Surprise!

Well, it's been a long time since I've visited this page and over two months since I have left Japan. I'm writing here today because I've officially decided to join the JET Program and will be working on the application this week. So, I'm hoping to be shipped back to Japan next year. (I sort of wish I didn't cancel my bank account...I didn't think I'd be coming back so quickly.)

So, in the midst of this crazy senior year, I'm going to work on getting my application in before November 18th. Wish me luck~

Not Goodbye.

Last Wednesday, I went to Ueno Zoo with some of my friends! It was my first time being there. I positively love going to the zoo, so I was thrilled. It was a really fun day because my friends are just as silly as I am. I couldn't be a happier person.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2045127&id=1230390045&l=c8159ec710

But to more recent matters, tonight is my last night in Japan. For a while anyway.
On Sunday night, my friends and I went to a fireworks festival in Yokohama. I wish I had visited Minato Mirai, where the fireworks show took place, more often before then. It's a beautiful and fun place, with a little amusement park right by the bay. Reminds me a tiny bit of Baltimore's Inner Harbor.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2045450&id=1230390045&l=431f758367

I debated with myself for a while whether I should go, due to worrying about packing, cleaning, and financial issues. But I decided I needed to go, for the sake of some closure and to have one last good memory to hold on to when I miss this place. At the end of the day, many of us ate together, took lots of pictures, and I got my hugs and farewells. It all feels so strange and unreal. I literally cannot believe that I'll be leaving. It's hard to grasp.

Tonight is more packing, cleaning, sorting and such. I'll be back in America so soon. It's unbelievable, all of this has ended. I know I sound like a broken record, but it's how I feel now. When it comes down to it, my dream has been completed. All I can say sometimes is "wow."

I'm wondering whether I'll face counter-culture shock. I don't feel like I did when I came home during the spring, but now that I will be remaining in America for longer, it may be different.

Well, this is my last post for this blog. Maybe when I come back here, I'll keep writing in it though. I don't know when I'll come back. Hopefully sooner than later, that would be wonderful. So many supportive, friendly, and caring people here who I will miss terribly. I cannot thank the people who I've met here enough for making this the experience that I've always wanted. The more I reflect on this, the more I want to cry. But I will fight the tears and enjoy what little time I have here.

Eels, Watermelons, Sunflowers and Cicadas

These are the things that make summer in Japan. Apparently, eel is the choice food for getting re-energized, especially in the tortuous heat. We had eel for dinner last night. I know a lot of people think that sounds gross, but really, it's just like fish. Quite tasty (if you like fish). Watermelons are a popular summer dish here too. We had a dorm farewell party a couple weekends ago and the dorm manager's wife treated us to big watermelon slices. Beer is a big deal here during the summer. There's an abundance of beer commercials featuring people on beaches or having a picnic, and they all are super refreshed. I think it's funny because I think beer tastes gross. Oh well. In Eda, the cicadas are very loud. Since there is a variety of cicadas, there is a variety in their cries. Weirdly, I haven't even seen one yet - only heard them. I'm okay with that though.

My classes ended on Wednesday. My friends and I ended the semester with a bang: went to karaoke for a couple hours, some of us ate out at a yakitori place (grilled chicken, but they serve other meats as well, served on a stick), and then went to listen to my friend's show in a bar. A very good day indeed.

Now I'm wrestling with a number of farewell parties and events. I'm finding people who would like to buy my things (refrigerator, table, cooking wear, television) for cheap. I was going to send two boxes of things home today, but I found out the post office is closed on weekends. I felt bad for asking my friend to help me, only to find that we had to lug my stuff right back to the dorm. My arms sort of feel like jelly right now, so even typing this is proving to be a tad difficult.

I have to cancel my cellphone, close my bank account, cancel my health insurance, buy some souvenirs, (maybe schedule in one last hair appointment, I want to say bye to Ikko!), pay off remaining dorm bills, and PACK! I've got a little bit more than a week. Oh, and I'm going to see if I can get my luggage sent to the airport so I won't have to drag around two monster suitcases around. I'm sure I can, just need to figure out how to go about doing it.

Home is so close and everything feels like it's in slow motion. But at the same time, I can't help but feel like time is racing by even faster. I look around my room and can't believe I'll be leaving all this in such a short time. I feel like I'll be leaving a little piece of me behind. I'm not sure why, but I just do. I'm not excited about the saying good-bye part of all of this. Cat left for home yesterday and I had to keep from crying. When I see people and we part ways, it's hard to believe that all these people who have made my year live all over the place. Not just across the country, like Montana, Arizona, California, Oregon but across the world, like Germany, England, Hong Kong, Korea...I'm so happy that Japan has brought us all together but I'm so sad that I'm leaving. Everyone asks whether I'm happy to come home. Of course, I am, but at the same time, I'm not happy at all. I hate to leave all these people. I hate to leave this country that has meant so much to me for years. I want to come back. I don't know when I will, but I want to come back. I have so many more friends to come back to. I love this place.

Pictures Speak Louder than Words

And with that, I shall provide the said pictures:
My "Japan is Beautiful" album. A variety of trips, events, and moments documented here.
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2037709&id=1230390045&l=88436beb0c

My "Redonkulosity" album. I have come across some ridiculous things.
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2038860&id=1230390045&l=c202a2f738

I really wanted to update this, because I haven't in a while but don't have the time or energy. Please enjoy the pictures I've taken. This is my last week of school and it's going out with a bang.

Tomorrow (Monday): Paper for Japanology.

Tuesday: Art history test (the thing is, I get it all prepared at home, and bring in my materials to write it down in class for an hour), Japanese (on vocabulary and writing) test, a small presentation on societal problem. I picked drunk driving in America ("Designated driver" in Japanese is "Handle Keeper" - this phrase sounds funnier in spoken Japanese).

When all the chaos is over with and if I manage to keep my head on straight, I'll come back and expand upon my recent adventures. It's getting down to two weeks. I've got two boxes packed and when I get a moment to breath, I'll send them home.

I know I just said I wouldn't talk for long, but I just have to say that we had our official farewell party. It was wonderful. So many friends, so many fun memories. We had an after party as well which was delightful and crazy and it makes me smile just thinking about it. I forgot my camera though but fortunately, everyone else had theirs so I've been just collecting other people's pictures from Facebook. Hah, talk about handy!

Tomorrow is Marine Day, a national holiday, but we still have school. Whomp of all whomps in the world.

~HANABI~

On a lighter note from my last post, the exchange students and our Japanese friends/tutors gathered by our favorite river for a picnic...on the Fourth of July! We had soccer, Frisbee, and FIREWORKS (please note the title of this post - this is what that means :) Just so you know)! Small fireworks are sold in convenience stores (and probably super markets too, just haven't been to one lately to see them) here. In Japan, summer means fireworks!

So, we got our own set of fireworks and we had a ball. It was quite a hilarious scene. Our American pride and enthusiasm was a bit over the top, complete with cheering and screaming, "AMERICA!" Our friends from various countries had fun with it too. One of my Korean friends jokingly wished me happy birthday. I'm sure they thought we were crazy at least once during our shenanigans. But we all like each other, so it's all good.

Oh! And here are more pictures! If you go to page three, the newer ones regarding Independence Day start there. (It just occurred to me that I didn't get to watch the movie "Independence Day" this year, like I always do because it's always on TV. Thanks Will Smith, for being part of my American traditions) http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2037709&id=1230390045&l=88436beb0c

Well, it's coming down to the end of my adventure here in Japanland. I can barely believe it. June just raced on by without looking back and July is here. Finishing up the semester here. So far on my plate I have:

* A take home test for Art History (thank goodness! It would be impossible for me to take this in-class. Translating the notes and then figuring it out the material within the context is a mentally exhausting and very time consuming. The more time to work, the better.)

