailor Moon opening theme song (Ryan WAY more into it than Allie, hahaha), and it was just downhill from there!

Audrey, Ryan, and Anna during "A Whole New World" hahaha

The best part was making SHIN-SAN (one of the IES employees) sing, which he did, and it was fantastic.

Shin-san!!! I also have a recording of him singing here.

We stayed there for about an hour or so and then sat in our room talking for a while before going to bed.

Saturday, October 28, 2006

Got up, breakfast, finished putting our stuff together and left our ryokan!! saadddd.

Matsuya Ryokan!

We put our stuff on our main bus and then boarded little mini-buses to go to the MONKEY ONSEN PARK. We soon saw why; the only way up there is a narrow one-lane mountain path! Yes, ONE LANE. If another car is coming the opposite way, you both stop and one of you pulls over into one of the little side areas they have at points along the way. Scary!!

Then once you get to the monkey park you have to walk the rest of the way on another narrow path. Wow, inaccessible much? But so worth it. That place is freakin' amazing. Monkeys! We got there right as all the monkeys were descending down into the depths of the valley (the place is called Jigokudani, or Hell Valley, because of all the hot water) and it was so cool to see them all scampering down, coming to get their food, go take a dip in the special monkeys-only onsen pool... soooo cooooool. There was nothing separating us and the monkeys, they ran right by our feet. Sometimes I really love how Japan has its special foods and special animals in each different part of the country. I guess we have that too in the U.S., but it seems so much more celebrated here.

monkeeeyyssssss!

Their food is in the tubes! They have to work to get it out. :D

And they have their own personal bath

Me with my monkey friends

Then we hiked back down, drove back down on the mini-buses, then boarded our normal buses again and headed for home! On the way we stopped at this taiko drum studio place owned by this guy who appears to be a star in the world of taiko drumming and even performed in the opening ceremonies at the Nagano Olympics. He showed us his drum collection and then we went down to the basement and had a drumming jam session. I've really done this soooo many times by now, the whole taiko drum thing, that's it's lost all novelty for me, but it was still kind of cool. I was glad to get back on the bus though. After another 4 hours or so, including a truly spectacular drive through Tokyo in which we witnessed the most beautiful view of Tokyo Tower and a breathtaking ride across the Rainbow Bridge (so, so beautiful. I only ever see Tokyo close-up so it was amazing to see it zoomed-out and panoramic), we were home! finallyyy. :)

In conclusion, Nagano was just amazing and I think everyone had a great time. Great field trip, good times :D

2006-11-06T23:00:00.001+09:00

(Nagano update coming very soon! really!)
mmmm, I love going to the grocery store. I just got my favorite vanilla yogurt, this really good instant pasta soup, CREAM CHEESE FOR THE BAGELS I NOW HAVE YAY BAGELS, and chocolate (yes). Oh and the bread with like a hot dog and some cheese or whatever in the middle, sounds disgusting but is GOOD.

Wednesday night after work I went over to my host family's house, mainly to give them the omiyage (souvenirs) I got in Nagano. They also had an omiyage for me, these blueberry things, but unfortunately (ahhh!) I left it at their house. wah!! They were individually wrapped so they might still be good when I see them again in a couple weeks. We're going to this... art museum thing an hour away by train, and also to the Chiba Zoo at some point in the future as well. Zoo!!! :D I also realized that I booked my ending flight date wrong, Dec. 19th when it should be the 17th, but fortunately they said I can stay with them during the extra days, which is a relief. I'm not sure how I'm going to get to the airport from their house (where I live now isn't exactly convenient for that either), but I'll figure that out later. I might have to take the limousine bus, even though it'll be expensive... the train requires like 4 transfers, and I'm gonna have all or half of my stuff with me. :/

Oh, but the thing that was noticeable about their house is that it was completely messy. Which is not an insult at all, I was really pleased. It means they left it how it normally is; they didn't try to clear away the mess for the benefit of a guest. I think that can be interpreted to mean that I'm not considered a guest; I visit often enough that they don't need to tidy up for me. This is their normal life. That makes me really happy, I'm always glad when that happens because I don't like to just visit a place, I like to live there so I can really get the feel of it, so being considered a normal part of something is just wonderful for me. :) I'm glad that I got to come back and see them again. It's really nice getting to meet up with them a couple times a month. I think I'm going to miss them a LOT when I have to go back and I won't know when I'll see them again! Because I don't know when I'll be back in Japan! I'll just have to make sure Bekah comes here to study abroad or whatever and then I have an excuse to visit. :)

The IES Halloween party was Thursday night and it was pretty fun for like the hour or so I actually attended of it. I brought along some random clothes, not really sure what I would be, but then I found someone to be: Priscilla! One of the other girls here. It really did look like something she would wear (her fashion style is a bit distinctive, short skirts and semi-gothic etc). So I just told everyone I was Priscilla, and everyone thought it was funny. It's always nice when random impromptu costumes turn out well.

Friday night I met Lisa, Allie, Matt K, Marius, Priscilla and Anna in Shibuya at Hachiko (along with half of Tokyo) for karaoke. We didn't have a specific place in mind so we let this guy on the street hustle us into one (haha!). 2000y per person for 2 hours of karaoke, that's not really too bad actually. It was, of course, lots of fun. Lots of singing of songs everyone knew so we all get into it.

This weekend has been our holiday (for Meikai people), there wasn't school on Thursday, Friday nor today. I've just spent most of that time chilling at home. I browsed through Aly and Brette's Tokyo travel guides and discovered all this cool stuff I want to do, like Ferris wheels and pretty gardens and stuff. I'm dying to see all the chrysanthemums in bloom. Aly also told me about this really fun roller coaster she went on near the Tokyo Dome in Korakuen. I want to ride it!! I dunno when I'll get to do that, corraling people is hard sometimes, but I'm gonna try!

2006-11-04T22:29:00.005+09:00

Hmm, I just go up and down about how I feel about my Japanese skills. I'll do just fine at work having things explained to me completely in Japanese, and then I'll go humilate myself at Subway by somehow not expressing that I wanted my food to go (the question I dread the most at restaurants because I still don't know the phrase or the proper replies) and so had to carry my sandwich & cookie back without a bag. Something that struck me as truly terrible and proof of an embarrassing lack of proper Japanese knowledge!!

And then I will randomly discover that I can read manga a lot better than I thought I could. In fact, I might be able to graduate to actually reading it raw, something I had previously thought was impossible for me. It's easy enough online when I can turn on Rikaichan and have kanji & unknown words automatically looked up for me, but it's different with paper of course. And as much as I procrastinate about studying the kanji we learn in class they are probably the #1 most important thing for me to be actually paying attention to. And this just opens up worlds of possibilities, I could actually buy a Japanese manga/novel and read it without needing scanlations. Just now I read the newest chapter of xxxHOLiC, and while I consulted a translation when things got a little complicated/kanji-overloaded, I could read the majority of it on my own. Amazing. Plus you pick up all these nuances and speech patterns that get lost in translation (no matter how good a translation), which is so cool. :D

"Isn't it funny how people can change the way they 'look'?"
"I'm all minstrel" (referring to her music preferences)
- Aly (both)

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And here's some other cell phone pictures that I never posted.

Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan in a random Japanese knickknack shop. crazy~

THE CHIBA MONORAIL OMG OMG OMG

It glides off into the night ABOVE THE CITY!!!

Crows for Bekah. This was as I was walking to Gyotoku Station one morning. THEY ARE HUGE AND EVIL.

Ahahahahaha, classic.

Also classic.

Some general ruminations...

2006-10-24T23:06:00.001+09:00

I think I'm kind of going crazy here re: trying to live in two languages, one of them foreign to me. I guess I realized what a lofty goal it was to be fluent by the time I'm out of here, and the fact that I'm pretty sure I won't reach it depresses me a lot, because I feel like I need to be a LOT more ahead on my Japanese than I am, and I don't know how to accelerate that. I no longer feel like the smartest person in my Japanese class, in fact I feel like one of the worst students in it, the kind of person one step behind everyone else in an embarrassing way, which is a very jarring sensation to me (the kick in the pants I needed, no doubt, but still very uncomfortable). Mostly in terms of kanji, but you know.

I find myself grateful that there still exists a language I can read smoothly and understand immediately whatever is written in it. In a time when it feels like all language is unraveling at the seams for me, that is a wonderful feeling. I am happy every time I read something in English and know that a dictionary will not be necessary. Especially something written by someone who plays around with language a lot, and you still get all of it. I don't think I ever realized just how fortunate I am in those cases.

I just hate having a conversation in Japanese and the other person asks something involving a word I don't know. It's so awkward to bust out the electronic dictionary and look it up. I just want to have a fluid conversation. I know how easy it is to get annoyed, despite yourself, with people who aren't native speakers of your language, who have accents and speak awkwardly. I don't want to put that burden on anyone I'm talking with. I just want to push past this and be able to speak and understand smoothly. I feel like after a certain point it all has to just CLICK and you've reached it. I'm intensely jealous of foreigners in Japan who have already reached that goal. It probably takes at least a year to reach, and that's with more immersion than I certainly have with my IES bubble of mainly English speaking friends (as cool as they are, of course!).

This experience, instead of confirming to myself that I am indeed a person who is talented with languages and capable of doing great things with that gift, has just made me realize how far behind I am and has made me question my ability every day. Who's to blame for that? Me, for not doing more independent intensive studying? AC, for having ridiculously easy Japanese classes that did not prepare me for this at all (ironic that I came there hoping to find a good foreign language department!)? I won't go so far as to question the ability itself, I have seen enough over years of language classes to know that it is very true that languages come easier to me than to many people. But it's still not an always-naturally-easy thing like I guess I was under the delusion that it was, or should be. Were my classes really just too easy...?

So many people have done so much more than me. How, how, how can I get to that point?

2006-10-23T03:25:00.003+09:00

On Saturday I didn't go anywhere, just stayed in and relaxed, etc. I dunno. I hardly ever have plans for Saturday & Sunday unless I actively ask people what they're doing. I don't really know what's up with that, because on Friday when almost everyone is there we all have a lot of fun, and people will say "let's hang out more!" and then over the weekend, if people do something, I am not told. I know it's nothing personal, but it still bothers me a little. I guess I'm just not on many people's lists to call to hang out, even though they have my number and all. I don't really know how to change that, there are many people I would like to hang out with more on the weekends, but I feel weird calling/texting them...

Sunday I met Lisa in Harajuku and Betsy and Matt joined us later. I bought $35 worth of socks at my favorite sock store there, Tutuanna... WHATEVER THEY ARE BEAUTIFUL SOCKS. But I still haven't found the other things I'm looking for... vertical stripey ish semi transparent black knee-highs (like I saw this girl wearing!), black/neutral color short pleated skirt, warm-looking cold weather type skirts, tops that are not ugly. Possible cute sneakers, don't know what color yet. Maybe black boots. ohhh well. Maybe at the Shin Urayasu mall area where I got my other actually non-ugly clothes.

2006-10-20T03:25:00.003+09:00

Quotes from within Endo-Ryo:

"Eeee! It's Hayley Mills! She was in the Parent Trap! She's my spiritual homegirl! You know... twins!"
- Brette (amidst a squee-fit)

Me: (listening to earphones) ("Life is a Highway" comes on)
Aly: (can hear the distinctive opening sounds, laughs) Life is a highwaaayy!
Me: SHUT UP!

Secret Tokyopop fact you probably didn't know: When the company was just starting, they bought copies of their licensed books at Book-Off (aka: cheap bookstore) to save money. Hee! It just really amuses me to think of Stu and Kiyomi-san buying, like, Sailor Moon and Magic Knight Rayearth at the lowest price possible. I do hope those weren't the copies they scanned, but I also wouldn't be surprised!

On the fifth floor of the building (the floor I am never on, cause the main office is on the eighth floor) there are those original copies on a bookshelf somewhere still! At least the Sailor Moon ones... they pointed them out to me on my first day. I kind of want to go take a closer look someday, too bad I never go down there!

And yeah, it does amaze me just a tiny bit to think that I am working [if for free] for the company that published the first manga I ever bought (Sailor Moon 1, baby!). Way back in seventh grade... I lent it out to like 6 people so it's kinda beat up now, but since it's out of print I ain't never letting go of that baby. But the thing is, I have become so pessimistic about actually getting a real job there someday. Like, I was reading all the editor spotlights on the website, and everyone's backstories (which, in many cases, I had no idea about!!) are so cool, and I just felt really inadequate. Plus I've convinced myself that when I graduate there won't be an opening for me (a very real possibility), and then what will I do? Sit around until one opens? ch...

Disneyland! (among other things)

2006-10-18T23:50:00.002+09:00

Catch-up time!

Thursday, October 12, 2006

Japanese test (which I got a 74 on... ugh, whatever), and then the performance of our skits. Which, by the way, let me tell you that NONE of us signed up for this or even really knew what it was going to be. At the end of every class we do skits with a partner, usually memorized since they're short, and for this it was just performing some of those skits for a larger audience. We did it before after our last test, but then it was just for the other classes and our teachers. THIS time... we walked over to the Meikai main campus and into a larger room, where we had an audience of Japanese students and had to use microphones! whaaaat!

I'm just a little annoyed because it was pretty much like we were a bunch of elementary school kids, forced to perform for others so our teachers can show us off and feel proud of themselves. Except for the part where we're all, like, adults. yeaaah. Not cool.

But I will also tell you that my skit ROCKED. Seriously. It was one of the best, if not THE best, which has been confirmed by many sources (which is good, cause I went into it not expecting much). I was a wife fighting with her husband who had come home late (played by Matt). Both of us just decided, whatever, we'll get totally into it, why not, so we did, and it paid off! :D

Then we had a little party afterwards.

Haha, Hyung-Hye

Party. Some of those people are actually Chinese exchange students!

Hyung-Hye and Ishikawa-san! Two of my favorite IES people :

Saturday, October 14, 2006

woohoo! Time to escape this crazy house and go hang out with my wonderful host family. They came and picked me up at noon, and we went straight to the Akimatsuri (fall festival) place. I actually didn't know we were going to a fall festival at all. I just knew we were going to listen to my host mom sing with her gospel choir she's joined recently. I had no idea they were just one of many other performanced lined up at a fall festival. But it was cool. I was wearing my fall outfit that I got here, with leaves along the bottom of the shirt, so that worked out well. And it was cool to go to a fall festival in Japan after going to the one at home last year~

There was of course lots of tasty food at the food stalls. Kanako-san gave both me and Na-chan 500 yen each in the little tickets, went to go rehearse, and I was left to look after Na-chan and, later, Ken-chan and Momo-chan, the kids of another woman in the gospel choir (who had also been there, with those kids, the night they had the party for me, so I already knew them). They were all "oh, a 20-year-old oneesan [lit. older sister, basically a term for calling someone older than you, like I am to young kids]! How good to have one to look after them" annnd yeah, a convenient babysitter too! It was fun though, we wandered, and got cotton candy, and watched some of the performances before the gospel choir, including this little kids' dance group which was VERY amusing.

First the elementary school kids danced to the DDR song "Blondie Girl," which was entertaining in and of itself.

Then the kindergarteners danced to a techno mix of "Colors of the Wind" from Pocahontas!! hahaha so amusing.

To give you your dose of cute Japanese kids for the day... Momo-chan and Na-chan

Ken-chan... hahaha

I tried to get all three of them, and that just happened... hahaha

Then the gospel choir came out, and they were very good for a group of Japanese women singing English gospel church songs! I know they had to have worked very hard on pronunciation, and even though it wasn't perfect, it worked. It was a very weird sensation to hear church/Christian songs sung by people who have probably little to no idea what they are really singing about. Very, very strange.

I also took a short sound recording, which you can hear here.

Then Kanako-san joined us again and we got some more food (crepes!) and she led me over to the line for one of the little games, shooting little corks with cork rifles at a bunch of Pokemon cardboard cutouts lined up against the wall and seeing if you could knock one over. I wasn't too jazzed about that, because I'm not really one for carnival games, but I didn't really have a way out of it, so I went ahead and did it, and to my surprise, I knocked over two Pokemon! All the little kids that had been going before me had been getting zero to 1 knocked over, so that was a big surprise. I got to go pick out a little prize, too.

At the festival I also encountered that particular type of Japanese person, the "has-studied-English-and-wants-to-practice it older lady." Joe had talked about running into a bunch at a party thrown by his host mom, and now I have experienced it too. The thing is, this kind of thing really annoys me. I don't like being spoken to in attempts at English just because I am a foreigner. Plus, at those times I am in my 'Japanese mode' and it's hard to get me to switch out of it. I think I dismayed some of them because I would respond in Japanese to their English questions (not deliberately trying to be rude, just more of an automatic response. I was still perfectly polite) and I think they weren't too thrilled with that. But, whatever, it's not my job to help you practice your English just because I can, and I'm not obligated to oblige them. :x

After playing with the kids some more while the gospel choir adults chatted (I made a new friend, a little girl [I still don't know her name] who had been hiding from me earlier but after I smiled at her she became my best friend and grabbed my hand and took me all over the little festival area) we left, maybe around 4 pm or so. We had parked in the parking lot of the Ito Yokada mall/grocery store building so I went to the grocery store there with Kanako-san and wound up sort of volunteering to cook dinner. We got broccoli, chicken, fettuccine, and cheese sauce, among some other things like breakfast bread (yumm).

On the way home, we swung by this apartment complex where Konomi-chan and her mom were! Konomi-chan from waay back in January, when she played miniature golf and went to Ikspiari with us! It was cool to see someone from that time. :) The adults had to trade papers or something, was the focus of the visit, so it was soon over and we went back to the house, where...

I made dinner! I wasn't sure about it at all, but fortunately I'd made almost the same thing last Sunday night with Aly, so it wasn't too bad. Kanako-san took care of the broccoli (we just boiled it) but I cooked the chicken in a frying pan, made the fettucine noodles, then mixed the sauce with the chicken and put it all together. It... was... DELICIOUS. The best thing I have ever made. I think it was mostly the cheese sauce, we picked a REALLY good one that I need to try and find again. It was seriously soooooo goooood. All of us tasted it and were just in AWE, and I ran to get my camera and Kanako-san took some video, and we were just in bliss over how good this meal tasted. I was told that I would be a good "oyome-san" ("bride") someday, hahaha. They were all "This is our first time eating something like this!" because, even though of course there's pasta here, it tends to get all jumbled up with weird stuff put on it, and I made it the way I like it without the weird stuff. I told them it was my first time to make it too, even though I always order it when we go to Italian restaurants. mmmm so gooooddd :D

I am pretty much the best cook ever, apparently :D

Koron! He wants our food. He spends every mealtime begging everyone for scraps, paws up on their laps. Sometimes I give in. He's too cute!

Then for dessert we had POKEMON YOGURT. Na-chan mixed it up while I was making dinner, and she did a good job, because it was delicious. I especially like the edible Pokemon stamp on top.

I ate the Meowth one. So tastyyyy.

Sunday, October 15, 2006

Disneyland!!!

We all got up bright and early (okay, 7:30), had breakfast (I made scrambled eggs and bacon, but the eggs weren't as much of a hit as the pasta, I dunno why) and were on the road by 9 or so. We drove over there and parked in the Disney parking lot and then walked over to the entrance. The Disneyland entrance is completely separate from the DisneySea entrance (whoa! Change #1) and looks really different from the outside too. It was all decorated for Halloween, so black and orange and pumpkins EVERYWHERE. We bought our tickets (5800 yen) and went in...

Na-chan and I outside the entrance

What's up with this mansion thing?

Mickey in Halloween flowers!

Kanako-san and Na-chan

What?! Where is Main Street??? There is no Main Street! There is the "World Bazaar," which has practically the same kind of shops as Main Street, just under a glass awning and given a different name.

Looking at the map, I discovered other frightening differences. Frontierland is "Westernland." There is no New Orleans Square, its rides absorbed by neighboring Fantasyland (Haunted Mansion) and Adventureland (Pirates of the Caribbean) instead. (Even though the restaurants and New Orleans backstreets still exist!) But those were pretty minor things. Tokyo Disneyland hovers between big discrepancies with the LA park and being almost a carbon copy of it. It's hard to decide which it is.

The other interesting thing I noticed is how English is still the default language. Not on the rides, most of those will have Japanese dialogue of course, but for names of things (restaurants, ride names), signs (English in larger font, Japanese translation underneath)... those are all still English. Plus, I realized how steeped in American culture Disneyland is, and how foreign some of that must seem to Japanese visitors. It's almost surprising that no typical Japanesifying went on, and they left many things alone. To the Japanese, Disneyland is almost like 'American Culture Park.' How strange.

There's also a lot of big, big open spaces, which are kind of unsettling. They're there to deal with the huge amounts of crowds, since Disney is of course insanely popular. There were a LOT of crowds there that day, and we Fastpassed just about every ride because otherwise it was a 70~120-minute wait.

The first thing we did when we got there was to get a Fastpass for Space Mountain, and then we wandered over to Toontown and I walked around with Nanase while Kanako-san saved our spot for the parade. Na-chan and I rode the little roller coaster they have there (that I remember riding at the LA park when I was 6; Bekah and I loved the frogs squirting water) and went through Chip and Dale's treehouse.

Gadget's Go Coaster, with the frogs in view!

Then we came back out for the parade... "Scream and Shout." It was a really good parade, as they almost always are. Before the parade they did a little crowd-rousing, dividing us into the 'Ghost Team' (gosuto chiimu--so still in English, just pronounced Japanese, naturally) and 'Pumpkin Team' and teaching us little dances, which was amusing. It was fun to see all the Disney characters dressed up in their Halloween costumes.

Oh yeah, I took a sound file of this parade too, available here!

oooh, scary smoke!

During the part where they stop the parade and everyone dances!

Stitch!!

Hahaha, I like the crows (Bekah will too)

Chip and Dale!

Pirates!

HAHAHA I like the cats on their heads!

Cruella de Vil! And... Hades' helpers from Hercules! Okay, whatever!

After the parade was over it was time to go on Space Mountain, so Nanase and I went to go ride on it (Kanako-san is afraid of roller coasters/scary rides!), and it was pretty fun, but NOT better than the LA one, especially after they redid it. It's actually pretty much an exact copy of Space Mountain, as it was in the 80s/90s. So it's a complete trip back in time to go on it, because it seems so familiar but yet not like the ride you just rode this summer. Crazy.

When we got out, we found out that Kanako-san had spent her time waiting in the nearby line for the lottery to win tickets to watch the night show from the 'central viewing area'--something with limited seating so they have to hold a lottery to see who gets tickets--and she'd won! Awesome! We were a little hungry so we got honey-lemon churros (....yes) from the stand nearby. After that we went over to Fantasyland and checked out the Halloween-decorated castle.

Me and Nanase outside the castle

While in Fantasyland, we looked at all the insane lines for rides like Peter Pan, and for some reason Nanase and I stood in line for the carousel. (It was actually so Kanako-san could go off and get us Fastpasses for Splash Mountain and Haunted Mansion--the way she kept doing that was actually pretty convenient! The Haunted Mansion time was really late, like in the evening, so she could get another one before the timeframe.)

