Japan: A Listless Weekend

So basically, it's December. Which pretty much equates to Midterm time [early November] in the US. Thus, I have been hiding away in my room, eating junk food and despairing over the various deadlines rapidly approaching. I will probably have little time to post anything awesome until after the 25th. So. If you want to see my randomly, non-bloggy, kinda off the seat of my pants crappy posts, go here.

To add to that, we have suddenly accelerated to two chapters a week in Japanese class.

It's pretty intense. Vocab quizzes are actually challenging now. /lol

To spice up the apartment, we bought a Christmas tree!

This tree is like the most awesome tree. It is the BEST tree. I mean, LOOK AT IT. It is a huge tree if you are an ant. So it's all really a matter of perspective.

In any case, I am tired, I have a headache, and I have class tomorrow--YAAAAY. I really need to spice up my life this break. I see a trip to Kamakura in my future...

Recent Purchase

Klaus is probably the most offensive thing I have ever bought. Seriously.

Japan: This is the BEST Plan

And by this, I mean this is what I do in my downtime.



Because after taking many tests, getting a very disappointing 79 [which the teacher said was fine, since it's still a high B here in Japan], sometimes I just need to sit down and be a closed-in basement nerd.

It's healthy, right?

Recently, Harry Potter premiered in Japan. Though, since I didn't want to spend 1000円 on it, I opted to stay home and GAME.

I did rediscover my fondness for convince store noodle salads here. Holy cow are they delicious.

In fact, my next post may have to be how I will never again be able to live without Japanese convince stores.





...after I finish the next step of my quest. /games foreverrrr

Purchase of the Week:

Hatsune Miku Figure-She's so Awesoooome!!

Japan: The Daily Grind

You know, recently it seems like things that were new! Exciting! And just plain STRANGE have become everyday to me.

But with recent [well-intentioned] nagging for blog updates, it has finally occurred to my abysmally slow mind that although it is no longer something amazing to me--there are many readers who are waiting on every word and image I post. "What is life LIKE there?" "What do you EAT for DINNER?" "How in the WORLD do you HANDLE TRAINS?"

Things like that have become so happenstance to me that it just seems inconsequential to blog about it.

This is a DIRE mistake of course, [as kindly pointed out by a pair of unnamed shoulder-angels] as I will most certainly want to look back on my feelings and impressions of this trip.

That said, this is a normal rush-hour train. It's something that is completely normal to me at this point. I don't get uncomfortable being squished against people I don't know, nor am I terribly angry when I don't get to sit down for 20 minutes at a time [my legs still protest though]. Elevators are much the same, though there is a certain etiquette that should be followed for those.

1. If you are first in the elevator, hold the "door open" button until all are safely inside. [The door open and door close buttons actually work in elevators in Japan.]

2. Ask what floor everyone is getting off on and press the appropriate buttons.

3. As soon as all are off on their floor, press the "door close" button to waste no time in going up or down.

Sounds like common sense, but it was a bit surprising to have someone hold the door for me the first few times. Also, if you are the one holding the door, you're the last one off when you get to your floor since you took on the duty of controlling the elevator.

Only the i-house has an elevator this awesome, however.

Purchase of the week:

'Tis indeed teh Yaoi

Japan: The Rumors Were True EDIT

Denny's in Tokyo is utterly FANTASTIC.



I mean SERIOUSLY. Look at that DESSERT.

LOOK AT IT.

It puts American Denny's to SHAME.
IF YOU CLICK THIS YOUR EYES MAY NOT EVEN BE ABLE TO HANDLE IT.


Yeah. Tokyo is kinda like that.


8D All credit for this finding goes to my Dad. He's brill like that.

Japan: Classes Begin; Birthdays Abound

It seems like many people in the I-house have birthdays in October. In effect, I am surrounded by Libras...

No, no, just kidding, just kidding. I don't mind of course, I love me my Libra friends--and dear Signs is a Libra too. But yes, moving on,

Classes have started, and with it come things like homework, reading, and of course, social life. Needless to say, I have highly neglected my blog! At least I haven't neglected my art... Mostly. It seems like a strange sense of lethargy has settled over me now that the excitement has faded a little, and I realize suddenly that yes. I am slightly homesick. It's certainly natural, and I expected it at some point, but I didn't expect it to settle in like depression.

Luckily, the rainy weather of last week has cleared up, and I am no longer stuck indoors pining away. Classes have kept me busy, and a rapidly blossoming social life is taking up moping time as well. I am, for the most part, enjoying my classes even if thus far I find them a little to easy. So in the downtime I am doing a little light reading.

On Saturday a friend of mine wants me to meet her senpai [せんぱい], so I am really looking forward to Saturday's dinner. Hopefully there will be lots of pictures.

Next blog post will be a phototour of the Toyo campus and the I-House.

Japan: Friends are Helpful

So we finally met our LEPs ["Language Exchange Partners"] on the 16th. Apparently I was lucky, because Hiroki-kun and Kanami-san could both speak very good English. Signs seemed to have a harder time with her partner though--as she recounted that their "conversation" was more pantomiming than actual talking. We toured the campus, visiting the library and PC rooms among other things. I also located my adviser's office and met him a few days later.