* A paper for Heiwa o Kangaeru (I will always remember this class and grimace...)

* Several tests for Japanese classes. Just had one of them today. It wasn't too bad.

*I'm done with Creative Writing! I handed in two chapters (16 pages) of my...novella? Novelette? It's definitely not going to be long enough to be a novel (it has no title as of yet). Wrote and illustrated a children's book called "Meet Polly: The Girl with Bottomless Pockets."

*One more paper to write for Japanology. The class has gotten more interesting. We've been watching videos about manga, robots and food. Totally cool.

--

My goal is to have as much fun as HUMANLY POSSIBLE (within reason) this last month (and of course, do really well in school. I know you're reading this Mom). I don't want any regrets (although I already do regret not going to Kyoto when I could have during the spring break...) because I don't know when I'll be able to visit my Japan again. I know I'll miss it here the moment I'm back in America. But I love and miss you America. I can't wait to come home.

Death

My beloved friend and former tutor saw a man jump in front of the express train today. As you can imagine, she's not taking it very well. For those that pray, please pray that she feels better soon. She can't stop thinking about it and it's really bothering her a lot. And for everyone else that watched it happen too.

I wish I could do more for her. How do you deal with watching someone commit suicide? I can't even begin to think of how I would cope. I told her I hoped she would feel better soon. I said I was sorry that she had to see that. I want to give her a hug. Thinking about how upset she is makes me upset, even more so because I can't take her memory away.

The idea of being in her shoes terrifies me. I pretty much only have one month left. I'm still holding on to the hope I won't have to witness this myself. I love you Japan, but this is too scary for me to handle.

Thinking of Peace translates to Bashing Americans

Alright, let me put this into context. Two weeks ago in my Heiwa wo Kangaeru or "Thinking of Peace" class, we watched a Japanese documentary about the Iraq War called, "Little Birds." The focus of this documentary was about both the casualties and fatalities of Iraqi children and the impact it had upon their families. As you can imagine so far, it was very tough to watch. But it wasn't just because the documentary filmed a five year old girl dying while her father sobbed by her side that made me incredibly upset to the point of tears.

It was the way the American military/government was portrayed. They made them look like heartless monsters who killed children and didn't care about collateral damage. And I'm not just blaming the Japanese documentary for showing American's at their worst. I was pretty annoyed (to say in the least) with the soldiers who smirked at people protesting at them or soldiers being mean and rude when questioned. But at the same time, I know I don't act my best in weird situations - I can't imagine how on edge all those soldiers are in that kind of situation. So, when you're on edge like that, you don't say the smartest things or do the best things either.

I'm sure they found some soldiers with decent answers or at least, didn't sound like ignorant fools in the process of filming, but they only kept those that painted the picture of America the Bad.

Oh, and back to the little girl dying. The guy filming...if I could have, I would have ripped the camera from him and told him off. All throughout the film, they would zoom in on the faces of men, women and children who had nothing but the look of despair in their eyes. Their families are hurt or dead, and the person filming didn't have to the decency to treat them like humans. People are sentient. It's not like an animal you can do these kind things to and the animal won't care. These are people, suffering and you're not helping - you're shoving a camera in their face to make the rest of us queasy. I understand that these stories need to be told, but be more dignified about it Japan.

Okay, now that I've finished ranting about that - for class, we had to write a response paper for it the following week. What I said above is essentially what I wrote (in English, the teacher said it was okay) is what I said. Now this week, the teacher essentially told the American exchange students (there's six of us) that our opinions were wrong.

Unfortunately, my Japanese still isn't at the point where I'm able to catch all of this, but some of the other students understood and told me. The teacher also said something along the lines of "war is bad, always, nothing good comes out of it." Our teacher told us that she thinks that Americans are probably mean. She kept suggesting that we must be war-mongering maniacs that think it's okay to kill innocent people for a greater good (which she doesn't believe in either). So next week, we're having a discussion (which, apparently, she planned on having the not-fluent-in-Japanese-yet American students lead the discussion...but she changed her mind).

But I'm not going. For 3 reasons:
1) I wouldn't be able to defend myself.
2) I wouldn't be able to understand the other students either
3) I'd rather not be insulted...again.

What's worse is that the way she says things is in such a nice tone of voice. It sickens me really.

I Got Misty Eyes as They Said Farewell

Well, this last Saturday was definitely another highlight to my time here in Japan. The Japanology teacher, Yoshiba-sensei, took some students to Kamakura to visit temples and shrines and then finally, to see the firefly releasing ritual held at Tsurugaoka Hachimangu Shrine.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2040717&id=1230390045&l=58fa579bca

The first temple we went to was called Engaku-ji. One of my favorite things about Japan is the architecture of religious buildings. I think they are fascinating - there's always so much detail and it blows my mind that people are so talented to create something as beautiful as the shrines and temples in Japan. What made the trip even more enjoyable was the fact that the weather was simply gorgeous! Sure, it was pretty hot, but there was always a nice breeze. Oh, and the green! So much green! I went a little crazy taking pictures of trees, flowers, etc. :D

We wandered around there for a bit before we moved on. Due to everyone's pangs of hunger and heavily implied suggestions to have lunch (haha), we only spent a short time visiting two other temples. Soon, we found a restaurant with delicious soba and tempura. Incredibly satisfying.

After we filled ourselves, we made our way to Tsurugaoka Hachimangu Shrine. However, we had some time to kill before the ritual would actually start so we did some more exploring/hunting for sweets. A group of us went to an ice cream shop that specialized in just a few flavors: vanilla, green tea and sweet potato. I know some people may think the last two flavors are strange, but let me tell you...they're amazing. I like the sweet potato flavor the best. I had vanilla mixed with sweet potato and I couldn't have been happier.

We made our way back to the shrine around 6:45 and were sent to our seats. As it was a ritual, it had a strict order of things. (The following explanation came the pamphlet I received).

First, the priests and attendants' hands and mouths are rinsed (we did that beforehand). Secondly, everyone goes to the ritual site. The priests and the attendants are purified (which, if I'm correct, consisted of a man waving some sort of branch in our direction). The chief priest then bows once in reverence the deity, dedicates the food and drinks offerings to the deity and dedicates the fireflies. The chief priest also reads an invocation to the deity. (Now, I'm not sure who or what this deity is, and I remember these processes with the chief priest taking a VERY long time. Not to mention, in ancient/unintelligible Japanese...no, I didn't understand a thing). The miko (shrine maidens) perform a sacred dance along to music. The chief priest and the representative of attendants dedicate a branch of a sakaki tree. A priest takes the offerings down from the alter. The chief priest again bows once in reverence to the deity. Finally, the priests and miko go in a procession to the Yanaihara Sacred Pond, a very short distance from the actual shrine. The guests, such as us, follow afterward and wait on the other side of the pond. At this point, it was very dark and soon, the priests and miko released the fireflies.

I'm just going to go ahead and sound cheesy, but honestly, it was enchanting. There was traditional music playing and slowly, you could see the fireflies darting around in the air. The point of this ritual is to "recognize the preciousness of life and season' passing, and to thank our deities for giving our life and daily bread."