Nanase on the carousel

Then we had lunch at Cafe Orleans (disgusting non-sweet crepes! Oh god, two hot dogs with cheddar cheese sauce wrapped up in a soggy crepe, so gross, but I ate it since I paid for it), wandered around the New-Orleans-Square-not-really area, rode Pirates (another ride that is trapped in time, having not suffered any of the changes made to the LA one recently), which was interesting. Nanase was really scared of the dark and during one part, she grabbed more and more onto my arm and it was so cute. I think I forced both of them to go on this ride, which they wouldn't have wanted to go on initially... hmmm. Oh well! And when the girl asked us how many in our party before we got on the ride, Nanase was in the front so it was her job to answer, and she sort of hesitantly held up two fingers even though there were 3 of us, and after we straightened that out Kanako-san and I were like "Why did you say two? There are three of us!!" and it was pretty funny.

We couldn't do much then until the night parade and our next two ride times started, so in the meantime we wandered around the shops and looked at everything. Oh, and we also went to the Tiki Room, which was WAY BETTER because it's actually been updated to have more modern songs along with the original ones. They need to bring that over to the US one, it would be a major improvement. The four main birds are also totally different and it's just so much better overall. Tiki in Japanese is pronounced "Chiki" and my host mom kept messing up and saying "Chikin" which is "chicken" and I was like "Chiki Room! Not chikin!" hahahaa. And the Swiss Family Robinson Treehouse--another time warp, since it's been changed to Tarzan's Treehouse of course. That was cool. And the Country Bear Jamboree thing, and this new thing called "Mickey Mouse Revue" which just kind of sums up Disney's major works in this robot show onstage, but it's really good and they should bring that over to the US.

While wandering around the shops... Na-chan did the cat thing first, and I just imitated her. I really like this picture.

Finally we could go on Splash Mountain, so we rode that and it was pretty fun, although the three of us were told to sit in the first two rows of the boat! Kanako-san was all "Okay, you and Nanase can take the first row! :D" ...what?! All throughout the ride Na-chan was like "The front is bad! I told you! Mooomm!" During the plunge, Na-chan and I held onto each other and put our heads down, and the picture they took of that turned out really funny. Kanako-san, as a person who is not a fan of roller coasters/scary/thrill stuff, was anxious about the drop and she had tried to beg out of the ride earlier, but she was okay.

After that we put down our tarp to watch the parade, and waited about 45 minutes for it to start. Then it did! And it was amazing.

Yes! The Electrical Parade. One of Disney's best parades!

Alice!

Peter Pan float! And a ghost hand! hahaha

Snow White!

Toy Story! This parade just kept on going when you thought it was over! It is going to have a float for every Disney thing ever made!

Oooh, pretty Beauty and the Beast float

Even "A Bug's Life"!

Cinderella!

Chip and Dale!

Mary Poppins!

After that, we rushed to the Haunted Mansion (right by where we'd been sitting) to make the window for our Fastpass and rode that. It was, of course, all Halloween-ified with the 'Nightmare Before Christmas' decorations, which I'd been wanting to see for a long time. Those decorations COMPLETELY change the ride, which as far as I could tell was the same as the California one in layout and such (except for the updates they've recently made to it). It was really cool. After that, we ran over to Fantasyland to eat dinner at the Queen of Hearts Banquet Hall, which I'd seen on the map and wanted to eat at, and Na-chan also wanted to eat there, and had been talking all day about eating at the "Arisu no tokoro [Alice place]." It was really good! One of those tray-sliding places, kind of pricey (but then again, it's Disney) and I got the rotisserie chicken dish the place is known for. The Alice theming was all really cool and I was glad we got to eat there... we almost didn't make it before it closed for the night. Too bad Na-chan was starting to tire out and didn't eat much, which was too bad considering how much she'd been looking forward to eating there.

At the restaurant

Then we realized we had to run for it to make the night show we had the special tickets for (Kooky Spooky Halloween), so we literally ran across the park and got there just in time. It was basically a bunch of benches set up in front of the castle, and the area in front of the castle they used as their stage. There was a vampire guy who warmed us up, then a bunch of floats came in, then they stopped and the show part happened. Maleficent had tried to take control of the castle; she appeared at a window in the middle of it. But then Mickey appeared at the top! And with our cheers, we vanquished Maleficent! hahah. It was really fun, though. Having the special tickets was very cool too.

That had completely exhausted Nanase, though, and she was half-asleep by the time it was over. Kanako-san put her on her back and we made our way out of the park (no fireworks! It's okay, though).

Overall, a very fun day, but I definitely think DisneySea is ten times better than Disneyland, which is a little boring if you've already been to the original Disneyland. DisneySea is just so much more fun as an original park, plus it is really well done in its own right and so pretty. Now I am dying to go to DisneySea again, this time with a group of friends, and I also really want to ride the new Tower of Terror. It has a completely different backstory (something about an angry African tribal god and an arrogant rich guy who owns the hotel) and I really want to see what it's about. I hope I can go before I leave!

Then we went home, and I went to sleeeep in the best futon bed ever.

Just look at it. It is the epitome of futon. Every other futon (including mine at home!!) wishes it could be this comfortable.

2006-10-17T01:42:00.001+09:00

ah, le sigh. Feelin' kinda down and such lately. Probably from not seeing my friends for so long. We didn't hang out Friday night like we normally do, people were split up, and I went home to sleep during the afternoon and didn't feel like joining the people that were still there at Kaihin Makuhari, even though I could have... and tomorrow there's no Kanda class, so I won't be going over there again, and it's nothing but Japanese class (which drives me crazy because of our teacher, who we STILL have even though we should have switched after the test, wtf!!) and home, where I am constantly hoping Endo-san doesn't come in, and I never feel like I can relax there, which is awful because I should, by all rights.

We figured it out, though. She went into this thinking it was like a homestay only with three people, we went into it thinking it was a dorm, and we could do what we want, less responsibility. To her the responsibility is still all there, and this apartment is still an extension of her home. Which it's not--this is dormitory housing, and we are right. So frustrating. I hate this a lot. Especially since there's no viable solution really. We're drawing up a list of complaints to show to IES staff, but I dunno if it will help.. plus she always makes sure to tell us about whatever we complain about anyway... aghhh...

Akihabara, etc

2006-10-14T11:58:00.002+09:00

Saturday, October 7, 2006

Oooooh, I'm so happyyyy. I finally got to go to Akihabara and do everything I've been wanting to :D I got a new camera, an electronic dictionary, AND I went to a maid cafe. yay! Maid cafes are something very particular to Japan, found in the incredibly nerdy area of Akihabara, where all the dorks hang out and buy video game and anime stuff. They have waitresses dressed as maids, who are supposed to treat all the male visitors with the utmost respect and speak formally yet cutely to them, etc etc. I've been curious ever since I found out about them so it was really cool to finally get to go to one.

My camera is reallllly cool too. I'm incredibly satisfied. Canon IXY Digital 70, another Canon like my old one so I already know my way around it, it's all sleek and slim with a big screen, and just all around cool. My dictionary is really good too because it has a stylus so you can write in the kanji, which is VERY helpful when you don't know what the heck that kanji is and you don't feel like tediously looking it up by radical.

The maid cafe we went to is this one, Cos-Cha. All around Akihabara there were maids passing out flyers and we collected them and then this one looked cute so we went there. Fortunately as we approached the maid passing out that flyer, she was on her way back to the restaurant, so we just followed her there, which probably saved about 15 minutes of wandering around lost. It was pretty normal inside, except for the waitresses dressed as maids (and a few in vests/black pants, were they supposed to be guys? hahah) and all. I mean, there were normal groups of people just hanging out, nothing scary or anything. Everything was incredibly cute. We saw this guy get a coffee and the cream on top was SHAPED INTO A CAT'S HEAD, SO CUTE. I tried to get the same thing but mine just had a bunny face drawn into the surface of the liquid. Still adorable. woohoo, maid cafe!!

Heeeeeehee!

Maid-waitress putting cream on my cheesecake

Me at the maid cafe

AND NOW I'M LEARNING JAPANESE SIGN LANGUAGE ON TV. WOW. BEST THING EVER!!!! No, seriously, this is the coolest thing I have ever seen. Japanese's amazingness extends even to its sign language. I really want to remember as much of this as possible.

Sunday, October 8, 2006

wow, today was kind of amazing. I woke up (around 1 pm) to Aly and Brette going out the door, and Aly said she was on her way to Yoyogi Park and if I wanted to join her, I could call. So I sort of puttered around, looked outside at the beautiful sunny windy day, and decided that YES, I wanted to go to the park. So I hopped on the train and met her there, and Casey and Matt were there too playing Frisbee, and then Lisa, Anna, Pat and Audrey joined us later. Oooh, so much fun. I had never been to Yoyogi Park before and it's REALLY COOL. Every single person I know needs to go. It covers everything: Elvis/John Travolta impersonator people, skaters, bike trick people, hippie drummers, kids playing badminton, Frisbee people, people with ADORABLE DOGS, food stands, and just... everything. It is SO AMAZING. Plus Harajuku is just down the street, so if you feel like grabbing a crepe (which we did), you can totally go do that.

But the park was fuuunn, lots of fun, and it was a perfect fall-is-coming day in which to be there, lovely cool day, completely clear sky, sunny and windy. Just beautiful. Yoyogi Park rocks.

Ooooh, cutest thing ever. The one on the left is the mommy and on the right are her FOUR BABIES. FOUR BABY PUPPY CORGIS!!! They'd toss a ball, the mom would go after it, and all the babies would run after it too but they were on leashes so they couldn't get far! SO CUTE!

hahahaha

It's a bad idea to let Casey have my camera. He'll take a million self-portraits. This is only one of them.

Casey and Aly (roommate)

Matt and Casey on the Frisbee field

Then Aly and I came home and MADE DINNER, which rocked. We split a head of broccoli, and then I made curly macaroni pasta + chicken in cream sauce. It was AWESOME. I can cook!! yes I caaannn. :D

yeahaaahhh

Okay, host family hanging out time~ Disneyland tomorrow~ woohoo!! :D

Rant

2006-10-12T20:50:00.001+09:00

AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH. I AM SO MAD RIGHT NOW.

This is the direct result of Endo-san. AAAAAAARRRGGGGHHHHHHHHHHH.

She came over about 15-30 minutes ago and seemed actually angry for the first time. Before it's just been "Oh, you should do this, okay?" trying to act all cutesy even though she's 60 years old so it doesn't work at all, but now it was just... argh. First, she's mad because of the futon thing. Here's what happened. Kudo-san (our housing director) came over this morning, apparently. We have deduced that Endo-san went immediately to the futon closet in Aly's room to show her the missing futon, which I replaced two nights ago. It was there in its place (what now, Endo-san?). Earlier this morning when I saw Kudo-san at Meikai I said to her "We didn't have any breakfast this morning" because there was nothing set out for us. There was rice, of course, and some miso soup on the stove, which apparently couldn't feed all three of us (even though Brette and I don't like it anyway, which we've told Endo-san), but not a real breakfast like any bread set out or whatever, which is what we've been having lately.

So Kudo-san tells her this, and Endo-san is very shocked and offended, because there WAS food. So of course, when she comes over we get to hear about it. After she tells me about the futon thing, and I explain and say I'm sorry (which is not good enough, apparently I should have come over to her house and apologized in person. I know you wanted me to do that, Mom, but I'm sorry, I'm not signing myself up for a long lecture if I don't have to), she starts in on the breakfast thing. She tells us like a million times how shocked she was when we said there's no food, because there WAS food, rice and miso soup, and how dare we say that. I pointed out "Brette and I don't like miso soup, and there's not enough time to eat rice always" and she says "It doesn't matter whether you like it or whether there's time, there was food there, and you said there wasn't." Whoa, WHAT? This is where WE LIVE. We PAY YOU to feed us. This has been a problem that we brought up specifically before: we can't just have rice and something else (one time we had rice and cabbage) for breakfast, there has to be more. She has been told this before.

I didn't back down. I looked right at her and I said clearly, "Awhile back, we said bread was best for breakfast because we're busy. Didn't we?" Ohhh, I was so ready for a fight. If she spoke English it would have been ON. But since I can't express all of what I'd like to say, I had to settle for that.

Then, other things. We had dishes still out from dinner, and she told us we should wash them right away. I said I was going to wash them after I finished this movie, and she said no, wash them before. Aly had left a pan out that she hadn't washed because she'd needed to catch her train (even though she'd washed all her other dishes) and Endo-san said that didn't matter, she needed to wash it right away. This has come up NUMEROUS times before. What is the big deal!? The dishes WILL get washed eventually, why do they need to be washed IMMEDIATELY?? I am SO SICK AND TIRED of her ordering us around and telling us what we need to do when WE LIVE HERE, WE ARE PAYING TO LIVE HERE, YOU ARE NOT OUR MOTHER OR GRANDMOTHER OR ANYONE WITH SUCH AUTHORITY OVER US.

Then she said that all of our rooms were dirty (how does she know? Our doors are closed, and she's not supposed to come in. We figured out that this morning with Kudo-san, they looked in all our rooms. I'm so glad they felt free to go and do that. Thanks. I don't mind Kudo-san looking in my room, but I mind Endo-san going ahead and going in when she's not supposed to, and when we're not home) and that we needed to keep them clean. You know why? Because (this is the kicker) when we leave, if she had to pay someone to clean the apartment, it'll be expensive.

OH, WHAT!??! ARE YOU EVEN KIDDING ME HERE?? YOU DIDN'T CLEAN BEFORE WE GOT HERE!!!!! And how does having a bunch of stuff on the floor equal PERMANENT DAMAGE THAT YOU'LL HAVE TO PAY TO REPAIR?? It does not!!!!!! And also, this is MY ROOM. I can do whatever I want with it as long as I don't leave permanent damage. WHICH I'M NOT GOING TO.

Like, I just don't know how to get across that we ARE NOT OBLIGATED to do the things she wants us to. We don't have to wash our dishes immediately after eating, as long as they do get washed. We don't have to clean our rooms every day, they are our rooms. YOU CANNOT ORDER US AROUND. I want to say this to her, but I fear the repercussions, and I know that would just mean another long conversation, and usually I just want her to leave as soon as possible so we can RELAX.

She also said (oh, this is rich) that "This is my house. This isn't a school dorm." UM, THEN WHY DID WE ALL CHOOSE THE DORM OPTION AND WIND UP WITH THIS?!?!? THIS IS A SCHOOL DORM. IT IS NO LONGER YOUR HOUSE FOR THE TIME BEING. QUIT TRYING TO BEHAVE AS IF IT STILL IS AND WE ALL HAVE TO MIND EVERY SINGLE THING YOU WANT US TO DO.

I really seriously think we're getting gypped here. I can't believe all this freaking money that I'm paying for housing and food is GOING to her. I just can't see how she's actually using all of it, even though she apparently is. We can tell she buys the food that's on sale. But there's nothing I can do! We'll talk to Kudo-san, again, and Kudo-san will call her, again, and then--of course--WE get to hear all about it, and hear her excuses for why we're mistaken, and all of the million defenses she has for why there's no possible way what we're saying could be true. I hate overly defensive people. I hate old people who are too set in their ways. I HATE THIS!!!

(Once again... I love my roommates. I love it here... when Endo-san is not around. But it's getting to be too much. She wants to be in every aspect of our lives when we're here. Everything is her business. We're used to being independent. We're basically adults. I do not like being treated like a child and told what to do! This isn't a matter of fitting in to Japanese society, this is really getting to be things that, no matter what culture, we are not obligated to do. Plus I've ceased to think of her as the epitome of Japanese culture she seems to think she is, anyway. I feel no obligation to abide by whatever she thinks is right just because I'm in Japan.)

I'm so glad I'm going to my old host family's this weekend. SO GLAD.

2006-10-11T00:33:00.002+09:00

Oh, god, what a freaking roller coaster of a day. I'm not one to be shaken up by drama that often so this is pretty unsettling. The futon mess with Endo-san continues, as even though she has told us she'll lend us out her futons now, I still had a different one left under my bed and she FLIPPED OUT that it was missing and lectured Aly and Brette for like hours tonight. I missed all of this because I went with Lisa to a piano concert by her piano teacher back at college, but I'm just really dreading whatever will happen next when I have to face her again. I put the futon I took back in the closet but of course it's not going to be the end of things. I know I'll get lectured again, or whatever. ugghhhh.

I just really, really don't want to have to DEAL with Endo-san, and god, I just hate that this isn't our space. She invades it at all opportunities and doesn't just let us DO THINGS our own way, on our own, she has to constantly instruct us on how to do it and it SUCKS to be living in an apartment still full of someone else's JUNK because they CANNOT STOP caring about what may happen to it while we're here. THEN YOU SHOULDN'T HAVE RENTED IT OUT IN THE FIRST PLACE!! I am never, ever, ever subletting or renting a house if I can HELP it. god!!! Landlords SUCK.

And there's a Japanese test on Thursday that I'm probably going to FAIL again, which will be lovely, and I STILL HATE OUR NEW TEACHER IN THAT CLASS WHY IS SHE SO INSANE. Why is my life filled with insane Japanese women that I HATE having to deal with?!
(Don't worry. This is just a rant. No, seriously, I'm really just fine overall. But this is all so aggravating!!)

2006-10-05T23:47:00.001+09:00

Today I got to ride my bike home in the rain!! I didn't bring an umbrella and the light sprinkles we'd had all day had turned into something harder by the time I needed to get home from the station. At first I thought it would be fun and exhilarating, and then I just got completely soaked. It was okay though. I immediately hung all my clothes up to dry and spent the rest of the evening relaxing at home, finishing my Japanese homework and a translation for TOKYOPOP. I'm still just doing little things here and there but it's been fun. Stu, the CEO guy, is also here now, he'll be in Japan for the next month. He looks a little different, but he remembered me, that was cool!

I love the KFC kids meals here cause you always get the coolest, most random toys. In January I got that funky Curious George plate, this time I got a lunchbox. So cool.

I really, really like both of my roommates. We have so much fun together. Every night we sit in the living room/kitchen area with our laptops and listen to hilarious music and look at random stuff on the Internet while doing our homework/whatever. I'm pretty lucky, I guess, thinking of all the people who end up really unhappy with randomly-chosen roommates. (Then again, it'd be different if we were sharing rooms or something like that.) But despite the Endo-san shenanigans, I really enjoy living here in this situation, and I'm happy I have good roommates I can have fun with. :)
(We STILL don't have our real Internet up yet, we continue to steal wireless from our neighbors, but that's another story altogether!!!)

2006-10-03T23:24:00.001+09:00

Hmmm, not much to saaay... last Sunday I went to Harajuku with Lisa, Matt, Allison, Priscilla, and Liz, which was lots of fun. It was nice to go back to another place I hadn't been since January. We shopped all up and down Takeshita-doori and I spent maybe a bit too much but I have lots of cool new socks now, so I consider it a fair exchange. :D! I also got one of those skirt+leggings ensembles that seem to be kind of popular now. The leggings end a little below the knee and have lace along the bottom. They're really cute. I was suspicious of this whole leggings thing because I will admit that I used to abuse leggings in elementary school, but I think it's safe for me to own a pair again.

It had been raining a little (not very hard) the 4 hours we had been wandering around though (I got a pink semi-clear umbrella! So cool) so after we got done shopping, instead of doing anything like going to Yoyogi Park (where bands play) or the bridge where the cosplaying people are, we all just went back home. Kind of laaaame, but we all said we'd come back someday when the weather was better.

Backtracking a little, last Tuesday like I said, I went to Lisa's host family's house for dinner, and we totally rode the monorail. IT WAS SOOOO COOL. The rails are above the train, and it hangs suspended from them. Watching it pull out of the station and glide away into the night over the streets and through the buildings was probably one of the coolest things I've ever seen. MONORAAAAIILLLL <3 And it was fun at her house too, her host mom made a ton of really delicious food (I forgot to bring a gift!!!!! I felt so bad) and it was really cool. When I needed to leave it was still raining really hard outside so her host mom drove me to the monorail station, which was really nice. By the time I got all the way back to where I live (this was wayyyy out in Chiba, far west of where I live, closer to Tokyo) it was only raining a little bit and I could ride my bike home no problems, even without an umbrella (like I can do that hold-the-umbrella-with-one-hand-bike-with-the-other thing anyway! I need one of those things that holds the umbrella up for you).

Dinner with Endo-san has been really weird lately. We agreed on a time for dinner: 6 pm. So first, we all get back around 6:10 one time and she tells us we're "late." Right. Now she's started bringing dinner in at 5:15 or 5:30, when usually only one or two of us is home yet, and saying "Everyone's late, huh?" Um, whaaaa? It's not even our set dinnertime! Don't say we're late! And then sometimes SHE'LL be late, and come in and tell us she didn't have time to make us anything proper and just give us something we know she warmed up really fast. Today I got home and dinner looked very promising. One of the dishes was this sort of pasta salad with lettuce bits, pasta (the kind that the Cheesy Alfredo macaroni & cheese used to have--Mom knows the kind!--so I was really excited about that) and some meat things. So I take a bite of the pasta and realize... the meat things are tuna. And I poke around it more, and I discover TINY SHELLS. What!??! She knows two of us don't eat fish!! Why is she serving us stuff with fish in it?! I tried to wash out the pasta and get rid of the fishy bits, but I couldn't. It was completely contaminated. agh!!! And I love that kind of pasta, so I really wanted to eat it! But no!! arrrgh.

Brette and I contented ourselves with going to the grocery store, where I got cream sauce and macaroni pasta so I can make my own proper pasta next Sunday. Ha! I also got a bunch of crazy candy/Pokemon themed snacks for Bekah. As soon as I can find a box to mail it in, I'm sending her stuff.

I also thought my bike was stolen today because it wasn't where I parked it in front of the station. I really got all worried, thinking I'd have to call my old host mom in tears telling her the bike got stolen, and I even entertained notions of going to the police (the police station is right next door) but wondered if they could even do anything, and I didn't even know the word for "steal"... well, it was there, just someone had moved it!! To the row behind the row I was parked in. whyyy? This has never happened before! But the most important thing is the bike was not stolen. Which is good, because who would want that old thing anyway? Well, I like riding it of course, but it's plain and silver, no allure for the hoodlums running around stealing bikes.

I am kind of dying to go to Disneyland (it'll be this weekend or the next, probably the next) but I need to get a new camera first. Mine is pretty much dead. I can get the camera duty-free too, 5% discount! So I think it's gonna have to be Akihabara this weekend if I have any say about it. I'm also really tempted to get a Nintendo DS and Pokemon, I wasn't originally that interested but some guys here bought those things and they're having a lot of fun with them. Plus I bet it'll help my Japanese a lot and be something fun to do on the train (besides listen to music and zone out), but that's another $200 purchase I probably don't need to make. Oooh, I really want a white DS though... I also think I'm going to go to the Pokemon Center in Nihombashi sometime soon. I'm gonna take a bunch of pictures and make Bekah totally jealous! :D

Our IES field trip to Nagano (1998 Winter Olympics site!!) is coming up at the end of the month too, I'm totally excited. We get to go to the monkey onsen!!! (read about it! If you click the "Japanese Macaque" link you can see a picture of the monkeys IN the hot springs pools!) And do lots of other cool stuff! yayy

2006-09-30T12:09:00.002+09:00

grrrr. I hate when people ring our bell and it's no one I know. Just now that happened and I had to go out in my bathrobe and see what was up. It was some woman with like six children trailing after her wanting to know where Endo-san was. Like I know?! I'm mostly annoyed that it gave those kids a big fat chance to stare at me, the disheveled gaijin, and I'm not really in the mood for that when I'm in pajamas and a bathrobe. Stupid kids.