With all the new faces everywhere, I was very surprised to run into a few familiar faces from last year, when I came to Toyo for the two-week travel study. Yongmi-chan was amazing to reconnect with, and that day we invited her over for green tea [or ocha] and senbei, that is, Japanese rice-crackers. Of course, we were called old fashioned for offering such a thing--since it is very traditional and old custom to offer such things to house guests.

Granted, we do have very old fashioned breakfasts...

But connecting with some of the Japanese students at our school was good times all around, and we all more or less talked about food and music and hobbies. It was a very easygoing first meeting. Maybe my LEPs can help me obtain a cellphone.

Other than that, nothing of great importance has happened. Still waiting on my loan disbursement and all that jazz, but you readers all know that studying here has been my dream for a long time. And it's coming true around me every day! I am excited for classes to begin so that I can get into a routine. Until then, I like spending my evenings chilling on one of our porches with Signs.

It's a really great view. Take a look:

Japan: I have a "Youji"

Obviously, if things kept me from updating my blog, they must have been extremely important. Thus, I had what the Japanese would call a "youji". Business that was so important and personal that they dare not ask what the pressing business actually is.

When I finally did finish the long, laborious process of unpacking I was somewhat mortified to find a pair of friends who decided to tag along without my knowing. Goody. But I did pick up two more friends on a group trip to Akihabara, where Signs and I stopped in my favorite [and really cheap] figure shop. Hopefully, I can get back and get a few more pictures of the place. It's a really great, hidey hole little place.

Eventually, the whole i-house group had to attend a Natsumatsuri, or a "summer festival"--and all that I can recount is that the food was amazing, I was very hot, sweaty, and almost ready to pass out, and it was super awesome to participate in something so inherently Japanese. Overall it was a very good, fun experience. More about that here.

Signs and I went on a trip to Harajuku, where I found some AMAZING deals on some goth loli clothing. A dress and a blouse to be precise, and it was probably the best deal I'll EVER get for something like that too. I am extremely happy~!!! We then continued on to a little cafe just outside of Meiji Shrine, where I had some melon soda and Signs had ice cream. Afterward we continued to the shrine itself and payed our respects. The only thing that made the trip that day terrible was possibly the fact that I wore the most uncomfortable pair of shoes I own. My feet felt like they were going to fall off that day. Ouch. The price women pay for fashion is ridiculous--but seriously ladies, if you are going to buy heels, buy the expensive COMFORTABLE heels. It may seem like a lot at first, but after walking around for a few hours, you learn to appreciate the extra money you spent.

Tuesday had us submitting paperwork for Bank business, where a group of about twelve or thirteen of us waited with several people from the IPO [that is, the"International Programs Office" at Toyo University]. We submitted paperwork, and will be obtaining bank cards by September 25th as projected by the IPO. Japan and paperwork seem to have this incomprehensible love affair.

Wednesday, after a several-hour orientation, I marched to the IPO to explain my unfortunate condition. There was a period of many awkward hand gestures on my part, trying to explain that A: I needed a doctor at some point, but not EMERGENCY treatment, and B: I was NOT contagious, so my breathing on you is not going to make you ill, when suddenly it occurred to me. GOOGLE! Japan has the internet--they must have Google capabilities as well! So, I asked, "Do you have Google?" To which one of the IPO members put their hands to their eyes, slightly confused, and repeated "Goggle?"

And I said, "No, no, the internet? Google?" A flurry of lightbulbs appeared, and we rushed to the computer where we found our information. Thank whatever power above for Google and Wikipedia. Even if they take over the world.

Japan: The Plane Trip

Needless to say, I don't need to go into how miserable a 14 hour plane ride is, nor do I need to go into the explicit details of the joys of sitting next to very questionable strangers. BUT, as this blog is really for the benefit of those who wish to keep track of me, I will, in fact, go into unnecessary and sometimes excruciating detail to keep everyone happy.

As it is a few days now since I have suffered the plane ride over, some of the details may have become a little hazy. The things that come to mind first are memories of the back pain, the nausea, the really creeeeepy guy that my roomie and I called "Frank" [a tribute to the book In the Miso Soup by Ryu Murakami].

No seriously. This guy was a perfect contender for that character. In being as Minnesotan as I possibly could be, I decided to make friendly conversation briefly during boarding--this turned out to be a rather large mistake on my part.

I asked him where he was off to, wondering naively if he were a tourist to Japan or a scholar--to which he replied that he was headed to Bangkok, for, and I kid you not as he said it his face became this animated mass of flesh that nearly made me vomit "PLEAAAAASUUURRRRREEEE". The way he salivated over the word, beady eyes gleaming behind a very toothy smile made me want to run in the other direction.

I felt my face freeze, smile plastered there, and I did that slow Hollywood turn they do in horror movies. My grin had become more of a grimace that showed teeth by the time I faced my roomie, Katt, who was sitting on my other side, and I'm pretty sure my eye twitched a few times.

The food, needless to say, was horrible, but the lesson we all really need to take from this is:



Next time, don't ask. Stifle your curiosity for the children.