And while I stood and watched, marveling at all of this, I grew a little sad. It somehow reminded me that my time here is coming to an end. It reminded me that I won't be able to see or experience things quite like this in America. It reminded me of how grateful I am to be here and for all the people who supported me. It's unfortunate that I could not take pictures because flash was not allowed, but I'll always have the image in my memory. :)

(Below is a very brief article about what I just explained)

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/rss/nn20100614a4.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+japantimes_news+%28The+Japan+Times+Headline+News+-+News+&+Business%29

After such an eventful day, the girls in our group (except for one) made the long trip back to Eda. Some of us got a bit bored and we started getting a little silly. Our silliness cost one of my friends a bit of her dignity though. While lying down on one of the seats across from me, two older men (who I unfortunately forgot about...) starting yelling, "Nee, oneechan! Motto yatte!" ("Hey, older sister! Do more!") and cheering.

For the record, they don't mean "older sister" in a literal sense. In this context, it's more along the lines of baby, sweetheart, honey, etc. - what you'd think a guy hollering at you would say in this situation.....

Yeah. Whoops. She quickly sat up properly and sat back down next to me. After some time, the two men decided to come over and chat with us. In levels of awkward, it over 9,000. But also funny. Don't worry, they didn't try anything. They told her, very enthusiastically, that she was sexy though. We left hastily once our stop came.

All in all, it was a good day.
Unfortunately, the next day, I came down with a cold. I'm thinking it has to do with the fact that the temperature dropped in the evening and my body never likes it when the weather does that. So, I'm sick...again. I was a tired, pain-ridden, snot-dripping, nasally voiced monster at school today. I think I will take off tomorrow to nip this in the butt.

Also, rainy season has officially started. Except for Thursday, every day (for the next 10 days, according to The Weather Channel's website) is either just old rain or scattered thunderstorms. Awesome sauce.

No Good Deed Goes Unpunished...Just Kidding!

Another little fun anecdote from riding the train.

At some point while coming home with Elizabeth and our friend Devin, I noticed a young girl in a high school (I'd like to assume) uniform looking quite concerned. I heard her say, "Gomen nasai! Sumimasen! (I'm sorry! Excuse me!)" and I thought she was trying to walk past me in the semi-crowded train. But that wasn't what she was trying to do. The second time around, she said, "I'm sorry!" and started touching my back. I twisted my head around to notice she was removing a moth that had hitched a ride on me. Needless to say, I was very surprised and immediately said, "Arigatou gozaimasu! (Thank you very much!)" She then made a mad dash through a pretty thick crowd of people, to the train doors and released it. It was quite fortunate that we were at a stop at that time. When she returned, the ladies sitting in the seats in front of us thanked her with big smiles. I also thanked her again.

It was very sweet of her. It was quite funny too. She got to use her English today ;)

Something interesting always happens on the train. From seeing people in distracting and questionable fashion (daily...it's the best), seeing people pass out and watch how the person next to them deals with the fact that a stranger is using him/her as a pillow.

Anyway, some other nice things that happen when riding the train:

People will sometimes move seats for you to sit down. For example, say I was with a friend on the train and there were two seats available. However, there is a person sitting in between the two seats. While one of us sits, the person will notice the situation and slide over to the next seat, so we could sit together. One time a man moved across the aisle so that I could take his place sit next to my friend. People will get up for elderly people and mothers with young children. It always makes me smile when it happens.

I hope you enjoy my train adventures as much as I do. Or maybe at least a little bit.

Blurp Blorp Bloop

Nothing really of awesome significance is going on.

I did write a paper on the differences between how men and women speak in Japanese for my partially useless Nihongaku class. There are certain speech patterns and certain words that are supposedly reserved for men (making them sound more assertive, direct, and sometimes almost rude) and women (making them sound polite, submissive, and indirect) and it's sort of a big deal if you use words that don't match your gender. For example, I couldn't get away with saying things like "Ikuze!" because the "ze" at the end of that phrase (which means, "Let's go!") is reserved for boys and men. Lame. Because I REALLY like male speech patterns and words. It sounds cool. I clearly watch and read too many shounen (young boys) anime and manga. I blame my brother for my tomboyish ways. With love.

Anyway! In regards to the limitations of how to speak depending on one's gender, things like that are changing, so that's not necessarily set in stone anymore. But sometimes, it is. It's very complicated...but very fun to research.

It's just about June. Crazy, isn't it? In almost two months exactly, I'll be home for a long time. I'll be (hopefully) finishing up my undergrad degree. Then off to graduate school. Yikes. Every time I think about it, I remember how much I don't want to talk about it, so I move on. Just like I will right now.

The other day I went to 7-11 with Elizabeth (we hang out too much, haha, we know, but we always have so much fun!) and as we were passing Fit Care Depot (sort of like a CVS...they often play really random music, ranging from Spice Girls, N*Sync and other 90s gems. I've walked in to hear some sort of hardcore gangster rap...also "Colors of the Wind" from Pocahontas once. That place is awesome. And the stuff there is cheap too!), a 10 -12 year old boy and his grandma walked out of the store.

They took a gander at the foreigners (that's us :p ) and moved on. Well, at least the grandma did. The boy had no qualms about looking over his shoulder every now and then to look at us. Several times. We laughed about it. We reached a point where we had to wait to cross the street and while we did, we noticed the boy and his grandma walking away along the street. Even as he was leaving, the boy every now and then turned to glance at us.

"If he does it one more time, I'm just going to wave at him," I told Elizabeth, almost hoping he would do it, just so I could do my thing. Elizabeth approved. And sure enough, he did. The moment he did, I smiled and waved and he quickly turned back around. I didn't catch him look at us again - so much shame. Silly boy.

Now that summer is coming, so are the bugs. Whomp whomp. Living in Maryland, interestingly, I've never had too much experience with cockroaches. Unfortunately, they are quite popular here. Elizabeth and I managed to use our Japanese skills and common sense to find some bug spray and we share it between us. It's supposed to keep roaches out specifically. I'm not excited for the giant death spiders to return (please refer to my first album in Japan to see what I'm talking about: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2017965&id=1230390045&l=fe935f12ae ) Another friend has showed me the camel cricket that he found in his apartment. Not happy, not happy, not happy one bit. I hate those things. But the thing I hate the most, the very most, are centipedes. Their freakish limbs, their speed....just thinking about them makes me shiver. I will be praying that none come near me, my room, or the ENTIRE dorm (haha, I know I'm going a little overboard). And considering it's Japan, I know they are probably horribly large.

I'm going to stop talking about that too now, considering how uneasy it makes me feel. Isn't it sad that I'm the one that brought up the topic?

Here, enjoy some pictures to take out the horrible images I put in your heads. Or go play some Tetris. It helps, this proves it: http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_8587000/8587211.stm

Silly things abound in this country
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2038860&id=1230390045&l=c202a2f738

Covering a variety of sights in one day
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2037709&id=1230390045&l=88436beb0c

Another collection of miscellaneous adventures:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2037709&id=1230390045&l=88436beb0c

By the way, for all of my readers, thank you caring enough about me to read my ramblings about this lovely fascinating I-will-never-fully-understand-it-ever country. I'll be soon home soon enough. :)

A Little Token of Tokyo

This is a brief and awkward experience I had on the train with Elizabeth today.

Now, we were sitting on the train coming home from Shibuya back to Eda. We were just talking and giggling, as usual and at some point during the ride, there was a particular salary man standing across from us. He twists his head around to look at Elizabeth and I, probably noticing us because we were speaking English. After he turned his head back around, a few seconds later, he picks up his bag from the overhead rack, walks over to us, and puts his bag on the overhead rack above us.

And proceeded to stare intently, without a word.

Elizabeth and I noticed. It was very uncomfortable (and funny, in a "this shouldn't be happening!" sort of way). Our nervous laughter was uncontainable. Elizabeth asked whether she should look, and after I quickly looked up to notice he hadn't averted his eys and awkwardly made eye contact with him, I suggested it would be best not to.