I guess I could have picked up the phone and talked to her through the intercom (fancy Japanese door-answering technology! Some homes even have a video screen where you can see the visitor). But that's so strange to me that I never think I can really do it.

I'm also a little annoyed because we had a Japanese test on Tuesday and got them back yesterday, and I didn't do very well. In my defense, neither did many other people in the class, since no one knew what to expect (we weren't told what would be on it, just that we'd have a test) and they graded it pretty harshly. Then also, we switched teachers, so now instead of the three teachers, our class has one (and one of the old three on Thursdays), and she's the most irritating one. She does that thing where she talks to us like we're children, way too happy and smiley, and I hate when teachers do that. I want my old teachers back!!! I hate this switching around thing. The whole point of a class is to build up a good relationship with your teacher. Even though we had three, I still liked all of them. Now we only have one and I don't like her at all. This does not bode well. We'll switch again in another couple of weeks but I still don't like how they're doing this.

I also ate a Pokemon-themed bread thing yesterday. It was a curry bread, so inside it was flavored like curry. Which, I like curry, but not inside the middle of bread, that was weird. I got it because it was the Vulpix bread (each bread had a different Pokemon on it) and that was my favorite Pokemon. Inside is a little sticker thing of another Pokemon that I'm going to give to Bekah. I wish I could mail her some Pokemon bread but it would definitely have gone bad by the time it got to her. Oh well.

My nose is still stuffy (I think I've lost the ability to smell) and my throat hurts from time to time. Hyung-Hye is convinced I need to go to the doctor and she says if I'm not completely better by next week, we're going. I just don't understand, because I feel fine overall, what's with these persistent symptoms?

2006-09-28T21:09:00.001+09:00

Well, today was certainly interesting. Part of the Keiyo Line that we take to school broke down because some cable(s) caught on fire or something between Shin Urayasu and Tokyo, so when we got to the station to go to Japanese class this morning, no trains were coming and it soon became apparent that there weren't going to be any for a while. (Our station that we stop at, Shin Urayasu, was also completely shut down.) The alternative the station people were giving us was to take a free bus ticket, get on a bus to Gyotoku Station, and use that line to go to where you needed to go. Or take a taxi. Riiight. Fortunately for us, class was canceled entirely!! :D But it was just so interesting to see people arrive to the station (one woman even got off her bus and started running to catch her train!), realize they couldn't get past the ticket gates, and come back and mill about. Just like ants when a part of the anthill is destroyed, or lemmings with some obstacle suddenly set in their path. But we were ants and lemmings too. We just went home, and Brette was going to walk up to the area by Gyotoku Station to get her gaijin card and then get Mister Donut, and I went with her and got some doughnuts. Mmmmmm Mister Donut is soooo gooood. I got three doughnuts and, instead of saving one for later like I thought, ate them all. soooo goooood!

I also took advantage of our extra time to do my laundry (I was really down to my last articles of clothing) and take a nap. My afternoon class, History of Tokyo, was a field trip, so around 1 I left for that. It was at Ryogoku, the same place we saw sumo, and we went to the Edo-Tokyo Museum. That place is REALLY COOL. All the exhibits are things like miniature models of a samurai's living complex, life-size representations of merchant houses, models of famous buildings, and it was all just so hands-on and interesting. A really, really cool museum, and now I understand what Melissa was talking about over Janterm when she raved about it.

After that, Lisa, Anna and I went back to Kaihin Makuhari and we went to the Mexican cafe/restaurant place in one of the area malls. I got a quesadilla and some ice cream for dessert. The quesadilla was definitely good but you could tell it was a form of Japanified Mexican food. Oh well! We just stayed there for a while chatting, and then I went home around 7 or so. The Keiyo Line was up and running again so I could take that home.

Oh yeah, and before work yesterday I got my gaijin card. Or rather, my alien registration card, but everyone calls it the gaijin card. If you're going to be staying in Japan longer than like a month or so, you have to go register and get one. We already did the registration and this week we could go pick it up. If a policeman asks me for it, I have to show it to him, and if I don't have it then legally he can take me to the police station and question me for hours and even make me come in to court for it. Seriously. There's some horror stories floating around online that you can read where that's happened to people. If I hadn't been planning to just carry it in my wallet all the time, then you can bet after reading that I definitely would have!

Still have a little cough/sometimes sore throat/occasional sniffle but I hope it's continuing to clear up more and more. Lisa finally went to the clinic yesterday after having like a three-week cold and I guess if it holds out that long I'll have to do the same, even though I don't want to.

2006-09-26T17:05:00.000+09:00

Okay. I have been sloooowly but surely getting better. Maybe. I hope. Today my voice returned (since it cruelly abandoned me over the course of the cold), which I took as a good sign, and even though I'm still coughing, it's getting to be more of a normal dry cough and less nasty sounding. Last night was weird in that my forehead and cheeks started feeling really hot like I had a fever right before I fell asleep, but I took an Advil and went to sleep and was fine in the morning, with my voice restored. So, hm.

It's RAINING here, and I didn't bring my umbrella. On the bright side, tonight I'm going to Lisa's host family's house for dinner, and we get to take the CHIBA MONORAIL, which I am ridiculously excited about using. It is suspended from the rails. What's not to love?!

There's more, but I can't really think of it at the moment, so I'll just update more later!

Tokyo Game Show 06

2006-09-24T23:11:00.004+09:00

I went to the Tokyo Game Show today. I went by myself to Kaihin Makuhari (it's called Tokyo Game Show but actually held in Chiba at the Makuhari Messe, which is in the same city as the IES center) and then called up the girl geeks of IES, who I rarely hang out with but I hung out with today because there was, honestly, no one else I was friends with going, aka TK, Heidi, Caitlin, etc. Went around with them, played the Kingdom Hearts DS game trial in order to get the Roxas wristband, saw cosplayers, saw Seki Tomokazu (♥), and so forth. It was quite, quite fun.

Tokyo Game Show! what what

reprezent

KH mural outside Squeenix.

In line for the Squeenix preview films.

Seki Tomokazu ♥

He talked a lot about how much he loves meat. Hilarious.

More mural pictures. I took these mostly for my friend Mary Anne. I had to be so zoomed in because the line to play the game demo was in front of this, so I couldn't get a clear unobstructed shot.

2006-09-22T11:35:00.000+09:00

wah, after yesterday when I felt just fine all day, I woke up today and went to class only to realize that I was feeling even worse!! My voice is going (even though my throat doesn't hurt that much), and I just feel all blah. Even so, it's not terrible, I can still do things, but class was just too much for me. I told Ishikawa-san at IES about it, and she asked me if I wanted to go to the doctor, but I said no, it's not that bad and it'll be expensive... I think I need to sleep for the rest of the day, and rest over the weekend, and if it's not better by Monday I'll go to the doctor then.

My guess is that it's the seasons changing. Every day it's a mixture of warm and cool, some days more one extreme than the other, with rain every couple of days, and that can really wreak havoc on your body. (You'd think I'd be used to it, though, living in Texas!)

On the bright side, today walking to school I definitely saw at least 5 people who are Disney performers going to work. It's really easy to pick them out. We have too much fun doing it.

(blonde girl with sunglasses riding a bicycle goes by)
Brette and I: (look at each other) ...Disney.

2006-09-20T13:02:00.000+09:00

I'm siiiiiiiiiiiiick! wah! It happened after all. My head hurts a tiny bit and my nose is all runny/stuffy. So I didn't go to work today, which really kind of sucks because I had stuff to do. But, on the plus side, in their reply to my email that I wouldn't be in today, they want me to translate the FAQ manga!!! yesssssssssssss :D I hope this means I did a good job on the script preview thingy!

Doug is currently working on trying to study abroad in Japan himself next spring. yay!! Go Doug! Texas Tech makes it a LOT harder to study abroad than Austin College does (reason #32442124 why I'm glad I chose to come here after all), so he has a lot more hoops to jump through than I did, and I'm hoping he gets in (and gets all the money he'll need to go)!! I'm really thinking more and more that study abroad is a really great opportunity that everyone should take at least once if they have even the slightest interest in it, because you'll never get the chance to do it again. After college you have to either work in or simply visit a foreign country; you can never live there temporarily as a student.

2006-09-19T19:37:00.000+09:00

I'm all sniffly right now and I've been sneezing all day; my throat also hurt a little when I got up. I might have a cold or something. That better be ALL it is because I decided I am not going to need to use the Japanese medical system while I am here because it is too confusing and too expensive and too gaijin-UNfriendly. It probably won't come to that point but I am just saying this now! I will not get sick while I am here!!

Today was the first day of anime class. It was interesting. The lecture was a little boring, but I think it's going to be okay. I actually wasn't going to take this class because I knew there would probably be people who couldn't be mature and who would just annoy me, but then I changed my mind once I got here, and decided that if I do work for Tokyopop someday, it couldn't hurt to be educated on the history of manga and all of that.

We also had our third Japanese teacher today for the first time, and that was interesting too. Sometimes I miss the instructions for what we're supposed to be doing next and I get all confused and feel stupid, which, as I've said before, is a new feeling for me in a Japanese class. I actually really need an electronic dictionary, even though they are $200. I hope this weekend I can get into Akihabara and purchase my electronics. It turns out my camera still works, the batteries had just been drained (AGAIN. It happens so fast!! That is why it is slowly breaking). If I find a good deal on a new camera, I think I will get one, though. I'm just so sick of dealing with this bad old one.

I also only have $85 or so left of the $500 I brought with me. I wanted to make it last until the end of September but that's probably not possible. It's not like I've been squandering it (okay, not much) but stuff just really adds up! So pretty soon I'll have to withdraw money and hope I can be better about stretching that.

I think I'm already pretty fully adjusted to life here. I don't really think too much about wishing I was back home, and in fact it surprises me when I go on Facebook and see pictures from my AC friends doing stuff without me (and then I miss them a lot and realize things are going on without me, but most of the time that thought doesn't enter my mind; that's just how it is). It actually feels like, starting back in June, my year has been/is going to be divided into three big chunks of complete location changes, adjusting to a new area, etc. First was California and Tokyopop; now is Japan; the spring will be France. So it's kind of gotten to the point where moving around feels almost natural, and it's not hard at all to settle down into a new place again. The study abroad people were all "It's hard for split year students because they feel like they just got used to one place, and then they have to go to a different one" but, even though I bet I will experience a little of that, it won't be that bad for me, probably because of what I just experienced this summer, which was in fact a really good preparation for study abroad. We'll see, though. I won't lie that I'm really anxious about France, but I still want to go because it's my best chance to experience as much of Europe as possible. I decided to do a homestay there and I hope that works out too.

Third Week In Japan

2006-09-18T19:30:00.005+09:00

Okay, with this post, I'm done catching up, and now I'll just post normal updates here, instead of everything in one batch. There's also no pictures here either, unfortunately, still stuck on my phone. I even tried to take my camera to Asakusa on Saturday only to find that it wouldn't turn on!! Howww annoyinggg. Maybe it's finally bit the dust; it's been acting up for a while. Well, there's no place better to purchase new electronics than Japan. Whenever I finally get into Akihabara I'll look for a good deal.

Week Three: September 11-18, 2006

Monday, September 11, 2006

In keeping with the tragedy theme of the day, I fell off my bike. wah!!

I don't really know what happened. I rode Casey's bike all the time last year and never fell off or anything, and then suddenly today I'm just riding along, no one else on the sidewalk but me, and all of a sudden I start to lose my balance and just topple over. I think it's the kickstand, there's something wrong with it so it comes down all the time while I'm riding and I have to kick it back up again. When this bike was my host dad's he fell off it too. I got pretty scraped up. My toe is the worst, then I have some assorted scrapes all over. I hit my teeth a little bit too so they feel weird, but I don't think they're going to fall out or anything.

And do you know what Endo-san said about me falling off the bike? "You weren't being careful." THANKS. I'M SURE YOU WERE RIGHT THERE TO WITNESS IT. AND SINCE YOU KNOW MY PERSONALITY SO WELL, THANKS FOR THE ACCURATE PREDICTION OF MY BEHAVIOR. !! You know, she adores Aly because Aly eats all her food, but I'm pretty sure I'm her least favorite, just cause I refuse to put up with her rambling on and sometimes don't eat everything she gives us (in my defense, I didn't choose such a personal dining experience. I thought I'd be in a big dorm, and whether or not I didn't eat everything would be up to me alone, and no one would feel insulted or WHATEVER if I didn't. Sorry, but this wasn't my plan!).

AND do you know what she also said about me? She called me wagamama (selfish)!!!! Just because I have no patience to sit through her talking on and on to us in Japanese. Complain, complain, complain!! And because I didn't notify her properly that I was going to my old host family for part of the weekend. BOO HOO! I didn't have time, and I knew if I went over and talked to her she'd ramble on to me forever, and I didn't want that, so I didn't! Brette told her, so what's the problem?!

Otherwise, the day was fine, whatever. We went to Meikai to take our Japanese placement test, which was kind of hard! Lots of kanji. But I just figured, well, I'll get put in the level I get put in, and that will suit me. There was also an oral interview, but since that's pretty much my strong point, I was fine there. After that we were done, and I got lunch with Brette and Taryn at Wendy's. Yay Wendy's!! It was goood. Plus they serve melon cream sodas there!

And then the tragic accident happened, et cetera.

Random Engrish:

Tuesday, September 12, 2006

Today was our "opening ceremonies" at Meikai, so we all dressed up nice and listened to some speeches and such, and then we were told what level we placed into. I got into the middle level, level 2, "Upper Intermediate," which is I think exactly where I want to be, so I was very content with that. We have three teachers, which is different from the other two levels that only have one teacher, naturally. One teaches Mondays and Tuesdays, one teaches Thursdays, and the last teaches Fridays (Wednesday is off for people with internships/field placements). So that'll be interesting. My class is pretty small too, only 7 people, but I think the other classes are even smaller.

After that was announced, we went over to this fancy restaurant on-campus (that's open to the general public as well), where they had prepared a little luncheon for us with sandwiches and fruit and such. It was really good. They had melon slices there (the same melon they make the melon flavoring with) so I ate one to compare the tastes. It tasted sort of similar, but not really the same. I think the actual equivalent of a melon is a honeydew, but they call it "melon" here. (Watermelon is something else, and though the real 'melon' looks like a cantaloupe, it's not.)

After that was over we could go home, so we did and I had another nap. Mmm, naps.

Wednesday, September 13, 2006

My first day of work at TOKYOPOP's Tokyo office! It was really interesting and pretty cool. The office is in Aoyama, the "nice" part of town, close to Shibuya, etc. It was easy for me to get to from Gyotoku Station, I only had to transfer once and it was about 45 minutes away total. Then the office is just like 20 seconds from the station exit. It's very small, two floors of this building, only 10 people work there. Nevertheless, it's the company headquarters (the office in LA isn't!). Most people there, from so much contact with the other offices, speak fairly good English. One of them, Kiyomi, has been with the company from the very beginning. In fact, she was part of the CEO Stu's host family when he first came to Japan (wow!).

Already I've been given lots of things to do. In fact, they had made a list of projects I could help out on!! First was "Manga de Eego," where they use scenes from Princess Ai to teach English, and you can buy it and look at it on your cellphone (manga [comics] on cellphones is getting fairly big in Japan, apparently). They wanted the English to be authentic so they had me go through and correct their sentences. Then I did some work that would be more suited to a production intern than an editorial intern such as myself, but it was still very fun, and I've dabbled in that sort of thing myself and had enough copyediting experience to know what mistakes NOT to make. They had made a little (what else?) full-color 12-page manga about working with Tokyopop (I suppose for prospective artists/etc), and I went and added the Japanese text to the pages. I'm still not done, I have to come back in on Friday to finish it.
(Eventually there will be an English version, and I am going to try and be the one to translate it. :D)

Then over the weekend I'm going to translate part of this script for an original Japanese manga we're planning to make, for the LA office to look at and talk about. yaaayyy translation, I hope I can handle it!

They're also going to buy me a Passnet card for the Metro (yesss) to cover the cost of transportation. I was planning to get a Passnet anyway so that works out perfectly. I already have a Suica card for the JR lines, and it is so convenient and fun :D

I had to stay reallly late working on that stupid manga (because of irritating computer problems and because they wanted it done very soon), their hours go until 7 pm, so I missed hanging out with my friends in Kaihin Makuhari. Oh welllll. :/

Everyone there knows most of the people in LA. It made me miss them!

Thursday, September 14, 2006

First day of real Japanese classes!! So we had our Thursday teacher, Maruyama-sensei, this young-looking girl who seems nice but also firm. I think for the first time in a while, a Japanese class is actually going to challenge me. Like, at times I felt like I needed to actually struggle to continue to understand what was going on. We went over quite a few kanji I didn't know (even though I wasn't alone in that), and I think it's just going to be a whole new style of Japanese class for me. AC Japanese classes always went so slow for me, because so many people were so below my level and because our book wasn't the greatest, but I think this is going to be different in a really, really good way, and I think I'm going to learn a lot and improve my level a lot too. So even though I still hate being separated from Kanda people like this, I'm so glad I chose the Language Program, because I think I would have been really bored with the Kanda Japanese classes.

After that 3-hour behemoth of a class (yeaah, it's extremely long, 9 to 12, four days a week, but it goes by faster than you'd think) I went straight to Kaihin-Makuhari, since I had a class at Kanda in the afternoon, where unfortunately almost everyone else, whose Japanese class got out at 11, had already eaten, but Lisa went with me for her "second lunch" (hahaha, it was like she was a hobbit!), and we went to Saizeriya's, the Italian place on the first floor of the building IES is in. It was soooo gooood. :D Plus, melon soda at the soda fountain, yaaay.

After that I had my first History of Tokyo class, with Lisa, Anna, Casey, and quite a few other people I know. Our teacher is British and she's been living in Japan for 8 years now, since her college graduation, and she seems really nice and cool. I think it's going to be a really good, interesting class, and I'm excited. Plus we have like three field trips, which is awesome. I don't know much at all about Japan or Tokyo's history, so I'm excited to find out about it.

After that I went to the IES Center to have my visa photocopied, and stood around there chatting with Hyung-Hye for a while, and then I went home.

Friday, September 15, 2006

After Japanese class in the morning (with our next teacher, whose name I've forgotten, who I thought would be this really nervous guy but who was actually really funny and his class is going to be lots of fun. Casey has also moved up from level 1 to be in our class and he's very happy about it. This other girl, Deborah, also wants [and needs] to move up to our class but is having a hard time doing so and it's upsetting her a lot, which sucks) I went back to the Tokyopop office to try and finish that stupid comic. I got as much of it done as I could but some of the pages have errors and it's really frustrating, plus the computer I'm on is really slow sometimes, so it's still not done even though they wanted it done by that point, which is so annoying! I still have to finish it when I go in next week.

But after work, around 5:30, the Tokyo director Sho-san and I went to this anime press event or something, which was really cool to experience. It was this anime called Jigoku Shoujo (which I haven't seen or heard of at all, which isn't surprising as I don't really bother to keep up with what's new), and the second season has started recently, so they had this press event to commemorate that. The girl who sings the opening song, SnoW, had a mini-concert where she sang two songs, and that was cool, and then they had some staff members come out and say a few words, and then they had the voice actors come out and answer some questions. All in all, very cool to experience (especially being the only gaijin in that room!!), but it would have been better if it was a series I cared about. Apparently Tokyopop gets lots of these invitations, so I'm going to keep an eye out for things about series I like and be sure to try and go to those. Oh, and they gave us little gift bags with posters and promo CDs and such, which was very cool too.

After that I went to Kaihin Makuhari and FINALLY got to meet up with my friends. So much fun. yay!!

Saturday, September 16, 2006

Asakusa tour day! In January, we did pretty much the exact same thing, only with some slight differences, but since I lived in Asakusa during our extra days, I'd gotten pretty familiar with it, and so I was happy to get to return. It's still such a really cool area (kind of like the traditional old part of Tokyo, as compared to Shinjuku and Shibuya which are completely modern). This time it was different because we had more free time and less scheduled activities. We met up at the Kaminari-mon (Thunder Gate), and then we had an hour to wander around.

A big group of us outside the Thunder Gate.

We went down Nakamise-doori and looked at all the stuff for sale (I resisted and didn't buy anything), then we decided we were hungry and wanted crepes so I led Lisa, Anna, and Audrey to the crepe place by the Rox department store we'd discovered in January (it's pretty much the only crepe place in that whole vicinity, I suspect). So we got delicious crepes and walked back. We had time to go inside Sensoji (the famous temple in the area) and then meet back up with everyone. There was a guy with a trained chimpanzee doing tricks, which was entertaining, but the poor animal was being jerked around by a leash and that part was so awful!

Anyway, from there we walked over to the river and caught a RIVER TAXI to take us over to the sumo "stadium" area. The river taxi was awesome!! So much fun, I think Bekah would have really enjoyed it.

Before getting on the river taxi: we passed a sign with the names of marine animals and I learned a new fun fact. A seagull is an UMINEKO. Literally: sea cat. HILARIOUS!!!

Anna, Yoko (she was super nice), and me on the river taxi. Excitinggg!

From there we went to have lunch at this chanko nabe restaurant. Chanko nabe is the food of sumo players, it supposedly beefs you up. It's pretty much just a stew of various things. It was really, really good. We also had udon noodles in it, so now I know it's not the udon noodles I dislike, but the often-fishy broth the udon comes in. Which is a shame, but oh well. It was delicious. I was sitting across from this guy Joe, who was here last spring too with IES and spent the summer break in Okinawa (one of Japan's southern islands, apparently a lot like Hawaii), and we talked all about how Meikai is so much better than Kanda (and he knows, since he's experienced both) and that just really reaffirmed my decision to do Meikai a lot and made me feel a lot better that I'd chosen the option that will actually increase my Japanese. The thing is, Kanda is pretty much an English school. Those are its two majors: English, and Thai. So all the students there are only interested in talking to you, for the most part, to increase their English. Whereas, you're there to increase your Japanese! It's kind of a counter-productive environment.

After lunch we went to the sumo place and settled in for some sumo watching. It was, of course, fairly boring, but I was able to appreciate it a little better as my second time watching. For some reason, even though we got up and moved around a lot, we stayed until the very last fight, which was kind of cool to experience. There were about 16 or 17 of us IES people left that we gathered together, and then went in search of dinner. I went with about 6 other people to this tempura place, but unfortunately nothing really looked appetizing to me, so I didn't get anything. I got some McDonald's after everyone finished eating, though :) yumm

After that Lisa, Anna, Audrey, Patrick and I decided to hit up a purikura place!! yeaaahh! It was my first time doing purikura, and it was so fun and we got a lot of good pictures out of it!

Then we went to Tsudanuma to meet up with some other IES people who had gone on ahead there, and we hung out there for a little bit waiting, and then met up with them to do some karaoke. Sarah and Milin, the AC graduates now working in Japan, came along since they wanted to meet some Kanda people. Unfortunately, after they arrived, our karaoke time was over not 30 minutes later, and everyone separated to go home, so it was really terrible they came all that way just to go home, but, oh well. I think they had fun at karaoke and meeting everyone, in any case.

Then at the station I got on the same train with them, since we all needed to transfer at Nishi Funabashi, and I get to Nishi Funabashi and start looking for my platform, and I find it, only to look at the schedule and discover that I missed the last train headed where I needed to go!! Which is RIDICULOUS, since it was only 11 pm and they're not supposed to stop until midnight, but I guess on the weekends it's a bit different and the last train had been 10:50. I had some options there, I could have tried to take a train headed in a different direction and turn around, but I didn't know when the last train there was, either, and I might just end up stranded. I could have also probably gotten on the Tozai Line and gotten off at my other station, Gyotoku, even though my bike was at the JR station so I wanted to go back to that one. And I could have taken a taxi but since I had just used up the last of my cash that I had with me to charge my Suica card, that was out. In the end, I ran over to Sarah and Milin on the opposite platform and told them I missed my last train, and they immediately offered to let me stay with them at one of their apartments. It was incredibly nice of them and since I didn't have any other good options, I accepted, and went back with them to where they live, and Sarah let me sleep on her spare futon on the floor. I was really fortunate in this case, and I'll definitely be more careful in the future.

Sunday, September 17, 2006

I got up, said goodbye to Sarah and Milin, and made my way home at last. My bike, which had now been parked outside the station for 24 hours, was completely untouched and fine (yess) and I rode that back safely. After a couple hours of just chilling and not doing anything, I got ready to be picked up by my old host family to go back to their house for a party they had invited me to last weekend. They got there at 3 and this time my host mom knocked on Endo-san’s door and told her I was spending the night there (so she wouldn’t complain about not knowing I was spending the night somewhere else like last time, even though Brette told her what I was doing so I really don’t see what the problem was). Of course, while she had someone’s ear, she complained on and on to her about this and that, mainly things we do wrong, blah blah. That REALLY makes me mad. It feels like she’s poisoning my host mom against me or whatever--“I don’t see why you want to do things with this one, she does all this wrong, I can’t catch a break, it’s so troublesome, oh poor me!” UGH. STOP. Even if this was in America I would be equally fed up with this kind of behavior. It is selfish (who is selfish now, Endo-san!!) and one of the personality traits I hate the most in people.

And, you know, we actually needed to get back and start getting ready for the party, so eventually my host mom was all “Okay, we have to go” and we were able to escape. So we got to their house and my host mom started cooking food and I played with Na-chan in the meantime. I actually didn’t realize this until after the guests arrived, but this party was for me! When it was first explained to me last weekend, Kanako-san made it sound like she was inviting her family over (her younger sister and younger brother) and she wanted me to come and meet them. But it turns out, it was sort of an arrival party for me!! ahhh! How crazy!

The guests that came were one of my host mom’s friends from her gospel choir, Mariko-san, and her husband and three kids; their next-door neighbor, whose name I’ve forgotten, and her husband and daughter; and my host mom’s younger brother, Shun-chan (ha! Childhood nicknames last to this day, even though he is now 31. Hilarious). I guess her sister didn’t come, or I heard wrong...? I dunno! Originally it was supposed to be a barbecue party and we were gonna have yakiniku (grilled meat, yummm) but then it was raining so we had it indoors. We brought up another table to the living room and sat on cushions on the floor and had lots of various dishes (quiche! It was good. And yakisoba with corn. Someone had brought Mister Donut doughnut holes, too! Mmm, Mister Donut). The kids ran around and played and the adults drank beer (which I was offered, but refused). Lots of beer! I think some of them got a little drunk, which was pretty entertaining.

At one point my host mom’s middle school yearbook was busted out, which was hilarious. Its partytime appeal transcends cultures!! But wow, in my host mom’s picture she looked JUST like Nanase! It was crazy! But yeah. It was a lot of fun. Sometimes I tuned out the conversation since it would go too fast for me, and sometimes they asked me questions and I was able to respond (with a minimum of asking the question to be repeated/dictionary assistance, which was very nice). I felt like I was on my way to being able to actually hold up my end of a Japanese conversation. I have the accent part down, and I’ve picked up lots of colloquialisms to add authenticity to my speech, but now I mostly need to increase my vocabulary and remember the things I come across. But everyone was really interested to know about America (the next-door neighbor woman had studied abroad in Spokane, Washington for a year or so, so she had that knowledge) and what was popular there. So we talked about Power Rangers and Pokemon, hahah. Apparently there’s a big Pokemon store somewhere. I said I wanted to go and take a picture to make Bekah jealous. :D

Oh! And while I was at Ryogoku, I had gotten them a present of these chrysanthemum sweet things, because I know at a Japanese party you are supposed to bring a gift for the host (and really, with all the things they’ve done for me so far, I feel like I can’t give them enough things in return), and I was already in a traditional Japanese area so it made sense to get a souvenir type thing from there. I didn’t really know what they were, the display box just looked like it might have good tasting things inside, so I got it. I think they were sweets made to celebrate the birth of the new prince, since they were chrysanthemum shaped (the symbol of the emperor’s family) and they were sprinkled with this gold dust stuff. Inside was this yellow bean paste or something. So towards the end of the party, they opened the box and passed them around. They were good! Whatever they were...

The party broke up around 9 or so, and everyone except me and my host mom’s brother went home, since we were both staying the night. He slept in the living room loft and I stayed in the guest room as usual. yay, soft futon!

Monday, September 18, 2006

Today was a holiday in Japan (Old People Day... or whatever) so no one had school or work. After I got up around 9 and had breakfast, my host mom, Nanase and I went to Ikspiari, the Disney shopping area. We also went there in January so it was cool to go again. We just walked around window-shopping and looking at all the cool shops. It was all decorated for Halloween so that was fun to see. For lunch we had curry and naan bread which was delicious. Then they drove me home, but I’ll see them again next month when we go to Disneyland (Halloween still, that’ll be interesting!).

Hahaha!! Probably the best thing I saw was GOTHIC LOLITA MINNIE MOUSE. AHAHAHAHAAAAAA NOT EVEN JOKING HERE. Minnie Mouse’s Halloween costume... is Gothic Lolita!! There was a plushie, a purse, a hand towel, all sorts of GothLoli Minnie paraphernalia... HILARIOUS.

For the rest of the day I finished my translation project for Tokyopop and my Japanese homework and just enjoyed being at home, ahh.

Second Week In Japan

2006-09-17T13:18:00.004+09:00

All right, here's the next bit of my Japan blog, still trying to catch up on past entries, sorry! Eventually I'll be up to date. This one has a LOT less pictures (sorry!!) because I started using the camera on my phone to take pictures so I didn't have to lug my actual camera around. Unfortunately, I can only pull those pictures off the phone with Bluetooth, which my laptop doesn't have. I have to wait until someone with a Bluetooth-equipped laptop will let me use it to get the pictures off. That was supposed to happen this week, but DIDN'T. :(

Week Two: Sept. 2-10, 2006

Sunday, September 3, 2006

Got up on my own (yay! No alarms!) but with my back and neck hurting from sleeping on the futon. I think I need another cushion underneath me, because just the one futon bottom still eventually feels like sleeping on the floor (which is carpeted, and then there's another carpet rug under the futon bottom). I don't understand, because at the Satos' house their futon was like sleeping on a cloud--what was different? Hopefully I can steal another futon bottom from one of the closets and Endo-san won't yell at me. I also stole a proper, non-bean-filled pillow, which is doubly bad because she told me not to do it. But whatever.

I had breakfast alone since Aly and Brette's rooms were shut, which was fine. A glass of ice water (yay, our ice tray is looking good!), MELON BREAD, and apple yogurt. Pretty good, pretty good.

Breakfast!

About an hour or so later Hyung-Hye called me telling me that she'd finally gotten a hold of Sarah and Milin (two AC graduates of this past year who are now working in Japan as English teachers. They also went on the Janterm with me), and they wanted to meet us in Ueno. So I got ready and left for Ueno. I walked to Gyotoku Station (about 30 minutes away by walking), on the Tozai Line, and with just one transfer got to Ueno just about on time. I met Hyung-Hye at Ueno Station and then we walked over to the Marui department store and found Sarah and Milin. We walked around Ueno Park for a bit; I debated getting a melon shaved ice but it was 300y so I didn't (now I wish I had, though!). We also walked around a little shrine and I got a fortune. We had fruit drinks at a café by Ueno Station, then we decided to go to Shibuya, about 30 minutes away from Ueno on the Yamanote Line (my favorite train line. It runs in a circle around the Tokyo area and hits all the good spots).

Once in Shibuya, we went to the Marui there too and Sarah looked at wallets and day planners, and then we went to Tower Records (the big 7-story music store) which was cool cause they had a whole display of Bonnie Pink stuff, though I didn't buy anything.

Then we went to get dinner, and went to this pasta place. Nothing on the menu really looked appetizing to me because it was that weird Japanese version of pasta where they put all sorts of strange things like nori (seaweed) on it, and I hate nori, so even though I tried to choose carefully, I wound up not liking what I got. D: Which was too bad, since it was 900y. Ugh, what a waste! Oh well. Everyone else really liked what they got, and we had a nice conversation about teaching English. Sarah and Milin are with AEON, which is one of the big English-teaching programs in Japan (for not just kids, but adults too; anyone who wants to learn English). Apparently the president of the company is the father of Angela Aki, the singer, which is pretty cool (even though I don't listen to her).

After that we said goodbye, and I got home on my own just fine.

Monday, September 4, 2006

First day of brush-up Japanese classes at Kanda (which last only for this week). Aly, Brette and I all left the house together and walked to the train station in the morning, and of course we got on the train that ended one stop before the one we needed to get off at, Kaihin Makuhari. Ooooh, how annoying! Then we missed the one that was going our way, and had to wait 10 minutes for the next one. We thought we were going to be really late but we still got to class just as it was beginning. There are 6 levels of classes, 6 being the hardest, that everyone was separated into based on the number of semesters they've taken. I got put in 4, and quickly realized it was way too easy for me. The classes were taught by student teachers (Japanese girls training to be teachers) and the class basically consisted of repeating sentences over and over, and being drilled on vocabulary and such. It was appalling to realize, again, how really bad some people are at Japanese. I'm sorry to just come out and say it, but they would be asked a simple question that we had gone over 5 times already and just be like "Um... uh..." and not be able to answer! Soooo frustrating. I hate how I always get slowed down in language classes because not everyone is at the same level. urrgh.

At lunch I talked with people and found out that level 5 is just as easy, so I decided it wouldn't be worth it to switch. Level 6 is apparently incredibly hard for all but a few people.

After lunch, the Kanda people had their placement test, so some of the Meikai people including me just hung around the Center, checking email and whatnot. After that I went home by myself and just chilled at home.

Tuesday, September 5, 2006

Today the Kanda and Meikai people were completely separated in their schedules, which was really sad and I hope it's not always like this! Most of the friends I've made are in Kanda (since that's also the majority of the 60 students, with only 16 of us in Meikai) so it kind of sucked to be separated from them. Anyway, in the morning we all walked to the station together and then Aly left for Kaihin Makuhari while Brette and I went to Shin Urayasu, where Meikai is (and also where my old host family lives, so I was familiar with it from living there in January), and only one stop away from our station (Ichikawa-shiohama). At the station we met up with a few IES people, like Shin-san, and the rest of the Meikai people. From there we all walked to Meikai, which is pretty close to the station. It was a hot, sunny day, though, so we were glad when we got to the building where IES has its little Meikai office. This whole Meikai thing (in which we take a more intense Japanese class, so it's called the "Language Program" as opposed to the Kanda "Society and Culture Program") is new for this year, so we're kind of the guinea pigs who get to test it out, which is also why there's only 16 of us as opposed to the Kanda majority (since it used to be everyone did Kanda).

After looking around the IES office, we went up to a classroom on the fourth floor, where we were joined by some Meikai students who were going to guide us around a campus tour. One of them was a girl who looked like a gaijin, she looked European, but she spoke Japanese like a native, with Japanese mannerisms. It was so strange! I later found out she was Iranian and her family has been living in Japan for a long time. That's so cool. Anyway, so they showed us around the campus, which is really, really nice, since it's fairly new. Casey and Matt quickly decided that it was ten thousand times better than Kanda, which they likened to a "camp." All that walking around was so tiring, though! Then we went back to that fourth floor classroom where we met some of our ePals (a program we could sign up for before we came where you're partnered with a student at your university whose job is to show you around and you both benefit from the other's company). My ePal wasn't there, though, which was kind of sad, and made me think that maybe I should have emailed here once I got to Japan. We exchanged emails before I arrived but I just completely forgot to contact her again once I got here. Oh well, I'll meet her at some point.

Then we had lunch, and we just followed our guides from the Meikai tour and ended up at the food court of a department store, and I had McDonald's. I tried the new Tsukimi burger, which Hyung-Hye had told me was really bad, but I still wanted to try it. It's a burger patty, cheese (optional), an egg, and Thousand Island dressing sauce. She said it was gross but I really wanted to try it, because I like all those things. (Tsukimi means "moon viewing" which is supposed to be represented by the yolk in the egg, or... something.) Of course she was totally wrong, and it was really good, and I was happy. McDonald's is sooooo good in Japan, it was great to get it again. :D

Then we walked around Shin Urayasu some more, seeing some places like the post office and whatnot, and then that was it for the day. Lisa texted me to come over to Kaihin Makuhari since some of the Kanda people were going to karaoke after their programming ended, so I did that (after getting my student-discount commuter pass at Shin Urayasu Station). Once there, I met a big group of people on their way to this karaoke place we hadn't been to before (but which was also cheap, which is why we went there), called "King Arthur" hahah. We got a room for 2 hours and just sang all these songs that everyone knew. By the end, we were all standing on the seats and singing "Thriller" at the top of our lungs. It was extremely, extremely fun; the best kind of karaoke to have.

After that, everyone went home; it was still before dinner, too!

Wednesday, September 8, 2006

Back to the brush-up classes. Stillll boring, but whatever. After they were over and after everyone had lunch, we all went to go register as aliens so Japanese immigration doesn't kick us out of the country. We went in groups based on the office for where we live, and my group was fairly big, about 20 people, led by Atsumi, one of the Kanda ePals, a senior English major. We actually got off at Gyotoku Station, one of the two stations closest to where we live, so that was really good for us, cause then we could just walk home. Unfortunately, once we got to the office (a sort of central hub for all your bureaucratic needs, not just alien registration, and kind of like the DMV in terms of level of red-tape frustration), they wouldn't accept my photos!! Because there wasn't space above the top of my head... ugh. So I walked over to the Seiyu department store, where they had a photo booth that took passport photos, and got different pictures taken, which they did accept, finally. So they processed all our applications and we get to come back in a couple of weeks and pick up our gaijin cards. woooohooooo!

Random Engrish spotted at a conbini:

Awww.

After that, Betsy and Atsumi came back to our apartment, since it was fairly close and no one really felt like going home. We chilled there for awhile and they had dinner with us (Endo-san told Atsumi to "teach us how to act/eat," but of course Brette and I totally understood what she said and we felt kind of insulted!!) and we watched some crazy Japanese TV. The princess was about to have her baby and all the news channels were abuzz about that (if it's a boy, it'll be the first boy born to the royal family in 40 years).

Around 8 or so we left for Shin Urayasu to meet up with Casey and Matt and then lots more other people to go do some karaoke. There were lots of people there I hadn't hung out with very often, so it was cool to get that chance.

The coolest thing happened when we were done, though, and were standing around outside the station at around 10 or 11 pm. A fellow foreigner girl was coming home and had to wheel her bicycle right through our big clump of gaijin, so as she was making her way through us, she either asked us or we asked her (I can't remember) what the other was doing there, and so we told her we were studying abroad, and when we asked her what she did, she said she played Ariel at a show at Disney Sea!! Now, when I was here in January, I went to DisneySea with my host mom and Nanase, and we saw the Little Mermaid show there. It was really interesting because Ariel lip-synched all her lines, and the songs were in English, but the dialogue was in Japanese. So, it turns out this girl has been working there since January--she is the one we saw in the show!!!

I was just blown away by that; it was so cool. The exact same performer I saw, I meet on the street months and months later! Soooo cool. She told us she was leaving in a couple weeks and that we should come and see her last show. Her bicycle looked pretty cool so I asked her if she had sold it already, and she said she had; too bad :<

Thursday, September 7, 2006

Another day of brush-up classes, I think you know my opinion of those by now, then in the afternoon Kanda people had a bunch of stuff I didn't have to go to, but since I was going to go with Lisa and Anna to this Dresden Dolls show in Tokyo, I waited around for them to be done in the IES Center, which was actually very enjoyable, even though I didn't get my nap.

When they got back we left for Shibuya. We transferred at Tokyo Station (still huge!) and got on the Yamanote Line. Once we got to Shibuya it took us about 45 minutes to an hour to find the freaking venue, but eventually we did. I didn't care too much about this band and mostly went because Lisa needed people to go with her and because I wanted to go to the Tower Records in Shibuya and buy some stuff. Tickets were 5500y though, which really sucked for something I didn't care too much about (even though I did have a good time).

We got there about 15 minutes before the opening band started, which was this Japanese group of four guys. I actually really enjoyed their songs, which is more than I can say for a lot of opening acts I've seen. Then after that the Dresden Dolls came out. It's like... dark cabaret music or something, which is not exactly my cup of tea, but it wasn't terrible and I was able to enjoy it, even though I won't be bothering to get any of their music. They definitely put on a good show for being just a two-person show, and the drummer guy was absolutely hilarious in his facial expressions.

The show ended around 9 or 9:30 or so, and so we still had time to hit Tower Records, and I bought a lot more things than I should have, but I really like them and am glad I got them, so whatever. At least I have a Tower Records frequent-buyer card now too, so I can get discounts if I buy more stuff there, hahah.

Friday, September 8, 2006

Last day of brush-up classes! Oh, hallelujah. For lunch we went to the café on the 14th floor of the building IES is in, which does a very good job of having affordable yet good food, and they had vegetable croquettes filled with exactly the kind of vegetables I like and NONE of the ones I don't, which was a miracle!

This is the bike rack outside Ichikawa-Shiohama Station (okay, one tiny section of it). Love hotels in the distance.

After lunch, Kanda people had some stupid stuff to go to (and I didn't, again), so after chilling at the IES Center for a little bit, I went home to get ready to meet my old host family for a "short stay" type thing over the weekend. I walked down to the station and rode it one stop to Shin Urayasu, then found my host mom and Nanase waiting over in the taxi/car area. They have a new car! No more cute white car, now it's a blue van thing. I wonder what the need for a van is when you only have one kid, but whatever! It has a DVD player, on which Nanase was watching A Bug's Life, the Japanese dub (HILARIOUS), but with English subtitles for my benefit, ha ha. Before going to their house, we went to the grocery store to buy food that I would like (ahaha). Mmm, I love the bakery section! We got some apple juice and edamame and chicken and other good stuff. :3

Hee hee. Cute bread.

Then we drove to their house, yay nostalgia! Except things have CHANGED! The washer/dryer is now gone, replaced by a big huge washer (it makes a huge difference in the bathroom somehow!). But KORON is still the same ♥ Koron is their adorable Pomeranian dog, yay Koron!! Anyway, I gave them the presents I'd gotten them in Disneyland, which was a Disney princess coloring book for Nanase and a Tinkerbell notepad and pen for my host mom. I also brought 3 packets of Kool Aid that I just kind of took randomly cause Mom wanted to get rid of them! I made the grape Kool Aid and even though I had to make it in a smaller pitcher than I was used to and put in what they thought was a lot of sugar, it still tasted good to them in the end. :D yay.

They also asked me if I wanted to use one of their bikes to commute back and forth between Meikai and Shin Urayasu Station. !!! It was actually exactly what I'd been hoping they'd say. As soon as I got through with all the "Are you sure???" formalities, I was only too ecstatic to accept. :> It's my host dad's old bike, which he doesn't ride anymore. Apparently he slipped and hit his shoulder while riding it one time. I've also seen a motorbike that I think he uses instead now. But instead of riding it between Meikai and the station, I asked if it would be possible to keep it at my apartment and ride it to Meikai from there (which is very possible). I felt bad about making it a little more complicated, though...

Then while my host mom was making dinner, I played with Na-chan and Koron. We blew up a balloon and Koron went NUTS. He really wanted to bite that balloon, and finally he did, and then he would not stop barking at the broken pieces! We put them in the trash and he just stood in front of the trash can and barked at it! Silly Koron. But dinner was lovely, chicken (including fried chicken BONE pieces!! Unbelievable! They thought it was crazy that I was all "What is THAT?!" I tried one just to see, and it was soooo weird! All crunchy! Fried bone! whaaaat) and CORN SOUP (yummmm) and edamame, yum yum. They are so nice to me :D They think my Japanese has improved, but I don't really see how it could have, since I've only taken Conversation since they saw me last. :X I do think Nanase has matured a lot, though, in the span of eight months since I saw her last. She's 7 now, and a first-grader, and in lots of ways more grown up than she was (she also meets the height requirement for rides at Disneyland now, yay!). It's pretty cool :D

At 7 we went to Nanase's daycare because my host mom had a meeting with the people that run it and some other parents. It was my job to play with Na-chan and the other kids there in the meantime, hahaha. They were a girl named Haruka and a boy named Koutarou. Of course, he was a complete Japanese little boy, thinking he's so cool and using all the masculine language. The first thing he says when he sees me is "Aa! Gaijin da!" (Ah! A foreigner!) just like the other little boy did when he saw me in January. I was prepared this time, though, and looked right at him and said clearly "HAI, GAIJIN DESU." (YES, I AM) so I could establish right then and there that this foreigner speaks Japanese.

First Haruka (who was adorable and energetic, lots of fun), Nanase, and I folded some origami, and I actually made something pretty cool, which was a first for me. Then all of us went downstairs to this big room and the girls and I played some racquetball with a balloon, them vs me. It was hilarious when Haruka started giving her serves ATTACK NAMES. "Doburu saabu!" "Doburu smasshu!" (Double serve! Double smash!), hahaha. Then we just kind of messed around, running around and making rooms out of the cardboard boxes and things lying around. I got really bored at that point, though!! One can only take so much running around with Japanese children, and I had had a long week. I was glad when the meeting was over and we could go home.

Saturday, September 9, 2006

Woke up around 10 (so nice to sleep in), ate breakfast with the family (the bread we'd gotten the other day, yumm) and then my host mom and I got ready to go with Nanase to her tennis lesson in the park. We all rode bikes there (I rode my old host dad's, with Koron in the front basket!) and then Nanase went to her tennis lesson, and my host mom and I sat in the shade nearby on a bench and chatted. She has this English phrasebook and we looked at some of the sentences and I tried to help her with her pronunciation of some of them. Mostly the conversation was in Japanese with the help of the ever-indispensable electronic dictionary, though. I told her I went to the Grand Canyon recently, where she wants to go someday, and she asked me where the closest train station to it was. Hahaha!!!! Oh, too good. If ONLY there was a closest train station to the Grand Canyon.

When Na-chan's lesson was over, we rode back home. We had lunch (yakisoba), watched some Disney Channel (awesome!), and then took Nanase to her English lesson. While that was going on, we went over to my apartment and my old host mom talked to Endo-san about the whole bike thing. Then we picked Na-chan up, went back to their house to get the bike, loaded it in the back (good thing they have a van now!), and drove it over to my apartment. Ahhh!! Sooo much trouble! I apologized a million times and felt really bad that a casual offer of "wanna ride it back and forth from the station and Meikai?" became this HUGE ORDEAL. But she said it was okay... I hope she meant it. ahhhh!