The fact that he blatantly stared at us is one thing. I'm not saying I'm used to outright staring, but I've gotten used to laughing it off. But to move from one perfectly good spot, to in front of us so he could have a "better look" is what bothers me the most. So creepy! We weren't even wearing anything revealing.

I hope I never see him again.

But on a lighter note, here's my album of silly things I find in Japan:
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=30688634&l=ee9618d64d&id=1230390045

Ano hi mita sora, akaneiro no sora wo, nee, kimi wa oboeteimasu ka?

Well, Golden Week is good and gone by now but I managed to do something on the last day (May 5th/Cinco de Mayo/Children's Day). With Andra and her two friends, we had a full day of being complete tourists.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2038001&id=1230390045&l=4b514798df

The first spot we found was a shrine we hadn't intended to go to, but it was nice anyway. We happened to catch a wedding. I found it a little odd that it was so open like that, because there were so many random people not associated with the wedding around (like us). But I guess that it's custom? I'll have to ask someone or do a little more research on that.

After that, we decided to find the shrines on our to-do list. The first was Kanda Myojin, which we found by accident actually. I'm not really interested in Shinto whatsoever, but I love shrines. They're beautiful to me. This will be super cliche, but whenever I go visit them, it feels like I'm stepping into the past. It's pretty cool.

We got a little lost finding the station to take us to our next destination, Yasukuni Shrine but in the end, we managed to get there. One thing to know about Yasukuni Shrine, it's known for controversy. It is dedicated to Japanese soldiers who have died in combat. And from this point, I'm copying and pasting (and by copying and pasting, I mean, typing out...) from my guidebook because I'm too sick to think on my own about these things (yes, by the way, I've caught a cold from Cat. Yay.):

"Although the shrine dates back to 1869, in the years leading up to and during WWII, it was chosen as Tokyo's chief shrine of State Shinto. During this time, Yasukuni Shrine became the physical representation of the Japanese government's jingoistic policy. Needless to say, the Asian countries that suffered under the harsh grip of Imperial Japan are less than ecstatic when heads of state stop by and pay their respects.

....Despite a post-war constitutional commitment to the separation of religion and politics as well as a renunciation of militarism, 1979 14 class-A war criminals (as determined by the US-Ied International Military Tribunal for the Far East) including Hideki Tojo (infamous WWII general) were enshrined here amid worldwide protests....Leading Liberal Democratic Party politicians have made a habit of visiting the shrine on the anniversary of Japan's defeat in WWII (15 August)."

And then, to make things better, is the Yuushuukan - the museum (apparently, Japan's oldest museum dating back to 1882) located at the shrine. As you can imagine, it's a war museum, going through history and documenting battles, rebellions, conflicts, etc. between Japan and other countries and amongst itself. We weren't allowed to take any pictures. Of course. Japan always seems to know when I'd like to take pictures the most, because they'll tell me I can't do it. It's especially frustrating because I cannot recall all of the English explanations and that's what made things interesting. Seeing things from another point of view a.k.a. Japan's is very interesting. Unfortunately, once the Meiji Era starts, the West (mostly America) is looking pretty bad. One of my favorites (sarcastic) was about how "Japan was forced into attacking Pearl Harbor due to American and British foreign policy of the time." Oh, and also, "The US had no interest in bringing the war to an early end."

What? <- our reaction to this and many situations described in the museum.

Yeah. By the time we finished walking through all the exhibits, we were a little...shocked? Maybe that's too strong of a word. But something along those lines. We stayed at the museum of have a late lunch. Right as we were about to leave, a little old Japanese man turned to talk with us in English. He seemed very thrilled that we were in Japan, as American exchange students, studying Japanese, eating Japanese food and visiting the country's many sights. He told us how he had been to America (Hawaii and California) a few times on group tours. He was very sweet and eventually, let us go as his food was getting cold and we were obviously on our way out.

While in the exhibits, again, I felt more self conscious being an American (more than usual) and was almost uncomfortable. But leaving the exhibit, and sort of in a way, coming back to the present (I don't know how to not make that sound cheesy, sorry) and having the man talk with us, it made me feel much better. I'm glad that despite the violent past, we can still make peace with one another.

A little less profound, we found a garden with a koi pond. I noticed that we could feed them so I impulsively bought a box of koi food and then we all fed them. A Japanese man randomly came up to me and asked in English whether I was from India. His next guess was America. He then told me that the fish were called koi and we agreed on how beautiful they were...and then he left.

I'll miss moments like this when I go back to America.

Anyway, we finally made our way to Roppongi and sort of loitered around Roppongi Hills (shopping and entertainment center) until it was dark outside. Our next destination was Tokyo Tower, which is the best after dark. It. Was. Awesome.

We only went up to 150 meters because it was cheaper and there wasn't a 40 minute wait. It was all we really needed anyway. Oh, and for some reason, Tokyo Tower is brimming with Michael Jackson paraphernalia. When we came back down, the shops were playing Michael Jackson music. I couldn't stop dancing and lip syncing. I caught a woman smiling at me.

That was all the festivities we planned for that day and Andra and her friends were going back home on the night bus that evening. At some point, I'll have to visit them in Kansai. I want to go back! I want to go to Kyoto too.

----

I meant to post that *points up*, within a few days of it happening, not a week later. >.> Oh well.
Currently, I'm stuffy, tired and coughing. Because Cat wasn't feeling well, she asked whether I'd come to the doctor's with her. So I did. The very same evening, my throat was sore. :(
No good deed goes unpunished, Elphaba would say (Wicked the musical reference, for those less savvy :P ) At least it's the weekend and I possibly have time to recover. I was just getting over being allergy ridden too...

Isn't it Nice to Know that We're Golden?

Speaking of golden, it's Golden Week here in Japan. Golden Week is a three-day holiday (technically, a five-day weekend considering Saturday and Sunday) in Japan because it has three holidays in a row. Constitution Memorial Day (today), Greenery Day (tomorrow - which apparently, is supposed to be in honor of the Emperor Showa's love for plants....), and Children's Day! Lucky me, it's a six-day weekend because I don't even have school on Thursday! :D

Unlike most people for Golden Week, I'm not going anywhere in particular. I'll look through my guidebook and see if there is anything close that I can go to for a day-trip sort of thing. So I can seem like I'm not wasting my holiday.

But recently, my friend Andra from UMD has come up from....I forgot where she lives, but it's between Osaka and Kyoto. Anyway! She came up to Tokyo with a couple of her friends and I've had the pleasure of hanging out with her again! We've had Japanese classes together since our freshmen year (not counting this year, obviously) so, we go back a few years (it's weird to think that, by the way). It's so awesome hanging out in Japan with her. Something we talked about with great anticipation in the past and now it's a reality! We've been having tons of fun lately, going out to eat, going to karaoke, enjoying the sights, sounds, and smells. Here are pictures of my most recent adventures in Japanland.

(The First Set of Spring Pictures)
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2033379&id=1230390045&l=1ef4d8c9bd

(Another Picnic by the River)
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2037411&id=1230390045&l=9a1c14765c

(Miscellaneous Fun)
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2037709&id=1230390045&l=88436beb0c

Unfortunately, now that it's spring, my allergies have been acting up. Especially now that the rain has decided to let up for a bit. Maybe that's why I hadn't felt like I was suffering before - all the rain washed it away. But this week is supposed to be without any water for the most part, so my nose, throat and head are feeling it the worst. I do have tons of Zyrtec, so fear not. Also, the Japanese custom of passing out tissues on the streets has been so beneficial. I've never been more grateful.