After I got home, about thirty minutes later I hopped on the bike and rode over to Ichikawa-shiohama Station to make my way to Melissa's house, where she had invited some of us over for this dinner her host mom (who teaches English to adults) was having for some of her students. Man, it was so cool to just ride the bike over there. I have to be all careful and lock it up properly, though, there are two locks I have to do. It was a tiny bit complicated getting to Melissa's because she lives out in the boonies and you have to take one of those PRIVATE LINES to get there (which are NOT gaijin friendly, by the way! On the maps there is no romaji reading of the station names! If I didn't know kanji, I would have been screeeewed) but I did get there. Her host family's house is amazing!! They lived in Texas for five years, so their English is all perfect, and they've got UT and Texas paraphernalia everywhere, and they remodeled their house so it looks really Western. It was like being home (sniff)

Lisa and Travis arrived soon after me, and so did some of Melissa's host mom's students. I looked through Melissa's scrapbook she had brought with her--she does track and field! High jumping and shotput and all of that! sooooo cool! Her scrapbook was so cute. After some chatting (a bit awkward because us IES kids struggled with Japanese, while the Japanese adults struggled with English, but we all persevered) we sat down to dinner, which was just a buffet of different things. I took some meat and ate it only to find out it was liver!! I knew it tasted funny. At least I can say I've eaten it now. bleh!! But there was lots of good stuff, like deviled eggs and potato salad. yum, yum.

Everyone at dinner.

After dinner, Travis said he wanted to play the piano since he hadn't since we arrived, so he sat down at the piano and proceeded to sing this AMAZING SONG!! He is so good! We were all just completely blown away and sat there spellbound. Then he sang a couple more, and only after that did I find out he had written them all himself!! Oh my god! So amazing! He sounded a little like Jason Mraz, a little like Damien Rice... simply awesome. And when I said "You should have a CD!" it turns out he's already recorded one himself! And he had a copy on him, but Melissa claimed it. I'm going to get it from him sometime, though. He is so good!!

Then some other people showed off their talents, and we finally got Lisa up to the piano and she played this awesome Chopin piece, it was so good! She was all "I made so many mistakes!" but it ROCKED! wow! Everyone is so talented! We need to have an IES variety show or something so everyone can show off what they can do. I mean, I had no clue Travis was that good!!

So yeah, it was a lot of fun, and I made it safely back to my home station. From which the bike was waiting for me, safe and sound, and I could just put my bag in the basket and ride home. Bicycle, bicycle! I am so happy to have one. :D :D

Sunday, September 10, 2006

I did absolutely nothing today and it was wonderful.

All right, that's it! Don't forget to comment, if you want! The link is right there below and you don't have to be a registered member just to let me know that you read it. :D

First Week In Japan

2006-09-12T22:53:00.005+09:00

Here is my first attempt to catch up on what's happened so far. For those in my family, here is some background information you might want to know. I am studying abroad through a program called IES; they organize our housing and classes. We could choose to take our Japanese classes either at the university IES has been using for a long time now, Kanda University, or at a new-for-this-year university, Meikai University. I chose Meikai since that program focused more on language, but I also have a few area studies classes at Kanda (taught in English). When I went to Japan in January, that program was also organized by IES, so I already knew some of the employees there from that time. A new employee there is actually my friend/former Japanese language resident who went to my college last year and worked as a Japanese assistant teacher (Hyung-Hye). From my school, there are three other people going that I know, all boys (Casey, Aubrey, and Alex).

If there's a Japanese phrase/pecularity I include here, I'm only going to explain it once, so you better remember it! Lots of things are pretty untranslateable so I usually keep the Japanese term in most times. Okay, I think that's it, read on!

Week One: Aug. 28-Sept. 2, 2006

Monday/Tuesday August 28/29, 2006

I had said goodbye to Bekah the Sunday before, just before she went down with Mom and Dad to move in to college, and then this morning I had said goodbye to my dad. Later in the morning (I had a 12:10 pm flight), Mom drove me to the airport and went with me through check-in, then we said goodbye before security. Both of us broke down in tears when we hugged goodbye!! It was really sad. But you know, it's only three and a half months! It could be a lot longer. It won't be so bad.

In line for check-in I'd seen Aubrey and Alex, then after security I found Casey in the waiting area, and the other two joined us too. Of course the first thing he and Aubrey do is start kicking around a hacky-sack!! Ridiculous. Anyway, there wasn't a whole lot of waiting before we could get on the plane, and settle in for the loooonnggg flight. Which was fine, no problems or anything, just extremely long (I took a few naps), and once we got there we got through passport control and customs and all of that just fine. Then we got out to the meeting area and Hyung-Hye ran up to me and gave me a hug! yay Hyung-Hye! She was really happy to see all of us, and since I hadn't seen her since May, I was happy to see her too. We met some other student volunteers and I saw Kudo-san again (the housing director, she was there in January too). Converted my money (I brought $500 in US cash to convert), sent my big bag on ahead to my future permanent residence, bought a bus ticket, then got on the bus along with everyone else who'd arrived in that time frame.

I started talking to this one girl, Lisa, and sat next to her during the bus ride. It turns out she's from Seattle, but goes to school in California, so we had a common subject to discuss there. We arrived back at good old Makuhari, OVTA building (just like Jan-term. OVTA is like a hotel in that it has rooms, but it's more of a "training facility," with classrooms and other such things as well) and checked into our rooms there. Most everyone went back downstairs and we sat around chatting and introducing ourselves (the most common topic being "I am so tired/jetlagged!"). Then we all (IES students and the Japanese volunteers) went to go get dinner in one big gaijin (foreigner) clump. We walked over to the Carrefour shopping center thingy and went to the food court. I wasn't very hungry so I just got a melon cream soda :D Melon soda!!! I fell in love with melon soda in January, it is just amazing.

Melon cream soda!

Miwa and Melissa. Melissa tried the takoyaki, dumplings with bits of octopus inside. (I don't go anywhere near octopus, of course.)

Then we walked back to OVTA and kind of stood around the lobby talking again. More people had arrived, from the buses after ours, so we met them. Even though we were all really tired, about five of us (me, Lisa, and these guys Jakub, Matt, and Randy) decided to walk around the area, and then went up to the little lounge across the hall from Lisa's room and watched some crazy Japanese TV. People would walk by the lounge, and the walls were clear so we'd wave at them and invite them to join us, and they would. Around 9:30 or so everyone went to bed cause we were all still tired.

Wednesday, August 30, 2006

And the orientation week begins. Breakfast at 8:30, orientation, lunch, more orientation. More meeting of new people and talking to them; it seems lots of people here are really cool. We had to get up in front of everyone and introduce ourselves (with a microphone! And there are about 60 of us! scaryy) so after I heard several people confess to being anime/manga nerds, I deliberately threw out there the fact that I was a TOKYOPOP intern this summer, and I distinctly heard this collective intake of breath following it, hahaha. We had to say our goals and of course Casey said "My goal is to buy a Nintendo Wii while I'm here," haha. And this other guy said "My goal is to be the greatest Pokemon master" ahahahaaaaa it was so hilarious (this was after he said "Not gonna lie, I'm in love with Sailor Moon" ahahahaaa). Oh! And I saw Ishikawa-san (another IES employee) again, which was really cool. It turns out she's been trying to get TOKYOPOP's Tokyo office to host a field placement internship student for a while now, but they keep backing out on her, so she told me while I'm there I should try and name-drop IES so students from that can come and do what I did! Hahaha.

During the first break I got onto the computer lab and sent an email to my parents telling them it was okay to call me, so they did, and it was nice to talk to them, even though it wasn't for very long and I was a little distracted since our next session was about to start.

So far I'm just proud of myself for not relying on Casey or anyone I knew previously and not reaching out and meeting new people. Fortunately, this is that fertile period so reminiscent of freshman year of college when everyone's eager for friends, so it's not very hard. I'm also trying not to rely on the people I've already met and hung out with a few times; I don't want to be a burden on them and limit both myself and them from meeting other new people. I'm just being open and friendly, everything you're supposed to do.

For lunch we went to the Carrefour food court again, and this time I got KFC because all of the traditional Japanese food places there are still pretty unappetizing to me, oh well. Then we had some more (boring, sorry Hyung-Hye!) sessions and then finally free time for about an hour until this scavenger hunt around the Makuhari area. The scavenger hunt was pretty fun, and once everyone was done with that we came back to OVTA and were given 1000 yen ($10, for future reference you can just move the decimal over two places and you've got a rough conversion) for dinner, woohoo! Then everyone was just kinda standing around, and Casey and Aubrey and their people were talking about going to Chiba, and we were going to join them, but they were taking too long and we were hungry so we just went to the station where I'd seen some ad for something that looked like curry, which was indeed curry, at this little station diner collection of restaurants, and we ate there. Then we got Baskin Robbins, which was delicious, and then we wandered around and ended up at this karaoke place on the top floor of the Makuhari Messe mall place, which turned out to be pretty fun. We struggled with figuring out the karaoke machine (good thing I still remembered from January) and eventually sang some songs and it was good times. Then back to OVTA, and sleep!

Thursday, August 31, 2006

Got up for breakfast again around 8, only this time the day's activities began at 8:30 and not 9 as before, with us going over to Kanda University in a huge clump of gaijin. Seriously, 60 foreigners walking around, we are a formidable force. Once there, we had an "academic session" which was just them talking about the classes we could take, then we worked on filling out our class registration sheets, then it was tour time. Two ePals led us around campus and attempted to explain in English (pretty amusing) what was what. (ePals is a system you can sign up for where you're paired with a student from your university who will do things with you and introduce you to the area and you can both benefit from the connection. I signed up for one but she goes to Meikai, where I haven't been yet.) The high point of the tour was coming across the "Poetry Corner" where there was some hilarious Engrish "poetry" written with magnetic words, and we all laughed about it. For lunch we just went back to the cafeteria we'd seen with cheap food, and had that. Curry again for me, but it was good. The cafeteria was definitely full of Japanese students, mostly club people who had come early since school hasn't started yet, which was an interesting experience.

Walking around Kanda, we found a koi pond.

Anna and Lisa.

Then we heard this infernal screeching, and it turns out it was a cicada (commonly associated with summer in Japan). A HUUUUUGE cicada. You can see it here in the middle of this picture. It was gigantic!!

Random shots of the campus

Deciding where to go next

I really like the way this looks.

Hee hee. This just amuses me a lot. I have no clue what it's for.

Another random picture. It's the toilet controls you sometimes get. "Shower" sprays water up your butt, while "Bidet" goes right for your womanly area. Both have frightening precision. I was afraid to try it in January, but I did it once here, just to say I did. It's.... interesting.

Then we pretty much had nothing until dinner. I had my "academic meeting" at 3, which was just me giving them the registration sheet and the director guy signing it. So I have my classes now, the manga class and History of Tokyo (and of course Sogo Nihongo, my Japanese class,but I don't know which level yet). After that I went to sleep :D but not for very long, sadly.

Dinner was a thing where we had options of what we wanted to eat and where we wanted to eat it, and only 10 people could sign up for each one. Mine was tonkatsu (pork cutlets) at Shin Urayasu (working out for me for very obvious reasons, since it's where Meikai and my old host family are, and made even more fortunate by the fact that people like Lisa and Melissa and others that I like had signed up for it too. Our IES person who went with us was Naito-san, and the director guy Malik-san joined us too. The tonkatsu was very good and we talked with Naito-san about how we can celebrate holidays like Thanksgiving and Halloween in Japan. The fact that big turkeys aren't sold here except at, like, specialty shops (which means expensive) is a bit daunting, but we'll have one somehow!

Friday, September 1, 2006

Breakfast at 7:30 and back to the same room as before at 9, for another session, this one about getting involved in the community. Didn't last too long, though, and when that was over the dorm students left to go to a tour of the IES Tokyo Center, which of course I've already been to. Most of the people I've gotten to know fairly well/hung out with more or less regularly are doing homestay (and, additionally, the Society & Culture program as well) so it was sort of like "Where are my frieeeends?" since we even had different lunch times, but I found a group that included two people I knew a little bit, my future housing-mate Brette, and Sylvia who had gone to karaoke with us, and their friend Zhumi, and we went to the Italian place Saizeriya's we went to a lot over Jan-term, and that was fun. It was raining pretty hard that day so as soon as I got back I had to hang up my jeans to let the bottoms dry :x

After that there was pretty much nothing until dinner for me, so I took another nap :) I thought I got up in time to meet downstairs, but it turns out we were actually meeting at the station (since we were going to Ginza for okonomiyaki) and the big group of people had already left, so I had to walk over with a smaller group. It was really seeming like we were going to all arrive at the restaurant at different times, and since none of my friends were in the group I was with, it was looking like I wouldn't get to sit with them, and I was fairly unhappy. But then we got on the train and there was another group of our people, some that I knew, and I was happier. Then at Shin-Kiba Station, where we transferred to the Yuurakuchou Line, there was the entire group waiting for us, which was even better! So we got to Ginza, where I had never been before. Fancy!! All the big names and stores are there; even though I've never been to New York City, I think it would be a lot like Fifth Avenue.

Ginza!

After walking some more, we got to the okonomiyaki restaurant we were going to have dinner at. We had rented out pretty much the whole restaurant in order to accommodate all 60 of us! Even though I'm not the biggest fan of okonomiyaki (a sort of pancake thing you cook yourself usually on a pan built into the table. It'd be good if there wasn't any cabbage, which there almost always is), it was still fun to cook it. Also, they gave us some yakisoba (fried noodles), and that was extremely fun to cook, because it really did wind up tasting just like yakisoba, which is amazing! yumm yakisoba.

My table at the restaurant. You can see the pans we cook the food on.

The rest of the room (we are a big group. This isn't even all of us)

An okonomiyaki I cooked.

As things wound down, I suggested going to Shibuya, but in the end we wound up going to Roppongi in a group of 17 (I know the exact number because this girl TK, who took CHARGE, insisted on counting heads to make sure no one was ever left behind). I had never been there before, and my only impression of it was that Aubrey had always talked about how "hardcore" Roppongi is because of all the hostess bars and such, but really, we had no problems. It's the gaijin area, so we saw lots of gaijin, which was very interesting. We walked over to Tokyo Tower and saw that again, which was fun, then went home. On the Keiyo Line train home, I was in a car with Anna and Melissa and we just kind of talked about everything, including the cliques we could already see forming amongst the larger group, which was lots of fun.

The famous women-only train. I actually saw one. (For those who don't know, it's to deal with the groping problem in Japan. It's only women-only during the morning rush hour, though.)

At a station, waiting for a train. I love Japanese public transportation.

Saturday, September 2, 2006

Breakfast, then checkout of OVTA. We brought all our stuff downstairs and then carried it over to the Makuhari Messe. Yeah, THAT was fun. Carrying a whole bunch of heavy things, AND it was sunny outside so everyone got all sweaty? A great condition to be in when you meet your host family for the first time, which was the purpose of the trip. Ohh welll. So we were all in this big room, and everyone's host families began arriving, including mine!! :D My old one! My host mom and Nanaseeee! :D :D yayayay! It was so good to see them again. My host mom gave me a copy of her schedule for the next month, with weekends that would be good for "short stays" marked, heehee. She also said whenever I have free time, I should just come over and "play"! :D I told them I want to go to Disneyland (proper) so I think we're going to do that at some point. woohoo :D

Host mom + Nanase.

The room where we all were.

Na-chan!

The rest of that event was pretty much an endless series of introductions, first of the dorm students, then of everyone with their host families one by one, and once all that was over everyone was escorted to their new places of living. Hyung-Hye took me, Brette, and Aly over to Endo-Ryo, so first we took the train to Ichikawa-shiohama (that is a TINY station) and then, since there were no buses and walking over with all our burdens wouldn't have been fun, we took a taxi (usually so expensive you never, ever bother with them! My first and hopefully last experience riding in one).

So we arrived at "Gyotoku Soft Town," our apartment complex, and went up to the fourth floor where our apartment is. Endo-san, the owner of said apartment, is right next door, and will cook our breakfast and dinner. First we picked rooms, and Aly and I did rock-paper-scissors to decide who got the best room, which is also the biggest and airiest, with sliding doors leading out to the balcony, but of course she won and I had to settle for one of the two smaller rooms. Still has a window and all, but it's not a big door window like hers. Ohhh wellll. Endo-san came in and we sat down to go over the rules and such. She is really big on Japanese manners and etiquette and wants us to abide by them at all times. When I stepped onto the front entryway in bare feet, I think she almost had a heart attack. (Filth! Dirtiness from the outside world! Polluting the pristine zone of the home! Yeah, if you've studied anything of Japanese culture, you can understand why that's a huge no-no). I think we might chafe under that a little bit, but otherwise I think it'll be pretty good. The living room area is really nice and airy, and the apartment itself is pretty cute. It's a little annoying because there's no central air (it's not worth it buying a fan for my room when it's going to get cold soon anyway) so I have to leave the windows in my room open, but that also lets in sounds of the street (not a car street, but a street people use nonetheless) below, which sometimes include kids yelling and babies crying. Augh, whatever.

Later Kudo-san came over to see how we were doing, and then took Brette, Hyung-Hye, and I (in her car!) over to Gyotoku Station (Tokyo Metro as opposed to the JR Keiyo Line Ichikawa-shiohama), with a Seiyu department store nearby. Hyung-Hye went home and Brette and I did some shopping at the hyaku-en shop (dollar store) inside the Seiyu. We got stuff like laundry clips to hang our clothes, hangers, laundry detergent, etc. When we came back we got dinner from Endo-san (curry and rice, yum) and then went to the grocery store to get food for tomorrow (we aren't served any food on Sundays). The bread aisle!! Bread stuffed with things! Melon bread! That aisle is dangerous. But on a side note, why don't we have bread stuffed with things in the U.S.? I demand chocolate stuffed bread.

Pictures of where I'm living:

The front hallway (what you see when you walk in the front door).

The entryway itself (so turning around from the previous view). Note the shoes! Yep, we take them off when we come in. We're supposed to put on slippers but I usually don't bother (oh no!).

My room. I sleep on a futon! Then I have that little desk over there for my laptop, and on the wall that you can't see is a closet. I have a chest of drawers too.

The bathroom (okay, not a very all-encompassing shot of it). But you can see the separate rooms for toilet and shower.

Shower/bath room. Traditionally, you fill the tub with hot water, then rinse yourself off/shampoo in the little area to the left. Then you soak in the tub after you're clean. Usually we just take showers, though, being barbaric foreigners and all. When it's cold I want to have some baths the proper way though.

The other side of the bathroom, our sink and washing machine (noooo dryer! Clothes dry outside).

The kitchen. Fridge, sink, stove, etc.

The living room/common area. I like it because it's nice and airy.

We'll close with this Engrish poem, written on the cup we keep chopsticks in.

A sea-green tree with green nuts
Love the red cheeks of the pink tree
A sky-blue tree with blue nuts
Both thinking of kissing its cute cheeks
Cheeks turning bright red from loving the sun
But neither knowing the other's secret desire

welcome!

2006-09-09T23:22:00.001+09:00

woohoo! I'm renewing this blog to talk about my study abroad experience in Tokyo, Japan this fall of 2006. I'll post detailed diary entries and pictures here. よろしくおねがいします！

Sarah's Japan Enikki, Week 3, Jan. 21-27, 2006

2006-01-31T16:26:00.002+09:00

Sarah's Japan Enikki, Week 3, Jan. 21-27, 2006

Saturday, January 21, 2006 - Asakusa, Shinjuku, Shibuya

Got up... to find it snowing!! Yes indeed, that day it started snowing and it was magical and lovely. (Well, and sometimes it was irritatingly wet and cold, but looking back on it, I prefer to think of it as magical. hahah) Apparently it's quite a rare thing for Tokyo, too, which makes it even cooler than we got to be there for it. It ended up delaying everyone else's flight, which sucks, but for us, it made things all pretty. I ate breakfast with Melissa, then checked out of the hotel and sat in the lobby for like 2 hours until everyone else in our group had left for the airport and it was just Kathryn, Sarah K, Milin, Fred and I. We made our way to Asakusa, to our place of accommodation for the next week, Taito Ryokan. It's a cute little two-story building (probably a converted house) with about 10 rooms, and feels more like a hostel with all the other foreigners of myriad nationalities (Spanish, Swedish, Australian, French...) than a ryokan. It's extremely cold, though, since we only have a space heater to warm our room, but everything else is good.

I actually took all these on the last day, but it makes more sense to put them here. This is me and Kathryn's room at Taito

Yep, it's pretty messy!! (That's my side)

Communal sinks

Upstairs bathroom--check out that Japanese toilet!! Who knows how to use one! I dooo :D

Shower room; the only one in the ryokan, but you can of course lock the door for privacy when you're in there.

All the shampoo is in different languages! :D

The front entryway. Never locked!

After we settled in Kathryn and I went to Shinjuku and poked around the department store Isetan (why is everything so expensive! I felt bad for dragging Kathryn there when all we could do was look, and neither of us wanted to go back outside where it was all snowy and cold) before eating dinner in a great little curry diner, where we had awesome delicious curry which we both love (mmm, I can still smell it! Curryyy! Mine even had chicken-katsu, breaded chicken strips, on top and it was so good). Randomly we stumbled across Marui, which was actually one of the places I wanted to go (a fact I didn't realize until days later!), where we browsed the Gothic Lolita clothing floors and I got a pair of Baby the Stars Shine Bright! socks for Ash (randomly, they match perfectly with this dress she just bought!). We went from there to Shibuya and killed time (a lot of time, we were way early) there until we met Susan (an AC grad and current JET) and her friend John (also a JET), who both turned out to be really cool. We also met at Hachiko, this dog statue that's pretty much the most popular meeting place in Tokyo, so that was cool and cliched, hee. So they showed us around Shibuya, and from there we went to Kawasaki, the town where Susan lives (so we wouldn't have to worry about catching the last train back) and went to a karaoke place there. We karaoke'd for a couple hours, my first time doing it for real in Japan! It was really fun. After that we went back to crash at Susan's apartment.

Snowy Shinjuku :3

It looks pretty now, but it was so cold and slushy, I really wasn't a huge fan of it at the time!

Of course, everyone busts out their umbrellas. They're not just for rain anymore!!

Gothic Lolita dresses at Marui

We stopped at a conbini (convenience store) and I was way amused by these fruit cups or whatever with amusing faces on them. HEEHEE :D

Us in the karaoke room (all the rest of these pictures are John's)

Me and Susan

Ahahaha!

Sunday, January 22, 2006 - Harajuku & Shibuya

Got up at around 8:30 (on purpose--we thought maybe Sarah, Fred and Milin were going to take the shinkansen to Nagoya that day and we wanted to get back in time to go with them while our JR passes were still good. Sarah, Fred and Milin paid for another week of JR passes while mine and Kathryn's expired the 22nd. Not like that stopped us from continuing to use them, though!!) and Kathryn and I headed back to Asakusa, where we promptly crashed until around 3 or so, since Sarah et al. weren't going to Nagoya. When I woke up in the afternoon, Kathryn was getting ready to take the shinkansen to this little mountain town she wanted to visit, Nikko, and so I went out with Sarah, Milin and Fred to Harajuku. We walked around all over and witnessed the teenage insanity (oh man, it was packed!) and then, as it was Sunday, saw the people all dressed up on the bridge and took some pictures.

Heehee. Amusing chalkboard outside of a hair salon place.

The crossing outside of Harajuku Station

Looking back at Harajuku Station

SEA OF PEOPLE!! That was like a freaking jam-packed river going down the main shopping boulevard, Takeshita-dori

Hello freaks!! :D

It is wayyyy cold but they are still out there!

From Harajuku we went to Shibuya and had dinner at this place where everything is 300y, food and beverages. Then we kinda wandered around looking at things and it was just so fun somehow. And I hardly ever hang out with those people at AC so that made it even better.

When we got back to our ryokan, we chilled in the common room for a bit with Kathryn (back from her trip into the mountains, though she had wound up going to the wrong town by mistake!) before all of us (minus Milin) went to the nearby onsen. It costs 400y but it's a real hot spring with water from below the ground and everything. So we relaxed in the hot hot water before coming back to Taito and falling into a blissful sleep.

Monday, January 23, 2006

A very lazy, relaxing day. We all slept in (some of us later than others--Kathryn) and then I got up and did my laundry at the laundromat next to the onsen place while Kathryn did some shopping around the area. I ate lunch at a ramen place nearby with Sarah, Milin and Fred and then they left to go to this big car store and I went back to the ryokan.

Later in the afternoon Kathryn and I went back out to the Asakusa area to go explore the Rox department store by our ryokan, which had much more affordable shops. I bought some socks and souvenirs and generally explored the clothing shops but found nothing. Then we went to the hyaku-en shop (dollar store), which took us by Sensoji and Nakamise-dori, where we took cool nighttime pictures and I bought a cat fan from one of the stalls still open, respectively. We browsed the hyaku-en shop and I got a lot of chopsticks, some for presents, some not. Also a chopsticks case and a rice bowl.

Me by Senso-ji at night :D

We remembered passing by this crepe place on our way out of Rox and decided to go there, so we retraced our steps all the way to the Rox center but absolutely could not find the crepe place. Finally we gave up and went back to the ryokan, only to find Sarah and Fred willing to go with us to get crepes and then (except Fred--he has tattoos, which in Japan only means you belong to the yakuza, so he gets stared at a lot in the public bath *laughs*) to the onsen. Of course, when we got back to Rox, there the crepes were, right out in the front. Oh well. So we had tasty hot crepes (mine had cinnamon and butter, mmmm) and then a lovely hot bath at the onsen. Ahhh.

Coming back, we stopped at McDonald's to get dinner, and so after I'd ordered, the menu was turned English-side up. This group of schoolgirls after me saw it and excitedly started to try and read the ("American," as they called it) menu, darting glances at me, who was just smiling, amused. I was handed my food and before leaving leaned in and said to them, "Ah, tottemo jouzu desu nee!" (Oh, you're quite skilled, aren't you) and they called back "Thank you!" (yes, in English) as we left. It was very cute and amusing. Then we ate our food in Sarah-tachi's room, talking and such until midnight or so when we went to bed. Quite fun.

Tuesday, January 24, 2006

Got up around 10 or so and Kathryn and I ventured out to go do quite a lot of things. (Sarah and them had gone to Nagoya that day.) First we went to Shinjuku (I should say, on the JR Yamanote Line, using our expired JR passes. And hey, it totally worked! We did this the rest of the trip and we never got caught. The station guys will just wave you through as soon as they see your JR pass, they don't even glance to check the dates. Yesss! If you ever go to Japan, I highly recommend a JR pass. It's not only useful on the shinkansen, but the JR Yamanote Line is pretty much what you'll take to get almost everywhere in Tokyo [Shibuya, Shinjuku, Harajuku, etc], and it works on that too) and walked around Kabuki-cho. It was daytime, of course, so we didn't see much, but at least we walked through it. Then we crossed over to West Shinjuku, where all the tall office buildings are, and went to the Sompo Museum of Art. It was just one floor on top of a building, but it was quite cool. Then we walked allll the way down to the Park Hyatt Tokyo, the hotel where parts of Lost In Translation were filmed. Mostly we were intimidated by all the fancy fancy high-end surroundings and I really saw nothing that looked like the movie... oh well. We were there, at least! Then we walked through Shinjuku Park across the street on our way back to the station.

There was a small free art gallery on the ground floor of one of the main Park buildings (the Hyatt is just one building in a complex) that we browsed, and these are some exhibits from it that I liked

Ahahahaha!

Park Hyatt as seen from the park

From Shinjuku we stopped briefly at Harajuku, where I got a cool multi-fabric cream-colored skirt (finally, something I like that fits me! My dream of owning an article of clothing from Japan is fulfilled) and a crepe (yumm, blueberry cheesecake. Harajuku is also known for its crepes). Then we went to Shibuya, where we hit up Bunkamura, this amazing art museum currently doing an Impressionist exhibit, so I got to see all these paintings by my favorite artists (Renoir, Monet, etc). It was really amazing.

On the way back we went to another hyaku-en shop, this one close to the Rox building. This one was lot nicer with more selection, and we browsed there for a bit. I got a bento lunchbox and a furoshiki bag to hold the lunchbox. I'll never need a Japanese lunchbox but it's still very cute with a kitty on it and I like it. :3 At the ryokan that night, whilst chilling in the common room we talked to some other people staying there, like this French chef guy who had come to Japan to perfect his Japanese cooking skills and a Canadian girl who was in the process of touring the world, pretty much. We also enjoyed the common room's lovely kotatsu table (a low table with a heater attached to the bottom and then a blanket surrounding it. So wonderful and warm). Mmmm, kotatsu. The Japanese commons at AC needs one of those, oh man!

Genghis Khan restaurant!! :D It was right next door to the ryokan, and always playing this awesome German song about Genghis Khan that got stuck in our heads every time we passed by it. Of course I had to record the sound, and it's here. Just listen!!

Kotatsuuuuuuu :3

Wednesday, January 25, 2006 - Museums & Fish Markets

Another museum day! But first the Tsukiji fish market, as Kathryn really wanted to go. So we got up "early" (9 or 10 or so--the fish market actually 'opens' at 4 a.m. for the auctions and whatnot, but that was as early as we could make ourselves get up) and made our way over to Tsukiji Station only to discover... no fish! The fish market was closed that day, as we later found out!! (It's always closed on Wednesdays.) But we stumbled on a few stalls still open anyway, where we saw some huge crabs and things and it was pretty cool (if fishy...).

GAS DESCENDING FROM THE SKY! Of course there are normal gas pumps other places, but the sight of this kind always kind of took by me surprise.

Fish markeeettt

HUGE CRABS!

Oh my god @_@

From there we hopped on the Yamanote Line (ah, so convenient, and it even has a cool TV display showing the next station and where you are on the line and which side of doors is opening. Some of the lines are pretty ghetto but not Yamanote!) and went to Meguro, where (after some ~~getting lost~~ careful searching) we ended up at this nature park, which wasn't exactly where we intended to go at that point, but still an eventual destination, so we rolled with it and did that first. Kathryn the nature-freak (she even bird-watches with old men!) was thrilled, and I found it pretty but not fascinating. Glad we came, though--there were some amusing pictures in the mini-museum, and we also had the chance to blow some old Japanese people's minds by speaking to them in Japanese. If you do that to old Japanese people, they will FREAK OUT because none of them expect Westerners to speak any Japanese. It's always so much fun to see them get so amazed, hahah.

(Warning sign outside the nature park) NO TURTLES! So if you want to bring your pet turtle, well, you can't!!
[It's actually something about non-native species being introduced to the park; they don't want any outside influences from domesticated animals, etc... still!]

Crow! Though not a real one, just part of a bird display inside the mini-museum.

HEEEEEEEEEEEEEHEE!! This is an amusing depiction of "parasite" birds. The fat bird has kicked the baby birds out of the nest and taken their place so the mommy bird will give it the food. As you can see, it looks quite pleased with itself! It's saying "Ihhihhee" bahahhaa

Pond inside the nature park

So after we tramped all about the nature park (and after some delicious curry with chicken-cheese-katsu for lunch in another curry diner, yummmm) we made our way to the bug museum--or the Meguro Parasitological Museum, whatever. That place, featuring myriad parasite information and samples, has become notorious as a destination for teenagers, especially couples, to "test their mettle," so to speak. The place is tiny and not all that disgusting, but it was great fun to look at. My personal favorite moment? Watching a taxi roll up outside the museum and a guy and his girlfriend get out and come inside. A taxi!!! Taxis are expensive, man, what kind of teenager/young adult would take one instead of just walking 15 minutes from the station!? So freakin' crazy!! Aahahhaaha.

An electronic fortune dispenser!!! At this small shrine we passed by on our way to the museum. But seriously... electronic fortunes! so crazy!

Then we walked over to Ebisu and went to the photography museum (Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography). They had separate exhibits going on and we chose to go to the Shoji Ueda exhibit on the third floor cause it looked the most interesting (and was also the cheapest). It turned out to be really awesome and I'm so glad we chose that one. We spent a little too much time looking in the gift shop, though, and missed the 5 pm cut off to be admitted to the Yebisu Beer Museum mere feet away by like 10 minutes!! Noooo, so close!! Ohhh well.

The Ebisu Garden Place complex with lots of fancy shops and things

HA! We still took pictures outside the beer museum. Take that, 5 pm admission deadline!!

From there we went to Shibuya where we met Kathryn's cousin William and his wife Yoko (who is training to be an Olympic highjumper--so cool!) who took us to dinner at this okonomiyaki place in Jiyuugaoka. Luckily I didn't have to have okonomiyaki and just fried beef strips and ate edamame instead, yumm. It was a good dinner, I'm glad we went.

Then we went back to the ryokan and to sleep!

Thursday, January 26, 2006

The night before, one of my friends had emailed me to tell me she was randomly staying in Japan for a bit, and did we want to meet at Hachiko in Shibuya tomorrow? I quickly replied saying I'd love to, but what time? I figured she'd reply by tomorrow and so I decided not to go to Nikko with Kathryn, Fred, Sarah, and Milin and wait for her reply.

...Cut to them getting back around 6 or so at night and still no reply! As it turned out, her email had gone down and she was left without a way to contact me! So I never got to see her in Japan... I'm really sad, especially since I later realized I could have called someone else who could have given me her cell number, and arrrgh, why didn't I just walk to an international phone and do that?! Agsdgjsdhg. It would have been so great to see her. Now that's one of my biggest regrets, that I didn't. rrrrr

Anyway, when Kathryn and them got back from Nikko, we went to the onsen one last time (sniff!) and then bought dinner at our beloved am-pm convenience store (that's how we roll) and then ate it in our rooom before going to sleep for the last time in our ryokan.

Glowing traffic cones!!! :D On the streets of Asakusa near our ryokan

Friday, January 27, 2006 - Last Day in Japan

Got up, packed all my stuff up, and checked out of Taito. Kathryn and I left to take the Keisei Line to Narita Airport (from Ueno), while Sarah, Fred, and Milin (legitimately JR-enabled) took the JR Narita Express from Tokyo Station. So we arrived at Narita four hours early for our flight but eventually met back up with the rest of our small group and checked into our flight and (eventually) boarded it. The flight going back was somehow shorter than the one to Japan, and we took a different route (straight across the Pacific as opposed to the opposite V up by Alaska and the Bering Strait) that we'd gone the previous time. I watched Just Like Heaven (sappy, but not awful. Mark Ruffalo, why do you only do chick flicks? I think you could be better than that if you wanted) and Roll Bounce, a hilarious Bow Wow vehicle about a roller skating competition--so awesomely bad. hahahaa

Clouds outside the plane window

Pretty blue sky :3

When we landed in Houston, we had to go through customs there, which meant getting our bags from baggage claim, running them through customs, then re-checking them onto our connecting flight to Dallas--all in the 45-minute window of time before we had to get on said connecting flight! Aghagh... so much trouble and worry, especially because they made me go get my bag scanned because I made the mistake of saying I had food and that was another 15 minutes wasted... but in the end, Fred and I got on our plane to Dallas just fine (and Kathryn on hers to Oklahoma City, and Sarah and Milin just stayed in Houston), and after a very short flight of less than an hour long, we were there! Home!

Ahh, I can't believe it's over! I'm glad to be home, but I want so much to be back in Japan, it's unbelievable. It's cliched... but a part of me was definitely left there. Sigh. I'm going to try and go back as soon as I can. aitai!!

Sarah's Japan Enikki, Week 2, Jan. 16-20, 2006

2006-01-30T15:17:00.002+09:00

Sarah's Japan Enikki, Week 2, Jan. 16-20, 2006

Monday, January 16, 2006 - いい日旅立ち、西へ / On to Kyoto

Woke up... from my last night in my lovely futon. Ahh, I really don't want to leave this area. I like my host family, I've just figured out how to get around... ここが好き。 :<

Melissa making an amusing face at Tokyo Station before we caught our bullet train XD

Kathryn!

Paul, hahah

Sup Tokyo Station!

Bullet train wickets (hahah, that word is so funny)

On the bullet train!

We were spirited straight from the Kyoto Station platform to our bus waiting outside. There was another bus next to ours filled with jeering junior high students, who were no doubt calling out "Gaijin, gaijin da!" and the like, and we were giggling right back. Because someone told me to, I blew a kiss at them, and I thought they wouldn't see it, but they did and were pretty amused by it. Hahaha. Anyway, from there we went straight to Sanju-sangendo Temple. We saw the huge Kannon goddess statue and the rows of 1,000 other figures of her... yay. Cool, and famous etc, but not fascinating. Next up was Nijo Castle, which was quite awesome. It was so fun to put on the little slippers and pad around on the wooden floors (the squeaky "nightingale" floors!) of the old building. Even if no photography and NO SKETCHING was allowed. Whee, good times.

Pretty pond at Nijo Castle

More hand purification things

Me looking stupid

There's Linsey on the opposite side

The designated path we had to follow around the grounds. STICK TO THE PATH!

Sup koi!! Apparently just one of these fish is worth like $20,000 because it lives here and is old or something. ahhh crazy!

The third stop of the day was Kinkakuji Temple, which I recognized immediately because Elsa has been there and I saw her pictures. So we saw the huge golden pavilion and that was where I saw the guy who looks like someone I know, hahah.

Haaaay Kinkakuji!!

The obligatory picture of me by Kinkakuji

The guy in the gray hat is the one I thought looked like my friend. You really can't see it here, though...

Cool steps

Finally after that we went to our hotel, the Heian no Mori. Dinner was at 7 and a buffet. After that I chilled in the room for a while, having declined to go out with Mary Anne and Erin because I didn't really want to go to bookstores and arcades. When they got back, we girls sat up talking for hours and it was fun.

The front entryway of our hotel room. The green slippers are for wearing around the hotel, apparently!

My and Melissa's room. They moved the table over and laid out the futons over where the TV is.

Hahah, Milin and Karl all pimped out in their yukata robes!

Tuesday, January 17, 2006 - Kyoto, AKA Temple City

And the neverending parade of temples continues. After breakfast, we set out for Nanzenji, which had pretty zen gardens and wooden walkways in slippers. Also an aqueduct, which we explored thoroughly and it was quite fun. We then walked to a tea ceremony place, where girls in kimono served us matcha tea (bitter green tea) and bean-flavored sweets. I had a bit of the sweet (bleh) but didn't even try the tea, no way, that stuff smelled gross and I knew I would not like it.

Zen gardennssss

Aqueduct!! :D

Me in the aqueduct supports XD

The top of the aqueduct

Mary Anne pretending like she's going to cross it (she so didn't!)

General shots of Kyoto streets

Nastiness. Utter nastiness. (My tea ceremony tea & sweet)

Everyone with their tea

The girl in the kimono did the ceremony and served us our tea

Then we took the bus to Kiyomizudera Temple, wandered around there for a bit before Melissa and I ventured down to find lunch. The best we found were these delicious crepes with things inside them. I got a blueberry cheesecake one and it was amazing. <3!

Kiyomizudera! So pretty!

Then we went to Zenkyoan Kenninji Temple to do zen meditation. Oh God, that was torturous and absolutely freezing (since we had to take our coats and shoes off and the screens were completely open, letting the frigid air blow right in). I know you're supposed to get so into your meditation that you forget that your feet are slowly getting frostbitten, but I just couldn't. Let me meditate when I am comfortable please! I never want to do that again! Ahhh.

My feet, about to freeze like they've never frozen before

Scott, Alex, Ishikawa-san, Buddhist monk dude who led our meditation

Ahahahahaa Mary Anne

HEEEEE :3 We were all oh so amused by this sign! (Across the street from the temple place)

Came back to hotel, napped, ate dinner, chilled in room until I went to the public bath with Sarah K and Kathryn for the first time. Oh man--amazing!! I am so glad I tried it. I was oh so wary, but being naked really was not that bad, and I had a great conversation with Sarah and Kathryn to boot. So it was a weird and special experience, but definitely worth it. Almost made the Kyoto trip itself worth it, actually. I feel a lot better about a lot of things. Probably won't last, but oh well! Still happy :)

I actually took this the next morning, but I'm putting it here. This sign was on the pathway to the public bath in our hotel, and oh, so amusing :D

Wednesday, January 18, 2006 - On to Nara / Hiroshima

Woke up a bit late and so I had to scarf down breakfast before hauling all my stuff down from the room and put it on the bus. Once everyone was settled, we were off to Nara! First we went to Horyu-ji Temple, which was pretty unremarkable and really, I don't see why we needed to stop at it. There was an interesting museum, which was a welcome break from the temple monotony, but otherwise? No.

NO SKETCHING!! You can't even draw a picture.

But, ah, then we were off to Kasugataisha! The deer park! Amazing!! I loved it as much as I knew I would. The pushy deer didn't even bother me. We fed them deer crackers and it was awesome. Mary Anne, Erin, Melissa and I had lunch at this udon place and for the first time in a long time, all four of us were completely satisfied with our food and were able to find a restaurant relatively fast (oh, so much drama/tension resulted from the daily lunch quest!). I had Scott take a picture to commemorate this truly momentous and rare occasion.

Melissa wanted me to take pictures of her giving her report on Kasugataisha, so I did, and also happened to capture Tad looking like an utter idiot. Oh, hilarity!

Deeeeeeer!

Amusing deer safety sign. Look at the angry deer at the bottom!

Main gate to the temple

Deer-themed hand purification area!

These are stone lanterns lining the sides of the main path. They get lit up at night and I really wanted to see it but we didn't get to stay that long D:

Hellooo! :D

Melissa feeding the deer. Those are the deer cracker things you can buy and give to them

All right, now it's my and Mary Anne's turn to be attacked by greedy deer!

Deer says, SUP :O

Even Erin got in on the action

Joining back up with the rest of the group... Aubrey and David are in the process of attracting the whole horde to them

@_@

All of us happy with our meals! A MIRACLE!! (mmm, check out my curry :3333 Currrryyyy~~ :D)

After lunch we (me, Erin, and Mary Anne--Melissa had gone ahead) were walking on the main path towards Todaiji to meet back up with the rest of our group when this group of three junior-high girls rushed up and AMBUSHED us with "May I speak to you in English?" It was the cutest thing ever. They had to do it for a homework assignment, because their teacher and a few guy students were standing off to the side. They told us their names and where they were from and then asked us the same questions and wrote down the answers. By that point Ishikawa-san (the woman from IES who came along with us on the Kyoto-Nara-Hiroshima part of the trip. She was great!) had come back looking for us, since we were supposed to have met the group by then, but we couldn't really have just left the girls, and she understood.
The interview seemed to be over, so we were able to continue on to Todaiji, where we played with the deer some more and beheld a true Daibutsu (big Buddha). That thing was HUGE!! I'm not sorry I missed Kamakura's Daibutsu, because this is truly the biggest Buddha in Japan. Simply amazing!

It has horns on top! :D Well, okay, fish tails, but you know...

Big Buddha, big Buddha, big Buddha... :D (to the tune of "Big Booty" hahahah)

Around the back there's a hole in a pillar said to be the size of the Buddha statue's nostril, and if you squeeze through you are said to be a very clever person (because, according to legend, a guy working on the statue accidentally sealed himself inside, and only escaped by crawling out through the Buddha's nostril). We all made it through, except for Melissa who didn't try and Erin whose boobs were (hee) too big to fit through XD It was great fun cheering each other on, including some random Japanese tourists who were doing it too. Nara was quite fun indeed :D

Yess! I did it :D

I love how Scott immediately flipped those peace signs! Or as Milin called it, "throwin up the deuce deuce" ahahahaaaa

The temple apparently donates to cerebral palsy or something. I just love all the cute pictures!

From there the bus took us to Shin-Osaka Station, where we caught the shinkansen to Hiroshima. From the station we walked to our hotel, the New Tachibana. And you've already heard my joke about that one... (cough) So wrong but just so hilarious. Erin, Melissa, Mary Anne and I were all in the same room.

Dinner was Japanese-style, in a tatami room and with like 10 different dishes. Most of it I didn't like (ah, of course) but there was some delicious meat patty stuff that I loved. I was pretty much able to just eat what looked good and leave the rest, and what I ate got me pretty full anyway.

That night we ventured out to the area around Hiroshima Station and found this cool 6-story building with an Internet cafe on the sixth floor, so we hit that up and spent an hour online. When we got back, Mary Anne and I went down to the public bath with Sarah and Kathryn. Linsey also joined us there. This public bath is smaller than the last one, but it was still oh so relaxing and lovely. :)

Cool statues by Hiroshima Station

Thursday, January 19, 2006 - My Birthday!! / Hiroshima + Miyajima

Yes indeed, it was my 20th birthday today. And I was sort of confused the whole day long because no one else on the trip besides my friends seemed to know! So I thought it had just been forgotten since nothing happened all day. Until that night, when out of the blue there was Kirin beer and Coke and everyone toasted me and my "coming of age" in Japan! Ishikawa-san even gave me a little name stamp with "Sara" in katakana on it. So nice!

But back to the day itself. We took the streetcar to Hiroshima Peace Park and saw the Genbaku (A-bomb) Dome and the everlasting flame and all that stuff. Then we went to the Peace Memorial Museum, which... I'll cut a rant short and just say that I was very mad at the complete biased agenda going on there. I also didn't appreciate the slight anti-American undercurrent either... whatever. Mary Anne and I had fun mocking the guestbook entries, though. hahahaaah, there were some good ones!

So if you expect me to be feeling all reverant and respectful here, well, I'm not. The whole thing just pissed me off. grrr

A-bomb Dome

Shrine outside it

Everyone listening to the person who was giving their presentation on it

One of the little mini-monuments inside the Peace Park

Lake thing a bunch of stuff is put on top of

This was like the first time I had seen a flagpole flying the Japanese flag (both in Japan and overall, a flagpole flying something besides the American flag)

The special monuments all lined up... blah

Before joining the rest of the group at the streetcar stop, Erin, Melissa, Mary Anne and I found some international phone booths and called our families. My parents were so surprised to hear from me, but I think they were glad I called even though we only talked for about 5 minutes before my coins ran out. After we finished our calls we walked back to the streetcar station and rode that back to Hiroshima Station where we had lunch. Melissa and I had McDonald's!! Yay, Makudo. It's better here! I don't know why.