Oh. Another thing. I dropped my super cool cellphone into the toilet the other day; one of those darn Asian toilets. Incredibly lame. I was able to go to Softbank though and get a replacement while they try to fix mine. It's interesting because it's not as nice as my phone, but at the same time, it's little bit better. The one thing I'm thinking of is the "Relaxation Time" function. It just plays music and the the keypad lights up in a pattern. It's incredibly addicting to watch (not to mention cute and pretty). I put on the "Sleep" one last night before I went to bed and it put me to sleep instantly. A fun and not completely useless function - definitely a plus.

I'm going to miss it when I have to give it back to Softbank.

~Mirai no tame ni, kono bashou de PERIOD ni~

Hello again! I just finished my first full week of school and on to round 3 starting tomorrow.
Here's my schedule. The explanation in English follows. :)



Monday
Japanese and Japanology (Japanese Studies). In Japanology, we had to form groups. The way the teacher arranged it was amusing. He had all the Americans stand at the front of the class and all the other students from various countries (the largest groups being Chinese and Korean, but we have people from Germany, Russia, Thailand, England...) had to pick which group they wanted to be in, after the Americans found a partner or two. It was a very funny process to watch and participate in.

Tuesday
Japanese Art History in the Meiji Era, Vocal Music, Japanese and...Japanese Circumstances (literal translation). I usually just go about calling it Nihon jijou which sounds less awkward. But basically, it's just like an extra side with Japanese in which we learn more kanji, learn more about culture, etc. As you can see, Tuesday will be my busiest day. Riding the 8:00 AM train isn't the best way to start my day, but as you can imagine in my Vocal Music class, I get to sing. I'm WAY excited. Also, my art history teacher is a real sweetheart and funny. Her pleasant attitude makes it worth it.

Wednesday
"Heiwa wo Kangaeru" or "Thinking of Peace" is a class about war. At first, I thought it was specifically about the war in Okinawa, but it's about current day war. So, for the first day of class, we watched a leaked U.S. military video of American soldiers mistaking two journalists as men with weapons (the "weapons" they saw were actually cameras). Needless to say, being the American in the room and the content of the video was uncomfortable and disturbing, respectively. But you know what they always say about seeing things from different perspectives. That's what I'm here for, partially, right?

Oh, and I have Japanese class that day too.

Thursday
My day off! I managed to schedule that unintentionally. It's very refreshing. A nice day for errands, homework, appointments, rest, whatever.

Friday
Japanese again and Creative Writing again! I'm so excited for Creative Writing because writing stories has always been such a fun thing for me to do. So far, it involves a girl being kidnapped by a young, disturbed but incredibly handsome man named Mars (if only I could draw him as nicely as I imagine him, hahaha). I'll let you know how it goes - I don't even know where it's going yet. Because that's how I roll. But I want it to be awesome and compelling and good enough to make you mad and yet, you keep reading because you want to know what happens next. I blame Fullmetal Alchesmist and Code Geass: The Rebellion of Lelouch (I haven't watched season 2, so no one reading this ruin it for me, please 'k thanks!) for this. Those two shows have done it for me more than I'd like but I can't stop watching and/or reading them.

Anyway, enough about school! Extracurricular activities are awesome too! Like strawberry picking and celebrating people's birthdays!

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2033379&id=1230390045&l=1ef4d8c9bd

That's what I did last Sunday with Aoyama's Japanese tutors and other exchange students, in a city called Tateyama in Chiba prefecture. They gave us condensed milk for us to dip our strawberries in. So delicious! Interestingly, the strawberries there were more long than round so they reminded me a bit of chili peppers. After slightly gorging ourselves on fruit and milk, we went to have real lunch. It was a very lovely arrangement of seafood, but some of it I didn't eat. The top offenders being raw squid (both taste and texture kill me), the shrimp that still had its eyes, and the crazy jerky. Everything else was tasty!

After we had lunch, we had a little bit of time to explore the place were in. I was held captive by a Yoshi (from Super Mario Brothers) plushie and bought it. He's the new addition to my happy stuffed family here in Japan. :) Also, we bought ice cream. Now, when I looked at the sign, it definitely said milk flavored (yes, they have milk flavored ice cream here). But when the lady told me the flavors, she told me they had vanilla when it was no where on the sign. I guess she didn't want to confuse me. Oh well. I enjoyed my milk flavored ice cream.

We finished exploring and eating and then we went to this center, of some sort, and learned how to make fans. The man had infectious laughter and was very happy to be teaching us. It was very fun. One of the men who was volunteering to help us make fans asked me where I was from. When I told him I was from America, he soon became more excited than I expected and asked whether I was from Chicago. I guess he thought I'd be from the same place President Obama is from? Too bad! I told him I was from Maryland, but he found that to be a good enough answer.

When we returned back to campus, some of us gathered to go to a yakiniku restaurant in Yoyogi to celebrate Mike's birthday. It was an all-you-can-eat deal for two hours and they never stopped giving us food. We basically all ate far too much. There was also cake involved. Of course. We decided that walking back to Shibuya from Yoyogi was the best plan, to sort of cancel out the absurd amount of food we ate. Fortunately, the weather was incredibly refreshing and with fun company, the 30 minute walk was enjoyable.

Speaking of weather. It is ridiculous here. One day it's cold. Next day it's sunny. Next day is not only cold, but windy and rainy. This may continue for a few more days. And then it's HOT. WHAT IS THIS?! @__@

The World is Mine! >:D

Just kidding! The title is a song by Hatsune Miku - a computer produced singer using Vocaloid software. Of course, this was created in Japan. All the cool, high-tech, mindblowing stuff is made here.

(This is going to be a long one, as I'm trying to summarize three days of WIN!)

Japan in the Spring:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2033379&id=1230390045&l=1ef4d8c9bd

Picnic by the River
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2032913&id=1230390045&l=c561cbf4f8

Anyway, the last few days have been exciting! All the new exchange students are here! I've made friends with some of them so far, most of them coming from China, Hong Kong or Korea. There are also some Americans too, but it seems like we're running low on them this time around. But that's okay, because I feel like I've been given more incentive to speak mostly Japanese. Some of the students speak English too, but sometimes their Japanese is better. It's been fun.

On the last day of March, I met with Ayane and one of Ayane's mom's friends (an Aoyama Gakuin University graduate) who has come to Japan to visit home for two weeks (with her daughter as well). Ayane is an expert in giving tours and finding fun places to see and do. We went to Roppongi Hills and Tokyo Midtown. In Roppongi Hills, we went into this super tall building where we could see Tokyo from a great view. We also visited the Mori Museum of Art and it was just fantastic! My breath was taken away by some of the stuff there. I loved it all so much.

(Before that, while we were taking pictures outside, two Saudi Arabian guys - I want to guess - decided to take pictures with us. By the way, they didn't ask. They just sort of jumped into our picture, smiled, and just assumed it was okay. It was strange. Amusing, nonetheless.)

After the museum, we had ramen for lunch. Yum!

Next, it was Tokyo Midtown where there were some more short-term exhibits. We came across a pet store and we immediately went inside. Basically, I died from the cute overload. I'm not a huge fan of the pens that they keep the animals in, but if I didn't think about that, I enjoyed the place. It had two levels and on the second level, they had this big St. Bernard puppy. Near the puppy, the shop was trying to say, "We're not responsible if the dog bites you" (as the St. Bernard had an open pen) but it ended up saying something along the lines of "The store's responsibility is not it if bitten by dog."

A prime example of Engrish. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

I slowly put my hand near the puppy and she sniffed my hand. I then slowly put my hand on her head and she sort of leaned into it. So, I took the royal opportunity to pet her. I spazzed a little bit. So. so. so. cute. I cannot tell you how much I LOVE dogs. Especially puppies!! My other favorite puppy there was the French Bulldog who had fully erect ears, a smooshed-in face, and eyes so wide apart, it looked incredibly goofy.