Theeere it is :D Mmmm so good :3

After lunch, we rode to Miyajimaguchi Station, from which we caught the ferry to Miyajima (Island). The ferry ride was quite fun and a nice change. Once we got to Miyajima, we made our way straight for Itsukushima Shrine, which was so cool. It has the famous "floating torii" gate and then the whole rest of the shrine is built on the water too. There was a lot of construction going on and the tide was out (exposing the ugly muddy sandbed) so it wasn't as pretty as it could have been but it was still really cool. After we finished walking through the shrine, we walked back through the main boulevard lined with shops and did some shopping. I picked up a box of the momiji sweets (the maple-leaf-shaped sweets the area is known for. Deer, maple leaves, and monkeys--that's Miyajima) for my host family. Of course we petted all the tame deer hanging around (yay for places with tame deer!) but unfortunately, because we only had two hours to explore Miyajima (not enough time!), we didn't get to ride the gondolas up unto the mountains and see the monkeys. Oh well--next time, I guess, because I definitely want to come back to Miyajima, it was awesome.

It was really cold waiting for the ferry so Paul zipped his jacket and stuff up all the way and then realized it made him look like a robber. "I will mug you," he said, haha!

Sup Miyajima! Sup deeeer!

Amusing-looking tanuki (raccoon dog)

Hay famous torii gate!

Inside of Itsukushima Shrine, one of the coolest shrines ever. It's BUILT ON THE WATER!

Probably looks cooler when there's actual water under it, though...

Deeeer! Apparently if the tide comes in and they don't get out in time, they drown!!!

Miko!! Mikomikomiko!! (Shrine priestess/maiden) The first one I had seen! :D

Mikooooo :D

HAHAHAH!!

Deer bothering the deer cracker stall dude!

The deer can go anywhere they want--EXCEPT the bathrooms. Hence, a gate to keep them out. hahaha!!

When we got back to the hotel, we had dinner and that's when Scott and Ishikawa-san busted out with the beer and such and totally surprised me. So crazy...

After dinner, the four of us went back to the internet cafe place and then after that went to bed. And that was my birthday! Miyajima made it, really. That place rocked :D

Friday, January 20, 2006 - Himeji / Sayonara Party

Got up, ate breakfast. Took the shinkansen to Himeji Station (maybe an hour away), and walked from there to Himeji Castle, one of the three most famous castles in Japan, which was way awesome. (I also liked that the 'hime' in its name is indeed the character for princess, which is in the Japanese version of my name [Sarah meaning princess]. So, it's the princess castle :3). We walked up all those steep sets of stairs to reach the very top of the castle, where we could see out all over and it was really cool. I also liked the creaky wooden floors and stairs, I love old buildings. This castle's been around since medieval times, too, so it's a wonder they still let people tramp all over it! After exploring the castle we had another crazy lunch adventure and Mary Anne went a little insane, but eventually we found this cafe place that was acceptable to all of us.

At Hiroshima Station, there is a HIGH SCHOOL inside the station!! Look to the left--it says "Clark Memorial International High School"!!

Himejiiiii

Erin looking all silly and like a "ninja"

Kiiiitty!

NO SCRIBBLES!

View from the veeeery top!

Looking out onto the city of Himeji

The mini-shrine on the top floor

Cabbages!! (Fred and Kathryn actually broke off some leaves and ATE THEM! Freaks!!)

Sup white heron :3 I thought it was cool cause the castle is also called the White Heron cause of its whitewashed walls

Then I clapped my hands so it would go flying off and I could get this shot. Mary Anne, who had been trying to take a picture of it on the ugly bags, wasn't too happy!

There were also black swans!!

Swanny swan swans :D They came over all hoping we food but we so didn't. :/ Sorry swans!

Apparently, having one of the three most famous castles in Japan just isn't enough. Himeji also needs to have bizarre and random sculptures along its main street!

AS WELL AS HILARIOUS ADS AHAHAHAHAHAHA SERIOUSLY WHAT IS THIS

Baaaahahahaha.

From Himeji we got back on the shinkansen and took it all the way back to Tokyo: another nice, long, relaxing ride, ahhh. I could stay on the shinkansen all day. We arrived in Shinagawa and checked into our hotel, the Shinagawa Prince Hotel, an extremely nice hotel (patronized, of course, by many foreigners). We had about half an hour to decompress before making our way to the banquet room of another tower for the Sayonara Party with our host families. I was so happy to see my host mom and Nanase again (my host dad had to work), I didn't even mind that I couldn't eat half the food. I played with Nanase a lot, swinging her around and giving her piggyback rides like I do to my cousins. There were some speeches by Scott and other IES people over the course of the night and then maybe around 10 or so the party started winding down and I had to say goodbye to my host mom and Nanase, which was really really sad. Both Kanako-san (my host mom) and I started crying--I am so fond of them and it kills me that I may not see them for a long time. :(

Picture I took with Na-chan on my lap and just holding the camera out

Everyone listening to some boring speech, blah blah

Na-chaaaaaan :3

WAHHHH, I MISS THEMMMMMM!

End of Week 2!!

Sarah's Japan Enikki, Week 1, Jan. 5-15, 2006

2006-01-29T14:28:00.002+09:00

Woooo, here is the first installment of my Janterm trip journal + pictures!! I divided it up into three sections, one for each week. I am calling it my enikki (絵日記) because that word means picture diary which is exactly what this is.

Sarah's Japan Enikki, Week 1, Jan. 5-15, 2006

Thursday/Friday, January 5/6, 2006 - Arrival

Today was the plane ride and our arrival in Japan. I have to say, the 15-hour flight was nothing compared to the bizarre cultural shock I suffered upon arriving. I guess it was a combination of things: my carry-on bag not only being heavier than I expected, but also unable to fit on top of my rolling suitcase like I'd planned - having to pay to have my suitcase delivered to my host family and subsequently losing 100y in change walking back - the chaos we seemed to be going through overall as a group. Augh! It freaked me out, and took a while for me to calm down. So overwhelming!

At least on the plane I was able to watch Nana, this movie I recognized because Bekah's been reading the manga series. It was a really, really good movie, and I was glad they played it. They also were playing Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, with Japanese dubbing, which you can bet I listened to and was hilariously amused at. The guy they got to do Johnny Depp's voice was just so amusing and great. Hee!

From Narita Airport we rode a bus to Makuhari City in Chiba and then walked to OVTA, this building that seems to be used mostly for business meetings and things but also has hotel-style rooms on the upper floors, where we got our room assignments and then went to the welcome dinner. At the welcome dinner I was able to talk to some IES people who'd known Hyung-hye from her days as an intern there, as well as meet my ePal, Saki. I ended up talking to her for awhile, at least half of it in Japanese. She complimented me on my Japanese, saying it was 'perapera' - I guess that's "smooth" or something. It was quite fun, although I was so distracted trying to hold up my end of the conversation that I didn't notice that even though I thought I had gotten chicken, it was actually fish, and I was eating it without even noticing. Eugh, I hate fiiiiish! I knew it tasted weird but I wasn't really paying attention so I just kept eating it. But oh well... I guess it is good for you, so... still...

After the welcome dinner I intended to go to sleep, but instead went for a walk around Makuhari City with Kathryn and Paul, which was a good idea and enabled us to see a lot, including like 10,000 bicycles! Oh my god @_@ The Japanese are all about bicycles, man. So we familiarized ourselves with the area and then went back to OVTA, where I finally went to sleep in my cold icebox of a room.

Monks on the plane!!! :D Not Japanese Buddhist monks, but monks nonetheless! Perhaps Tibetan?

Out walking around Makuhari City. Yes indeed, there was an Outback Steakhouse! We tried to eat at it, but they didn't serve lunch, which was the only time we were there. D:

Capsule machines

One of the buildings with malls inside, seen from the outside

交番 Kouban!!! :D A police box! We had to learn this vocabulary word not really knowing what it meant so it was cool to have an actual thing to put with the word. :D A police box is where policemen hang out and are available to give directions, make rounds, etc. Koubaaaannn~

My OVTA room. The only single rooms we stayed in the whole trip, and it caught me a bit off-guard!

Saturday, January 7, 2006 - Orientation / Host Family

Busy day! I got up and went downstairs for breakfast, then we checked out and had a short orientation by the IES staff before going to the IES center in the Sumitomo building five minutes away. What a nice building!! So we were introduced to the IES offices, and then we all had a walking tour of Makuhari City (mostly stuff I'd seen before from exploring last night, but also some things I hadn't, like this cool mall area). I was also able to talk to Saki some more. Then we broke for lunch, and I ate with Paul, Kathryn, and Saki. I got udon (thick noodle soup), my first time having it, and I would have really liked it if the broth wasn't flavored with something (probably fish flakes or nori or something) that I know I really don't like. But I made myself keep eating it, because I was determined not to spend the trip making my pickiness a burden to people. (In hindsight, a noble goal, but I'm picky and can't change it, so...)

Back at IES, I was able to send a quick email to my parents before we had another orientation, this time about our host families. It just made me even more nervous, but I shouldn't have worried at all, because my host family is so nice! Their name is Sato: a dad (Nobuyuki), mom (Kanako), and six-year-old daughter (Nanase). They hosted another student for a month in early 2003, a girl named Mika who was half-Japanese, so I wasn't their first host student. Also, because Kathryn, Erin, Linsey, and I all have the same train station closest to our houses, our host moms all got together and traded phone numbers so we could all arrange a meeting time the next morning. The sight of four Japanese housewives busily setting things up was incredibly amusing to me! And then our four families all rode the train home together. My first Japanese train ride~ yay! That's one of the things I've wanted to do for a long time.

After we got to our station (Shin Urayasu), we had to take a bus and then walk through a neighborhood for about two minutes, but then we got to the cutest house ever. Hardwood floors, except my room (the guest room) is tatami mats! With a futon on the floor! Yay!!! :D It was definitely one of my dreams in coming to Japan to sleep on a futon in a tatami room. So I was very happy with that!

Shortly after we arrived (and after I gave my host family the obligatory present--a small stuffed armadillo to represent Texas. Ah, it's so cute, but it went straight to Nanase, and I hope she takes proper care of it!), I went with my host mother and sister to go buy food for dinner, etc. My host mom drove us to this big four- or five-story mall complex place with a supermarket on one of the floors. So crazy!! (Of course, that's pretty much the norm, I later discovered. There's smaller grocery stores with their own buildings scattered around too, of course, but for the bigger places with huge selections, you have to go to one of the department stores). Unlike the sedated, calm American grocery stores, these places are bustling and insane, with people everywhere, and the carts are tiny little things that fit a basket on top. We got some pastries and bread things for breakfast (the Japanese are big on French-style patisserie-type places, where you grab a tray and place the pastries you want on it, then bring it to the front where it's wrapped up for you), then Nanase took me to the snack/candy aisle. So many things!! We spent awhile looking at everything and each picked out one thing before my host mom found us after she'd gotten most of the things she needed. (How convenient, that I looked after Nanase and kept her out of her hair so she could shop in peace...! hahah)

Unfortunately, I had had to confess to them my (sizable) list of things I don't like to eat, and though they seemed understanding, I wonder if that doesn't add a mark to my "burden" side (of my "Guest Evaluation" mental sheet they must have), ahhh. Before we left the shopping center I had to get a notebook to use for this journal so we went to another floor and got that. All the Sanrio stuff in the stationery section was crazy!! I really could have spent so much more time browsing that whole shopping center, but we had to get back and make dinner.

Before dinner, Nanase and I played in the loft (they have a small loft you climb up to from the living room) with marbles (biidama) and other things she had up there. It's a good thing I like kids and don't mind playing with the them, and I hope that fact makes up for my pickiness with food >.>

Dinner was something I've forgotten the Japanese name of but that means "one skillet dinner"--long strips of potato, fatty pork bits, chicken balls, celery, and lettuce all in one big pot in the center of the table. Then on the sides in separate dishes, these egg things that didn't taste like eggs and sweet beans--and some sort of pink-and-white "steamed fish paste" thing I didn't try because it was fishy (I later learned that it's a traditional New Year's food). But I tried everything else and it was really good! And I ate it all with chopsticks, too--they offered me a fork but I refused. I ate everything I took, not wanting to offend with waste (except the fatty pork thing, cause it was hard to pick up). Yay!

After dinner Nanase and I played in the loft with marbles again, and then we came down and I talked about plans with my host mom to go to Tokyo DisneySea tomorrow :D Yay!! Then she and Nanase took their baths and I took mine afterwards. Ah~ soaking in a hot tub, how wonderful! The bathroom has a heating system too, how amazing. The toilet of course is not connected and there's one next door to the bathroom and one upstairs next to the kitchen. After my bath I went to bed in my soft heavenly futon bed. :D I am so incredibly happy with my host family!! I really hope they like me too. They seem to, but you can never tell. I do think I got one of the less-English-capable families, as we mostly communicate in Japanese, but that's really all right. That's what I'm here for, right?

Oh, and they have the cutest dog, a Pomeranian named Koron (Collon?). It's adorable, but so spoiled!

At the party held at the IES offices where everyone met their host families for the first time. I'm amused by Paul (the guy in the middle) in this picture, he's all "Hmmm..." XD

Everyone in the Urayasu area trading phone numbers and such so us host students could meet at the station for classes the following Monday, hee. My host mom is in the pink shirt.

Na-chaaan! My host sister :3

My room at the Satos' <3

Ofuton :3

I liked how the futons piled up in the closet looked like a rainbow. "Niji-iro!" I said to my host mom ("Rainbow-colored!")

The front entryway. Can you tell whose shoes are whose? Hint, mine are the cool ballet flat ones with laces :3 You know, I really wish American homes were like this.

Stairs leading up to the main level (the front entryway opens onto the lower level, which has the bathroom, my room, the master bedroom and my host dad's study)

Koron!! Cute, but vicious. Watch out.

Living room. I don't know why that high chair is there... it's not like Nanase needs it. Oh well.

Dining room area. Not pictured: A cool thing that, when someone rings the doorbell to come into the house, shows their picture on a screen!! I thought things like that were just a myth :O

The loft (you saw the stairs leading up to it in the living room picture). I thought this was so cool when I first saw it, I love lofts, that I said "Kore netai!" and everyone laughed... although I messed up, I should have said "Koko netai" (I want to sleep here) aghafjdash oh well...

Toilet! Washlet, actually. After you flush, freezing-cold water comes out of the sink on top and you can wash your hands in it.

Here you can see the infamous toilet slippers and the panel on the wall where you can push the buttons for a bidet, etc (I was too scared to try it!)

The bathroom downstairs

Showering room--first you rinse off with the showerhead on the right half of the room, then you get into the bathtub filled with water on the left half and soak. ahhh~ :3

Sink

Washer and dryer. It's not just weird that they're in the bathroom, it's weird that there is a dryer at all. Most Japanese homes don't have one, and hang everything up to dry, which my family still did, except for socks and underwear. Those went in the dryer. Nothing else. (Later I put normal shirts in the dryer just to see and of course they were just fine!)

Sunday, January 8, 2006 - Tokyo DisneySea!!

Today my host mother, sister, and I went to Tokyo DisneySea, the park adjacent to Tokyo Disneyland with all new rides. It was so much fun! I rode all the big rides (some by myself since my host mother had to wait outside with Nanase, who was too short to ride them). They had an Indiana Jones rode!! The one in Disneyland California is my absolute most favorite ride! I was so happy :D It's almost the exact same ride, just with a slightly different theme (the Crystal Skull as opposed to ), but a lot of the details are still the same. As silly as it sounds, that ride is seriously my happy place. I am always filled with bliss when I am on it. Ahhh :D I rode it with my host mom, who seemed really scared of it. Pssch!! Oh well

For most of the morning we wandered around doing various rides, some kid oriented, some not, and some in the middle. One of my favorites for a very silly reason was Storm Rider (SUTOOMU RAIDAA! hahaha), which was basically one of those put-you-in-the-situation theatre things (like The Right Stuff at Six Flags, etc) and the premise is that you're battling this storm so you go in a plane to diffuse it somehow and real water drops fall on you, etc. But the hero of the story is this guy named Captain Davis, and you only hear his voice but I LOVED HIM. At the end of the ride, after he'd put us through hell and back but came out okay, his commander guy tried to berate him but he was just all "Yare, yare! Maa, minna tanoshinda na" (Oh well! Everyone had fun, right?) and aaaahahaha it was so great! I would really love to ride that ride again just to hear him. Captain Davis <3>everyone loves it. I saw groups of schoolgirls in matching mouse ears, couples on dates, and families with small children alike. In America, you really don't see that many teenagers--Disney isn't "cool." But in Japan it really is, and everyone gets so into it. Fascinating!

The other thing is how conscious of my gaijin status I was, adrift in a sea of Japanese. It's a very odd feeling, being completely aware that only you are different. Not counting the performers, I counted only 3-4 other gaijin there at the park that day!

Because my mom is the biggest Disney fan ever and is intensely jealous that I get to see Tokyo Disney, I spent the last bit of our time there scouring the shops for a gift for her. She collects magnets for our fridge of places we've visited so I looked for one of those, but unlike in the U.S., they had only one magnet and it was shaped like some weird Mickey cookie thing (I guess all the phone straps took up the usual magnet space--so many phone straps!!). So in the end I got a small porcelain Mickey-head-shaped plate thing filled with chocolates--it's vaguely Japanese (enough for it to be something you can't get back home) and she can display it with the rest of her paraphernalia. Actually, if someday I could take my mom to Tokyo Disney with me, I think she'd really enjoy it (as long as I acted as translator, of course). It's so interesting seeing everything translated to Japanese you're used to seeing in English. (For example, Captain Hook is Hooku-shachou! XD)

Me and Na-chan in front of the globe fountain thing you pass when you come in

The big mountain in the middle of the whole park

The place where the submarine ride is... California Disneyland used to have a submarine ride and I went on it when I was 6, but they've since closed it down because it was too much maintenance. So it's interesting that it's here in Japan! I didn't ride it, though.

The Little Mermaid play area thing (all of it is inside that building)

Entrance to the "Arabian Coast" area

Bleaugh, my hair looks awful! So windy...

Guy with a camel and the three of us. hahah

Front of this roller coaster thing

Nanaseeee~

"American Waterfront" area

Nanase being silly while we were playing in the kids' area

Indiana Jones!! <3

Thing inside the waiting area

Nanase being silly and posing like the statue of Prince Eric in the Little Mermaid play area

Yay, I really like this picture :3

Monday, January 9, 2006 - Seijin no Hi / Tokyo Tower

Today was 成人の日 Seijin no Hi, or Adult/Coming of Age Day, where everyone who's turning 20 this year dresses up in long-sleeved kimono (the girls, that is) and walks around. I saw a number of them and they were all so pretty! Since it was cold, they had fur linings around their necks, and ah, so beautiful. Since I'm turning 20 this month, I wanted to put on a kimono and join them, but my host family didn't have the right kind and my host mom says she's not good at tying obi--and most of all, I'm a foreigner. So oh well. She did let me put on some kimono she did have, though :) And of course, Na-chan had to dress up too, in her tiny little-girl kimono. So cute.

After that, we rode out on bikes (me on one, and my host mother on another with Nanase in a child's seat behind her and Koron sitting perfectly calmly in the front basket. Most every bike in Japan has at least a front basket and usually a child's seat in the back) to the park, where Koron ran around with some other dogs--some were wearing little doggy sweaters, how cute! Actually, the park is right by the ocean--you know, THE ocean, the one right by the eastern coast of Japan? So really... we were at the beach. Too bad it was much too cold for swimming.

After a little snack back at home, we went to the station and rode the train to Hamamatsuchou, where Tokyo Tower is. We had to transfer at Tokyo Station, and man, that place is huge! It's like a freakin' airport with all the moving sidewalks! But it's not that hard to navigate if you follow the signs (like all Japanese train stations, really) and I'm glad I've been familiarized with it before we have to meet there to go to Kyoto.

From the station we walked towards Tokyo Tower, we could see it as soon as we stepped outside. Ahhh! As a shoujo manga fan who first heard of Tokyo Tower back in middle school when I started reading Magic Knight Rayearth and never even DREAMED I'd go to it in person, I have been wanting to go here for so long. But first we stopped at the Buddhist temple nearby it, Zoujou-ji. My host mom gave me and Nanase 20 yen to put in the offering near the entrance, where we also added a pinch of incense to the pyre and folded our hands in prayer. It felt odd for me to do it, but it was nice. Nanase really wanted an omikuji (fortune) so we both got one. I can hardly read mine of course but apparently it's good--something about things I've been worried about disappearing. My host mom joked that those worries have to do with my host family! Aww... so true, though. I really hope her worries about me have likewise been alleviated--I just can't tell!

So from there we went to Tokyo Tower. So cool!! I don't care that it's a cheap Eiffel Tower ripoff that's degenerated into a tourist trap. It is cool! And my host mom even paid for my ticket, which was incredibly nice of her. We only went to the main observatory halfway up the tower--what a gyp that you have to pay like 600y more to go higher!! Oh well. We had fun looking out at the city, and I amused myself noticing all the other foreigners--only about 5, but more than I'd seen at any other place. We also put in money to the mini-shrine they have there, and at the gift shop I bought a mini figure of the tower to match my Eiffel Tower one. Then we went down one floor to the cafe (yes!! It exists!) and had ice cream. We got it in cones and my host mom and sister ate theirs with spoons. Spoons!? Please, people! I licked mine the proper way and didn't care if that seemed weird to them. >.> Honestly... spoons with an ice cream cone! So strange. Also on that level were the transparent windows set in the floor so you can look down to the ground. Scary!! They really freaked Na-chan out, and I could only stand on one for so long.

Then we met my host dad at our station (Shin Urayasu), and went to an okonomiyaki place (a cook-your-own one) where we had dinner. I really liked this corn and bacon appetizer thing we had but the okonomiyaki itself--ahh! I didn't like it! I wanted to... oh well... and my host family seemed amused, not annoyed... still, sigh. The restaurant was so cool too, with the tables sunk into the floor and you have to take off your shoes to enter. So fun! I also tasted some of Na-chan's melon soda and that was the beginning of the Love. Just wish I'd liked the food... sigh

Me wearing one of the kimono. I look pretty bad here!

Tokyo Tower!!! :D

Me outside of the Buddhist temple. Pretty much any time I got out my camera to take normal pictures of the surroundings, my host mom would offer to take a picture of me, and then get out her own camera for a group shot. >.>

Statue thing in the temple area

Wooooo Tokyo Tower :333

Skyline as seen from the Main Observatory

I think this is her standard pose anytime her picture is taken. hahah

流星群 :)

The cafe!!

At night, with its special "2006" lights.

Tuesday, January 10, 2006 - First Day of Class

Today was the first day of class, and the first day of my routine I would follow throughout the week: get up, eat breakfast with my family (no shower in the morning as I am accustomed to, because I showered at night to fit in, and it actually didn't turn out too bad. It was interesting seeing what shape my hair chose to take every day...), walk out to the bus stop and get on a bus to take me (alone! ahh!) to Shin Urayasu Station where Erin, Kathryn, and Linsey are waiting, and then take the train together to Kaihin Makuhari, where OVTA and IES are. All of our host families and our class buildings are out in the Chiba area, by the way (Tokyo's suburbs, pretty much). I was led to believe that we'd be taking our classes at Kanda University, but it turned out that was not the case. Instead, we had our own classes comprised only of other students on the Janterm and tailored specifically for us. A little disappointing... oh well.

Japanese class was... interesting. First we went over "pronunciation" which was us repeating easy phrases we already knew (and in my case, already knew how to pronounce correctly). It was like... this is the intermediate class? I was kind of bored out of my mind. The teacher seems nice enough, but she chewed us out for taking too long of a break when I for one didn't even know how long it was supposed to be. Oh well...