After I got my full of puppy goodness, we continued on to a park that had a beautiful garden. Lots of cherry blossoms are out and they're simply gorgeous. Lots of people were taking advantage of their beauty and the decent weather. We saw plenty of families out with their children, dogs, friends, etc. I could feel the happiness in the air.

We took some time to rest by the garden as we had been walking around a lot by that time. It was very relaxing.

Evening soon came and we all went our separate ways.

The next day (Thursday, April 1st), I met with the rest of the exchange students and Japanese tutors in Yoyogi Park for a hanami! On the 31st, I thought a lot people were out - that was nothing in comparison to the amount of people out in Shibuya, Omotesando, Yoyogi and Harajuku on this day. The weather was perfect. I didn't spend too much time introducing myself to many new students, because I worried I would just forget their names....so, I plan to do that as school starts. It was all going pretty splendidly, but unfortunately, one of the Japanese students suffered alcohol poisoning (drinking is a part of the hanami experience, and she got a little carried away). They needed an ambulance to get her. Now, she's doing well. Thank goodness.

On Friday, the IEC instructed us that we needed to come in and get our packages for the new semester. Included in our packages is a urine sample bag - that was surprising. I wasn't expecting that at all. Oh boy.

Cat and I went to karaoke with some of the new girls. There were about 12 of us girls waiting for a room at the karaoke place and a group of young guys (Aoyama students - I could tell from their bags) watched us with great interest. I heard one of them mutter, "kirei naa" which essentially means, "They're pretty, aren't they?" as they inspected us. The comment was nice, but it was weird - you got to love when people talk about you out loud when they think you don't understand them. I have to admit I have committed the crime before too, but I'm not as obvious about it! They kept saying "hello" to us. I waved and said "hi" back in good fun. They seemed to appreciate it.

We finally got a room and in the end, after two hours, we had an awesome time! We all discovered who were amazing singers, how sometimes we all love and know the same songs (the most popular were Lady Gaga's "Bad Romance" and Utada Hikaru's "First Love" - we basically had a choir going on with those two songs. It was brilliant.) My favorite new friend would definitely have to be the Japanese girl who likes Fullmetal Alchemist as much, if not more, than I do! We had a fun time chatting and giggling like the fan girls that we unashamedly are. We exchanged numbers last night and have been emailing each other by phone today. :D

Today, I've been trying to figure out my school schedule. It's been a bit irritating actually. There are two classes, a lecture on Hayao Miyazaki's movies (WHICH I LOVE) and a lecture on 2nd language acquisition, that I desperately want to take but I cannot due to conflicts with classes I absolutely must take. I screamed into my pillow a couple times today. But I have time to figure it out, so all hope isn't lost. I don't have to pick classes for UMD until the 8th - which I also don't want to think about, considering I have to figure what I have to take to fulfill my major requirements.

It's such seriously crazy business.

But the other successes around me make me feel better. And even though my tutor graduated, she said I could ask her for anything. I love her to pieces.

Ugh, I just thought about how much I'll miss her and so many other people when I go home in August. I can't think about it!

A Happy Day for All

I recently went to Aoyama Gakuin's graduation on Saturday. My tutor Yuri, who's not only been a very helpful and supportive but a great and sweet friend, graduated along with some other friends of mine.

When I met Yuri's mother, she surprised both Yuri and I by saying "Hello, nice to meet you!" :D I also met Yuri's sister and they were having a ball taking pictures of Yuri (and sometimes with me in them). I felt really special to be part of her graduation memories, even though I've only known Yuri for a respectively short time.

Here are the pictures I took:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2033379&id=1230390045&l=1ef4d8c9bd

I ended up not staying for the actual ceremony. I had to take care of some things (like write a message in the card that I bought for Yuri!) so I decided to skip on that. I also figured I wouldn't get much out of it honestly. I ended up staying with my friend Charlie on campus watching graduates gush, laugh, take pictures, and chat with their friends and families. I saw a few guys take their female friends and throw them up into the air. It was quite the scene. I felt like a tourist taking pictures of the great spectacle of girls in their traditional kimono or hakama, but I felt more legit when my graduate friends came back. I'm happy I got to celebrate with them.

(The guys wear suits to their graduation, so it's not as interesting with them. However, I did spot a few of them wearing traditional wear and it was very exciting. I couldn't get pictures though. There's something incredibly attractive about men in hakama. Or it could have just been them. Or the combination....Anyway!!)

It was very nice, the whole day. The weather was even nice!

On April 1st, I'll be attending my first real hanami with the old and new exchange students and Japanese students of Aoyama Gakuin. I will have to remember to take my allergy medication. As much as I like flowers, I don't like flowers at the same time, if you know what I mean.

And school starts (finally) in a two weeks! *gasp!* I need to step up my game (a.k.a. study Japanese a.k.a. stop pretending that I'm learning from watching anime - don't worry, I don't actually believe that. However, it is good listening practice. And it gets me in the mood. While I was home in America, I managed to watch 43 episodes of Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood in Japanese...for the rest of my time at home, I couldn't stop thinking in Japanese. Effective? I think so.)

(You know what's not effective? My labels/tags for my posts, they're all so random and I have no consistency. I'm sorry)

Baby, The Sun Shines Bright

I have been taking it easy since coming back from America.
This isn't much of an update, but there are pictures involved. :)
I went with my friends to the river that we always pass on our way to school on the Den-en-toshi Line. The stop is Futako-shinchi and it's the most beautiful when it's a bright and sunny day - like it was when we decided to have a picnic. At first, it was just three of us, my friends Sam, Wonnie and I, but it was incredible. More friends came and we had an even more wonderful time.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2032913&id=1230390045&l=c561cbf4f8

The dorm has been very quiet...well, from other girls anyway. There has been tons of maintenance work going on lately. It's awkward because there are a lot of strange men wandering around. I feel like this wouldn't surprise me so much if guys actually lived in the dorm in the first place and it wouldn't be as odd to see someone of the opposite gender in the dorm.

I met the new RAs...unfortunately, it was around 11:00 pm and my brain wasn't really on correctly then. My Japanese was pretty rough. But they liked my Obama shirt my friend Carrie bought for me from Ireland so it was all smiles and nods...it would have been that way without the shirt, but it made things funnier.

Nothing else really going on that I can think of - ever since I've been back in Japan, I've been kicking myself for only now realizing more of the things I should have brought home that I'm not using very much. Oh well.

Guess Who's Back? <- Have I Used That Line Before?

I've made a comprehensive list (not in order) of things I have missed/not missed about being in Japan upon returning from a brief visit to America for three weeks (which was WONDERFUL by the way. I was super jet-lagged the whole time, but in return, I'm not so jet-lagged in Japan. Woot!)

Anyway, to my lists:

Missed

1. The fashion - not all of it makes sense to me but it's so creative with layers upon layers, accessories, the variety of colors/patterns and what not.

2. Cute boys and pretty men - I'm human, don't judge me for this one!

3. Hearing Japanese around me - I enjoy it. I don't know why, but I just do.

4. Cute(r) babies - Now, I'm a sucker for babies of any race/ethnicity/whatever, but Japanese babies are just so cuuuuute! And their little voices in Japanese are so adorable!

5. Mascots - Japan has a mascot for everything and it's precious. Or scary.

6. Politeness - Everyone is so nice. I can feel it.

7. Vending Machines - Delicious juice, tea and coffee for only about $1.10 (rough estimate there) at any street corner, establishment, building, etc.

8.The ability to use my Japanese phone. I originally started documenting this list on my phone in its notepad. This phone is so much cooler than my American one.

9. Engrish - a usually funny attempt at using English. It's everywhere and it makes me smile.

10. The unreasonable amount of small dogs (leaving the airport, I saw a woman with SIX pomeranians...it was the strangest thing. They were all on leashes, but the woman wasn't holding on to any of them. They were just parading after her. I couldn't stop giggling.)

11. Commercials - once you see them, you know what I mean.

12. The use of the word "GET!" in advertisements.

13. ONIGIRI (rice balls, but triangle-shaped) - I had three of them for lunch the first full day I was back; one with salmon, the other with tuna & mayonaise and the last one with shrimp & mayonaise. These fillings are in the middle with dried seaweed on the outside. The Japanese equivalent to a sandwich I've heard people say. So scrumptious.

14. The ability to travel without the main dependence of a car.

15. Being able to walk around at night without a slight worry of being mugged or something along those lines.

Not Missed

1. Asian toilets - I've tried people, but I just can't get into squatting over a whole in the ground. Sorry.

2. The vans/trucks that blast music/announcements (that I don't understand) as they drive around the town/city - they either startle me, wake me up, or annoy me in general.

3. The lack of Mexian food in this country (I made several trips to Chiptole while I was home)

4. Suicide as a common cause for a delay in train schedule

5. My friends and family from home not being here. It was so relaxing to have them so close.

That's about all I can think of - as the days go by, I probably will come up with more for both things.

"I'd never trade it in, 'cause I've always wanted this - it's not a dream anymore"

As I've been on break, I haven't had much compulsion to go hard-core traveling. I know I should, but I just couldn't get it together. But I did go on a sort of "day-trip" with Elizabeth and Cat, wandering around Tokyo - specifically, Shibuya and Yoyogi Park and whatever we came across in between. Unfortunately, my camera's memory card decided to be corrupted after taking almost 200 pictures that day. I've bought a program to remedy the problem...or at least, save my pictures.

But before we did that, I finally went to the Ghibli Museum in Mitaka with again, Elizabeth and Cat, and also Ayane! It's a magical little place. I love Miyazaki and his works - and I haven't even seen all of them (which I really should)! For those who don't know much about his films, I'd recommend Spirited Away, Howl's Moving Castle, Princess Mononoke (this one is a bit violent, so maybe not for the little ones), Castle in the Sky, Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind...and of course, My Neighbor Totoro! Oh! And Ponyo. I wouldn't watch it in English though - Disney kinda sorta killed it, I've heard. Or at least they killed the theme song - which is supposed to be cute and simple. Then Disney added auto-tune and it was never the same.....

Anyway! Here are pictures from that!
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2028915&id=1230390045&l=9bb47e14fe

Do you remember how I said I wouldn't buy Pokemon HeartGold or SoulSilver until I completed my LeafGreen game? Well, McDonald's destroyed my will. Why, you ask? Because between January 29th to February 14th, the McDonald's in Eda was giving out free Mew via Wi-Fi. I couldn't pass that up. It was interesting too - me and three kids were hovering under the Wi-Fi sign inside McDonald's eagerly awaiting our free downloads. I'm such an adult.

Last night, I saw the last of my three favorite bands ever! I sat up in the higher area, so I could put all my stuff down in a safe place. You see, it was about 24 degrees yesterday and raining/snowing. I could have been a really intense fan and just wear my t-shirt and jeans like I saw many people do. But then I thought that I could get sick, and then feel miserable for the entirety of my time home and that thought was horrifying. So, I buried myself in my hoodie, coat, hat, scarf, gloves, umbrella. It was nice when I had to wait outside for an hour.

There were so many Americans. Expected, but at the same time, it was still weird. I talked to some of them - this couple (I assume) were teachers and two girls lived on a military base in Japan, one of which had lived here since she was two years old. I ended up spending the concert with the girls and they were just as spastic and crazy through the concert as I was - but the Japanese guy next to me just stood there the whole time. I was headbanging, jumping up and down, singing along, screaming and cheering, waving my arms...he just stood there, he clapped when they finished a song. It was incredible. Our contrasting behaviors.

Speaking of contrasting behaviors: the moshers. As I was much higher than everyone else, I had a great view of the whole venue and all the people that filled it up. There was this little circle of Americans who decided that a mosh pit was necessary. It was isolated in one spot though, so it was awfully strange....and distracting. All of the Japanese people around them seemed to either think it was funny or annoying. Some of them joined. Some of them looked at them with disdain.

All in all, it was beyond exhilarating, fantastic, fun and just wonderful. My neck is suffering from my choice in throwing my head all around though. Worth it.

Here's what little pictures I could take without getting in trouble.
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2029565&id=1230390045&l=28a21c7b3f

I'll be home in a matter of two days. For three weeks - now I'll have a reason for not updating, considering I'm not in Japan for some time. I can't wait to come home! :D

I Love You Langenscheidt

(Recent) Pictures Pictures Pictures!

My time with Midori and Ben :D
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2027095&id=1230390045&l=d6749b940e

The following are just more pictures of random times in Japan.
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2024618&id=1230390045&l=bf2794838a

----

So, I'm almost done with school. Things haven't changed in terms of my "I'll-do-this-at-the-last-minute" practice. It's not something I'm proud of, but neither is it habit I've been able to effectively break...as of yet. I'm currently writing a paper (in Japanese) about my Mobile Culture class' group project about a cellphone website. The obvious disadvantage of attending a class in which the language is too advanced is that you don't know what the teacher is saying....

Depending on fellow students to translate the things covered in class is not a comfortable way to get by, considering that they are not perfect in their Japanese either. Lesson learned. I hate depending on people so much because my level is not where I'd like it to be right now. Things like this make me wonder whether I'll take another class all in Japanese like this again. I know the "correct" answer is to take the challenging route. I have a few months to consider.

But fortunately, these friends still come through and have helped me figure out where I need to go with this paper. It has to be two pages, single space - I haven't written anything in single space since probably middle school. Seeing a paper crammed in single space with Japanese is headache inducing. I'm ganbaru-ing as hard as I can, but I don't believe two pages will be achieved. I figure he'll have mercy on me - he's a really cool guy, as far as my friends tell me and from what I've been able to deduce myself.

I only get excited about this paper when I see how much I've written. It's satisfying to know I can convey ideas. I've been using every resource - notes and handouts from Japanese class, online translators (to get rough ideas, I know they're aren't perfect in the slightest), my Japanese dictionary on my Nintendo DS and my Langenscheidt Pocket Dictionary I got some many Christmases ago. All these things are saving my life right now!

As the school semester is ending, exchange students are starting to leave/have already left. It's sad. But we will soon have a new crop of fresh faced foreigners! :)

Because students are leaving, they have tons of things they want to give and/or sell. I'll be buying a refrigerator from my friend who is going back home to Canada. It's more exciting than it should be - it means I can make my own breakfast sometimes when I can't be bothered to wake up at 7:00 am to get it from the dorm ladies.

----


I blame living in the country of Pokemon's origin for this sudden and intense regression to my childhood days. Cat and Elizabeth have recently purchased the HeartGold and SoulSilver editions of the games. I think I will have to purchase HeartGold before I come home (for good - I'm still working my way through LeafGreen....leveling up my team for the Elite Four! I have guaranteed thrills for the ride home and back!)

This last segment was for my nerdy friends who I love dearly and am glad we can be children together.

Wheeeeeeee, I'm Back.

Heeeeey, unintentional hiatus is no longer in session.

Sorry. Again. *looks down at the ground in shame*

First things first: Pictures!