For lunch we walked to IES and ate at the Italian restaurant on the first floor (Saizeriya), which was very delicious (they also had melon soda, my love! <3).>obviously we also like anime/manga. And as I overheard a group of boys from our group saying the next day, the lecturer was a little too obvious about his desire to only make money. He ended his presentation with "And please buy my books!" for crying out loud. I realize he was half-joking, but that's rude even by brash American standards. But then again, I'm always disgusted by unabashed capitalism.

Then I stayed late to do research for my presentation topic, the Asakusa district, and then took the train back to Shin Urayasu with Kathryn.

Me and Na-chan before heading off to school in the morning!! Look at her adorable kindergarten uniform! I want to wear a unifooooorm!!

Wednesday, January 11, 2006 - Asakusa Tour

Today our group met at Nishi Funabashi Station around 10 a.m. and went to Asakusa from there. We walked around the area and explored Nakamise-dori (the street leading up to Asakusa's big temple, Sensoji, which is filled with shops selling all sorts of things), which was very colorful and interesting. Something weird happened though - in one store, I had picked up a lighter shaped like two Pepsi cans put end-to-end but couldn't figure out how to turn it on. Mary Anne took it and pushed a button, expecting the fire to come out one end, but instead it came out the other - the one next to her hair, which promptly caught on fire!! Within seconds she had put it out, but it shook all of us up for the rest of the day.

We rejoined our group and went together to the Japanese Drum Museum, or Taikokan, which was on the fourth floor of a building also housing a drum gift shop. The floor was filled with drums from all over the world, and was mildly interesting, especially since we got to play some of them, but not incredibly fascinating... (Sorry, I know I'm a harsh judge, but traditional Japanese culture is just not what I really care about...)

Then we walked up and down Kappa-bashi, a street lined with vendors selling wholesale restaurant supplies--including the fake food gracing the windows in front of nearly every Japanese restaurant--before going to Sensoji Temple. Since I'd already been to the temple outside Tokyo Tower, that also didn't really interest me. But I waved smoke from the huge incense burner towards my head (so I can grow smarter!) and donated some yen at the temple entrance all the same. After that we went to eat at Denny's, where we had some confusion involving vegetarian Erin and Mary Anne and waitresses not understanding the concept of "no meat/no fish"... and then punishing us by not bringing us the check or dessert for like 20 minutes. I know we weren't being the easiest customers to deal with, but that's still not cool.

Finally we met back up with everyone at Kaminari-mon (the Thunder Gate at the head of Nakamise-dori) and took the train to Ryougoku, where the sumo place is. We went inside and found our seats--a few rows shy of ultimate nosebleed! I am afraid I didn't pay much attention to the sumo, save to notice the eye-catching blinged-out silver-lights robe of one of the wrestlers. But it's nothing personal against sumo... all sports, much as I try to be interested, ultimately cause my eyes to glaze over.

We were also making plans to go to Akihabara--me, Erin, Melissa, Mary Anne, and Alex--before coming back to Ryougoku to meet everyone for dinner. We spent all of our scant time in Akihabara exploring the multi-story Gamers store, where my friends loaded up on anime and video game paraphernalia and nothing caught my eye beyond a few gashapon figures. We got back to Ryougoku to find our group dwindled down to us, Sensei, and... Tad (oh, yay) for dinner. The only redeeming factor was Chika-san, the Japanese language resident from last year, joining us--though I regret that she had such unseemly company to dine with, sigh. So I more or less struggled through that... but it was really great to see her again (though she can never beat Hyung-hye!). Apparently she is working as a ticket-taker in Disneyland, so if I ever get to go there, I hope to see her.

Erin and I got a little confused on the train ride back and had to switch trains at one point, but we figured it out and made it back to Shin Urayasu... where I promptly got on the wrong bus to go home. I realized it as we were pulling out of the station and tried to get the driver to let me off, but he wouldn't and said I could still get to my house from one of that bus's stops. When we got to the stop in question, nothing looked familiar and as I showed the driver my map of the area, two other men on the bus rushed up to help!! And a businessman who had gotten off at that stop offered to walk me over to my part of town, which he did. I was only a couple minutes' walk away from my proper bus stop, but I'm sure without those helpful people I would have gotten horribly lost. So even though I was quite embarrassed and mad at myself for making such a dumb mistake (especially since it's not like it was my first time riding the bus--more like my fourth), it did prove to me that not everyone in the Kanto area is as cold and unhelpful as they're reputed to be. The businessman who walked me back even spoke quite good English!

Kaminari-mon (the Thunder Gate) at the start of Nakamise-dori, the big street lined with vendors leading up to Sensoji. You can see the pink things lining it.

Fans in one of the shops. This was supposed to be a much cooler picture!

Taiko drum-playing at the drum museum. There's Fred in the middle and Tad on the right.

Mary Anne, Erin, Milin, Sarah K.

Kathryn

Hahah, the lady who runs the drum museum talking to Shin-san (one of the IES people), and then Milin

Ahah, look at Sensei and his baseball cap turned backwards. That is totally the only reason I took this picture! On the plane he also had these thick glasses that we were all highly amused by. Oh Sensei!!

Front of Sensoji

The area where you put coins in and then clap your hands together and bow

Pagoda of one of the other buildings at Sensoji

At Ryougoku, in the sumo stadium... it's so exciting!! Not...

Priest, walking around purifying the ring (well... I think)

AHAHAH! Check out the guy with the red man-skirt and the sparkly circle on top. That was lit up!! He was blinged out! haaahahaa

Doing their little procession-y thing

Not quite sure... right before a fight began, I think

Sup Akihabara! (the place to buy discount electronics and things, if you didn't know)

We took the "Electric Town Akihabara" exit. ELECTRIC TOWN!! hahaha

Thursday, January 12, 2006 - Second Day of Classes

A quite unremarkable day, for the most part--until I went home, because I had said I would make dinner (quesadillas!). My host mom, Na-chan, and I went to the huge department store/grocery store building to get the ingredients. First we went to the 100y store there (yay for hyaku-en stores!! The dollar-store equivalent), where I picked up a transparent umbrella (yess) and some purple chopsticks with butterflies on them--my own chopsticks, yaay. Then at the grocery store, besides quesadilla ingredients and some dessert type things, I got this hilarious sponge with a face on it I'd seen on our last visit and loved. :D

Once home, I cooked dinner!! I even had to cook the chicken, and it was my first time doing it, since usually my mom does it (or we buy frozen chicken breast strips and use those). But it turned out well, and none of us got food poisoning. Making the quesadillas themselves was a challenge but I did it too and my host mom and Nanase seemed to love them. I hope they weren't faking it, but they seemed too enthusiastic, so I really hope they actually did like them. My host dad was really late in coming home so he had to have his warmed-up. I don't know if he loved it as much as the others did... but oh well. I made them as best I could, and almost everyone liked it, soo.

Before my host dad got home, though, my host mom had asked me to take a bath with Nanase (she wanted us to use this special bath salts stuff). Usually she bathes with Nanase, but I think she wanted to wait up for my host dad or something--or maybe it was even a gesture to indicate my inclusion in the family, I don't know. But seriously! I am a very modest person! I shower alone!! So I did it... but in my swimsuit. Nanase sort of looked at me like "Why aren't you naked?" (as she was, of course), but whateva... You know, I'd really like to use an onsen, but I know people would be staring at my gaijin body and I just don't know if I could handle it... ahh..

Friday, January 13, 2006 - Last Day of Classes

Another mostly unremarkable day. Lecture and class were boring as always, lunch torturous because we couldn't shake off certain people (ugh). What was quite enjoyable, though, was taking the subway and bus home alone. Ahh, I just love doing that once I've gotten used to a transportation system. :D

Once home, I watched the Disney channel (in English! <3 style="font-style: italic;">Suite Life and Phil of the Future, how I love you) until my host mom went to pick up this little boy she was going to babysit until his parents got home around 10, Yuho. That boy!! He seemed astonished that I was a gaijin and underestimated my Japanese ability, so he'd be saying things like "Gaikokujin da..." (A foreigner...) to himself but of course I understood and replied with "Hai, gaijin desu" (Yes, I am a foreigner). Then when we were eating dinner he actually referred to me as "the gaijin." My host mom and Nanase just went silent and corrected him with "Her name is Sarah-chan." Oh snap!

Then he asked me "Sutaa-Waasu, shite-imasu ka?" (Do you know Star Wars?). While I appreciate the politeness (though it was odd, as he had been speaking in direct style to me the rest of the time), I just looked at him like "...Mochiron!!" (Of course!) and Nanase was all "Well, it's American." But he persisted with "...Eego de?" (in English?) completely incredulous and again, I just looked at him like he was crazy and said "Mochiron!!" I mean... Star Wars! In English! What will they think of next? Silly ethnocentric boy. Unfortunately, that's kind of a small example of all the Japanese who seem to regard Japan as the center of the world and Japanese as the ultimate language everything is issued in. I'm not saying Americans don't do it too, but at least seeing a foreigner isn't a huge shock for us. Honestly!

We had purin for dessert too--yay! (Purin is a custard pudding thing.) I'd wanted to try it for awhile, so I was happy. :3

Saturday, January 14, 2006 - Kamakura Trip

Aghh, had to get up at like 6 in order to catch the train to get us to the IES building by 8:20. But we did it! Host families were allowed to come on this trip (to Kamakura, one of the villages around the Tokyo area famous for various things), but mine couldn't come, for whatever reason. I think my host mom had to work or something... it turns out she has, like, three part-time jobs. I wonder if she just likes doing it or if they actually (it doesn't seem this way) need the money.

So we got on our special bus and rode to Kamakura, about 2 hours away. First we stopped at Engakuji Temple, this sprawling Buddhist temple complex set in the hills of Kamakura. It was especially beautiful because of the overcast day making everything look dewy. I walked around mostly with Mary Anne, her host grandma, and her granddaughter, Sakura (so adorable). Mary Anne's host grandma even bought me a fortune--so nice! I tied to it to the rack along with all the other ones.

Then we got on the bus to go to Tsurugaoka Hachimangu Shrine, which was amazing and I wish we'd had more time there. I did have time to buy an awesome evil-protecting arrow with a new-year's-wish wooden plate thingy attached, though. On the front are painted dogs to represent the Year of the Dog, and the back is blank for you to write your wishes for 2006. Then you hang it on a board at the shrine with everyone else's. Mainly because it was raining by that point but also because I wanted to keep my plate, I didn't write my wishes and hang it.

I went to lunch with Mary Anne, her grandma, Sakura, and Erin. We found this tiny Italian cafe where I had incredibly spicy but delicious penne pasta. When we went back outside, it was pouring. My jeans below the knee, shoes, and socks all got horribly wet walking back to the bus. I was quite miserable.

Even though it was pouring rain, we still continued with the trip, just shortened it a bit. I had gotten so wet, though, that I just stayed in the bus for our last two stops, Hasedera and Daibutsu (the second-biggest Buddha statue in Japan). So I missed seeing those--oh well. Since I want to come back to Kamakura to explore the previous temples more, that's just another reason to do it someday. And most of all? It was too wet.

On the way back to the Tokyo area, we watched the original Japanese version of Shall We Dance? and it was awesome. My AC friends and I saw the American version at the dollar theatre last year, and it was really good, so it was fun to compare the differences. Also, the movie was just hilarious. We didn't get to finish it, though--maybe someday I can.

And at Shin Urayasu Station, my host mom was even waiting in the car to pick me up cause it was so rainy. Then we had the most delicious dinner ever--corn soup, rice, and hamburger patties. So good <3 src="http://www.nostalgic-lavender.net/pictures/japan-086.jpg" border="3">
After we arrived at Kamakura, we had to walk across these train tracks to get to the first temple, but a big old JR train interrupted our progress!!

Engakuji Temple

A triforce?

Dead fish in the pond!! oh no! (see that yellow thing? yeah)

Sound accompanying this: here (the lovely sound of water trickling in the drain :3)

Ducks!! :D

At the next temple... Tsurugaoka Hachimangu Shrine. I loved this place. And because it was raining by that point, everyone busted out with their awesome umbrellas. Look at the colors!! I love Japanese umbrellas :D

The hand-purification place. Before you enter a shrine/temple, you are supposed to pour the water here over your hands to purify them. Sometimes I did it, and sometimes it was just tooooo cold.

Pigeons!! Also, a place where you hang the wooden plates with your wishes for the new year written on them.

This is a famous stage where a woman named Lady Shizuka danced a dance of love for this guy's brother, the lord of the place or something... and the guy was mad at her cause he disapproved of the relationship and she was supposed to dance a dance praising him. etc... I think it's cool though :3

Steps leading up to the main shrine building

I was trying to get a picture of this priest with a bullhorn but I failed!

yay I love this picture and totally don't even remember taking it!

More wishes

M

y awesome transparent umbrella that I got for a dollar!

Pigeons!!

Sunday, January 15, 2006 - Last Day in Urayasu City :(

Finally, a day when I was able to sleep in! I slept in until 11 and got up and made my own breakfast (according to the amusingly Engrishy note my host mom left me!! "It takes it out of the packet and puts it in the microwave," heee). She and Na-chan came home around noon with a friend of Nanase's, Konomi. We had lunch (yakisoba!!! <3 href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ikspiari">Ikspiari, this Disney-owned shopping complex near Disneyland & DisneySea. Konomi's mom met us there--she is so nice! Reminded me a lot of Aunt Sharon. They had a Rainforest Cafe, and we broswed the gift shop and I got a zodiac frog gashapon thing (leading to a discussion of everyone's Chinese zodiac sign. It turns out Na-chan is a rabbit, and as my host mom explained, that's why she's always hopping around, "pyon pyon" [the noise a rabbit makes when it hops, I think!!], ahaha). We walked around some more until we came across the show of "Zat Amazing Guy" (I only know his name because he passed out postcards with it written on it. Actually, you had to give him money to get one, and that was when he referred to the kids clamoring for one as "kodomos." KODOMOS AHAHAH), who fascinated me not for his unicycle tricks or block juggling prowess, but for the fact that he was gaijin--an American speaking Japanese. He had the most awful American accent (not as bad as some in my class, but still pretty bad) but I could still understand the majority of his show, which was genuinely amusing. At one point he asked (in Japanese, of course) "Those of you who can't understand my Japanese, raise your hands. ... If you raised your hand, why did you do it??" and it was pretty hilarious.

Then Konomi and her mom went home, and we broswed a few more shops and bought some bread pastries for breakfast tomorrow before going home. I didn't get to explore Ikspiari as thoroughly as I would have liked, but Nanase was getting restless, soo... that's the price of taking kids places. Oh well

For dinner we had "gratin," this baked pasta-and-cheese-sauce thing. It was quite tasty, but Nanase had inexplicably started crying about 10 minutes before dinner started and would not stop. I have absolutely no idea why she was doing it (I could flatter myself and say it was because I was leaving, but I honestly have no clue) and she kept on for like 20 minutes. It takes effort to cry that long! Why, Na-chan, why? Oh well...

Before I went to bed I showed my host mom some of the American money I still had--a dollar, a quarter, a dime, a nickel, and a penny. She seemed so fascinated by them that I let her keep the coins.

Also, my host family has hanging on cabinet doors a drawing that their last homestay student (a half-Japanese girl named Mika from the College of William and Mary who stayed for a month in early 2003) had done of Nanase, along with drawings by Nanase herself. So they wanted me to do my own portrait of her... oy! I did my best and drew Nanase as a mermaid (cause she likes The Little Mermaid) and Koron as a merdog, but I can't say how it compares to the seemingly-perfect picture Mika drew. I found myself oddly jealous of her, my predecessor, to be honest... oh well.

Koron's doggy cage. He doesn't stay in it a lot but you can see the bizarreness going on here... firstly, the water BOTTLE like a gerbil would have, as opposed to a bowl of water. Then, the pad spread out on the ground is to catch his pee. He doesn't go outside to pee, he does it here and then the pad is thrown away. Where does he poo? On the living room floor. He'll leave a poo on the ground, Nanase will holler, and my host mom will come along with a tissue and some disinfectant spray and clean it up. They always seem to scold him, so the first time it happened I thought he'd had an accident. But that's what always happens!! I guess because he spends all his time on the second floor, and has to be carried down the stairs to go outside, it isn't feasible to have to take him outside to do his business all the time. It's still insane, though...

Aww, hi Koron! After I took this, I tried to move him from that seat (as I'd been sitting there before I went to get my camera) but he didn't like that at all and bit me!

Meeee

Nanase and Konomi, with Koron and a stuffed bear thing

Awww :3

The Zat Amazing Guy dude at Ikspiari... I remain fascinated by his gaijin-ness!

They too, are fascinated by it.

End of Week 1!!

update #5

2006-01-22T14:23:00.002+09:00

Wheeee, back in Tokyo (Asakusa, in our ryokan). The rest of the group has left and now it is just Kathryn, Sarah K, Milin, Fred and I. We are freee of IES's jurisdiction and the annoying people! yaay!! The ryokan is a very cute old building though very veeeeeeerryyy cold (I am currently freezing my hands off ahhh). brrrrr

The sayonara party Friday night was so sad, when I had to say goodbye to my host mom and Nanase I started crying. My host mom was crying too... ahhhh. They were so amazing. I almost want to change my plans to study abroad in Japan just to stay with them. And also to come back to this crazy crazy place of course.

The rest of the week, who knows. I think I'm about to go to Harajuku and check out the freaks (hahah) though. Kathryn and I also hit up Shinjuku last night but we only really saw Isetan.

That's really all, may post later, may not. Fly back 27th!

japan update #4

2006-01-19T21:30:00.001+09:00

Okay! Last night in this internet cafe place, and I have only 10 minutes left (unless I pay for more, hmm). Yesss, okay sooo, birthday. 20!! woohoo. After a day in which NO ONE MENTIONED IT AT ALL (except for my friends, because I reminded them) somehow at dinner they brought out Kirin beer and Coke and toasted me!! (the beer because Japan's drinking age is 20, although it's gross and I only had a few sips) what the heck people!! How could you let me spend the day all sad that no one noticed (I only mentioned it once or twice but still) and then RANDOMLY BUST OUT with something like that!? insanity!!

The Hiroshima Peace museum reallly pissed me off. It had an agenda and it was so biased. I was maaaaad. I'm not saying the bomb was the best idea around, but Japan was NOT going to give up unless some sort of drastic measure was taken. THEY WERE NOT! No matter how weakened they had become, they were determined to fight, and if the bomb hadn't been dropped, tedious fighting would have ensued for who knows how long because of their stubbornness. I researched this for a paper I wrote awhile back, so I'm not just making this up. And guess what, nuclear weapons aren't going away. Nope! Once again, not the best idea, and I hate the thought that they may be used someday for widescale destruction, but they're also important technology that we need to keep developing.

But then we went to Miyajima, the best place ever, and I got another arrow and petted some more free-roaming deer. And saw the floating torii and a bunch of cool shops. I wanted to ride the gondolas and see the monkeys, but alas, we did not have time. :<

Time to go! Tomorrow we go back to Tokyo and have the farewell party! But then I stay on in Tokyo starting that Saturday, and I also don't know about internet access then, sooo. I'll write... whenever!

japan update #3

2006-01-18T10:11:00.001+09:00

What up, I am in Hiroshima. We are staying at the Hotel New Tachibana. You know why it's new? Cause we bombed the old one!!!

...I mean. We didn't make that joke up. Or others like it. (cough)

Aaaanyway. In an internet cafe, so I get more than the scant ~15 minutes I got at the IES offices before people lurking the computers made me cave in and finish up, though this means I have to actually pay to use it. Whateva, if I paid for an hour, I am using up that whole hour.

Kyoto was not all that great, but it's not the fault of the city, but our tour, which was horrendously boring and only took us to like five thousand temples. Oh god, make it stop! Make it stop! I don't care about temples! We didn't get to go to Gion, and we didn't get to go to the shrine with the bunch of red torii that Sayuri runs through in Memoirs of a Geisha. Honestly, if we didn't do that, what point is there to Kyoto?

Also, it is barely a city. It is nothing like Tokyo. Liek, seriously, it is more like a large village. I was most confused. Perhaps I wasn't seeing the right parts, though, I don't know.

Oh, but I tried the public bath in our hotel!!!!! I did it!!! Yessss!! Naked in a room full of other women! I did iittttttt :DDD Honestly, if you know anything about my modesty, you know how hard that was for me to do. And so I had a very nice long conversation with two of the other girls on the trip. While naked. So strange, so strange. And yet I am still proud of me. Public bath! yesss

Tomorrow, my birthday, shall be spent crying, as we are visiting the Hiroshima Peace Park museum & A-bomb dome and whatnot. I'm glad to have a respite from the TEMPLE FEST by going to a museum instead but seriously? Going to be depressed like what. Ah well. Janterm doesn't equal a good birthday for me, and I should just learn to deal with that.

Oh, and deer temple today in Nara!! Deeeeer temple!! :D The deer rocked, too. deeeeeeeeeeeer <3

In Kyoto at Kinkakuji Temple I saw a guy who struck me as looking a lot like someone I knew, so I took a picture of him to show to that person later. Only when I looked at the picture later, he was looking straight at me. So I suspect he knew what I was doing. But oh well, I'll never have to see him again, I figured. WRONG! He was IN NARA at the deer temple at the same time today. What the heck, man. I can understand if he was following a similar schedule/tour type thing, but at the exact same time of day? At the same place in huge temple complexes for me to see him again? Craaazy. Kind of freaked me out, really. weird, weird things!

Time is almost up soooo, byebye!

japan update #2

2006-01-15T13:07:00.001+09:00

Just a short update, as there are children shrieking only feet away and I'm about to go shopping in Ikspiari and play putt-putt golf with my host mom, sister, and sister's friend. I don't know when I'll be able to update again because tomorrow we leave for Kyoto/Hiroshima/Nara and I don't know about internet access there. I'm not really looking forward to going... besides the fact that I really like the routine I've settled into here in the Tokyo area (not to mention my great host family), all the group things so far have been an irritating, exhausting game of 'how can we avoid people we don't like but who insist on following us around hanging out with us.' It has been most tiring, and has only left me completely frustrated and even less willing to let those people tag along. If you knew them, you would understand why. They are on my list of 'Things that have dampened this trip so far.' =_____= Luckily, that list is mostly overtaken by the list of things I -do- like, which almost makes up for it. Like some of the cool things I've bought, which include an arrow from Tsurugaoka Shrine, a hilarious dish sponge with a FACE ON IT, a Tokyo Tower model... etc.

2006-01-10T13:16:00.002+09:00

What up, I'm here in Japan. On Sunday I went to Tokyo DisneySea (the adjacent park to Tokyo Disneyland, with a bunch of new rides, including INDIANA JONES THE BEST RIDE EVER OMG OMG) and yesterday to Tokyo Tower (duty as a CCS fan = fulfilled). Yesss!! :D Oh, and my host family is amazinggg, my room is tatami with a futon, it is like sleeping in a cloud! And the family is so nice, I really like them and I hope they don't find me completely irritating either. I'm keeping a journal which I'll type up when I get back, so you can hear more then. It still doesn't seem like I'm in Japan... despite the, you know, Japanese and Japanese people and whatnot. I don't know if I'll ever be convinced. Anyway, it is just about time for class, so I'll perhaps post later when I get a chance.