Recently, my friend Midori and her son Ben came to Japan for three weeks. When I was fourteen years old, my mom signed me up for classes at the Japan America Society in Washington D.C. and Midori was my very first Japanese teacher. Then, I started taking private lessons with her and my friend Kamille. Although we didn't keep up Japanese with her for the longest time, we still kept contact with each other, and we became more like friends than just a student-teacher relationship. I also became the babysitter :)

In short, I'm super happy we were able to meet with each other in Japan. She always made learning Japanese fun, with watching TV, eating snacks, and fun activities. I owe a lot to her for where I am today.
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2027095&id=1230390045&l=d6749b940e

The following are just more pictures of random times in Japan.
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2024618&id=1230390045&l=bf2794838a

So basically, I've finished the semester....except for a paper, which I'm in the midst of writing. It's due on the 30th, so just a few more days!

The last day of classes was celebrated with karaoke and eating out at a nice Italian restaurant.
I'm eagerly awaiting my Paramore concert on February 13th. Once I see them, I will have seen my top three favorite bands EVER. I can't express how much glee this brings me.

And three days after that, I'm heading home for a break! I need to figure out also whether I'm going anywhere else, namely Hong Kong and/or Korea. I hate planning things.

Oh, and thanks to Midori/my mom, I have been able to enjoy the classy cuisine of Easy Mac right here in my own dorm. I have yet to find macaroni and cheese in this country, so despite it not being anything as good as my mother's, it was delicious. I also now have my special chai tea and Swiss Miss hot chocolate. Things are doing pretty swell right now.

I have to go to the Immigration Bureau and apply for a re-entry permit so I can come back here after I go home during the break. That's my mission on Monday. It's been sort of like this for the last few days - missions. Friday was getting medicine. I learned a while ago that sending 3 months of prescription medicine is illegal (oops) so my medicine was confiscated. After sending in a thousand forms and only getting a little piece of paper saying that I did something wrong, try again later (thanks for playing), I tried again. No response.

Sooooooooo, I had to go to a clinic to get some medicine. Fortunately, again thanks to my mother, I was able to get to a clinic where the staff and doctor speak English. This was the sort of thing I didn't want to be struggling in Japanese, so it went well....expensive, but I got what I needed.

Saturday's mission was getting my hair taken care of long after it needed it. As usual, my hairdresser Ikko was friendly, happy to see me and eager to talk to me in both English and Japanese. He told me that he recently ordered two volumes of One Piece manga in English so he could practice reading. I told him I do the same thing! A while ago, I bought three volumes of "Yostuba&!" manga (much cheaper here than in the US) and was able to understand about 90% of it. It was satisfying. I think I'll pick up a volume of One Piece for him when I go home.

And so far my break has consisted of re-watching the first season of Pokemon episodes with Elizabeth every night. The cheesiness is beyond overwhelming but it brings back good memories and other parts of it somehow more hilarious than before. We talked about how amazing the human brain is and how it can recall things that haven't been brought up, watched, or listened to in years. Like the PokeRap. Yeah. I remember parts of it still.

We're tempted to watch it in Japanese after we finish watching the English dub. We've also noticed how much Japanese culture is in that show that we weren't aware of when we were kids and how some things didn't translate well (for example, onigiri turned into donuts....ehhh? Not even close 4Kids!).

I live a simple life.

Happy New Year!!

Well, it's 2010 now. Crazy, I do believe.

I'm on winter break still, it ends this Thursday, the 6th.
Although it is incredibly short by UMD's standards, my break has been jampacked with all sorts of fun and goodness.

I went to Sendai with the Vander Haaks to stay in one of the cabins of Takayama. It's a gorgeous place, as you can see in the hordes of pictures I took that I will post right here:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2026122&id=1230390045&l=99ba5adc9c

But before we went to Takayama, we stopped in Mashiko, a pottery town. They had tons of shops, selling all sorts of unique and beautiful plates, cups, utensils, etc. I didn't think I was that into pottery before but when I was there, I wanted everything.

Takayama with its beaches and mountains and clear blue skies - it was great. Despite this, I spent most of my time inside because we brought a Nintendo 64 with us and...well, I love Nintendo 64. So many good memories and so many good games. But don't worry, I got to appreciate the great outdoors too.

For Christmas, we decided we needed to have a rave. We also decided we needed some boom to our party. Emily asked the people at The Daiso (100 yen store) where we could find fireworks. They said that they had some. One employee asked her fellow employee to cover her register as she ran to the back room. Two more employees got involved and finally, they brought out some stuff. They told us it was summer fireworks and whether it was okay. We said yes, apologized for their efforts, they apologized for the wait, we all smiled and we got our fireworks.

It was the smallest (and the only) rave I've been to but it was so much fun. I like that I have friends who are as silly, if not sillier, as me. We rocked out to my impromptu playlist of Lady Gaga, Hellogoodbye, Yelle, Miley Cyrus and Cascada, and other stuff.

The rest of the time in Takayama was more chill. Watching Christmas movies (and Beauty and the Beast), playing Mario Party and regretting we started it and that we had to finish it, drawing in my notebook....oh, and "starting" a Glee club. Basically, we just sang songs of the Glee soundtrack to the best of our ability. I think "Lean on Me" was our best number.

Oh. I did the naked thing (how my mom calls going to the public bath). The place we went to was called a sento and they had different kinds of baths - a scented bath (the day we were there it was yuzu - citron fruit in English), a cold bath (for cooling off in), a bath with jets, a bath with SUPER jets, a bath outside so you can feel warm and cool at the same time, and just a regular bath. Oh, they have a sauna too. And once you decide in your mind to get over the nakedness, its really not bad at all. No one cares, so you shouldn't either :D I can't do the bath for very long though. The water is very hot - in a good way, but I get hot very fast and can only do heat for so long.

What actually made me decide to just go for it as because I figured it would be interesting to write about, and for others to read, for my blog. Hahaha, a silly motivation tool, but it worked. So, I hope you enjoyed it.

We returned to Tokyo and it was general relaxation, hanging out, and lazying about for the next few days until New Years Eve. Emily and I met with her friend Laura and her fiance Otto. We went to Ikebukuro for Starbucks and wasted a few hours there. After Starbucks, we went to Book-Off to waste some more time and then we did purikura! One of the best inventions that Japan has made better. We ate dinner at Matsuya and then headed over to Asakusa.

We were plenty early though. We did some walking around, taking pictures of the Senso temple, seeing what people were selling...and then we made our way to another Starbucks and spent some time there as it was cold outside and we had a lot of waiting to do. We did some shopping at a 100 yen store too. We came back to the temple around 11:00 and just walked around more. We got tired of walking though and started dancing. I started "do-do-do" -ing the Mario song. This guy started "do-do-do" -ing back at me...he seemed sort of angry/annoyed. Whoops. He was drunk though. We had a couple of guys that wanted to take pictures of us - not really sure why...the fact that they were inebriated helped though. And I guess we were the most charming foreigners there (haha).

There was a gong that began to ring as the new year came in. People cheered, hugged and kissed their lovers/spouses, we did a little dance. We didn't try to go into the temple, so we just headed home. Unfortunately, even though the Yamanote train line was still running, the Seibu Ikebukuro line that Emily and I needed to get home stopped running at 12:35 (we got there at about 1:00) and wasn't going to start running again until 5:00. Laura and Otto got off at Shinjuku, so they were a-okay.

Emily and I - not so much. She called her mom and her mom was nice enough to come pick us up. Sadly (for all of us), she got lost. About 2 hours later, we were picked up and taken home.

New Year's Day was more lazy business. We watched the movie 9, had tabletop barbecue for dinner and watched the new Star Trek movie. A great end to another visit. I went back to Eda after that as I had work in the morning.

Now, just waiting for school to start.