| By the way |
[02 Jun 2007|01:36pm] |
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I forgot to say on lj that I'M BACK IN LOUISIANA. I'm hot and bored, where the hell is everyone?
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| Japan in perspective...almost |
[02 Jun 2007|06:25am] |
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Still hungry (´Д`) |
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"Ah, and yeah, is there one true Japan? Is it the old buildings and traces of samurai culture, or the bright lights and pretty colors of modern media, or even the office buildings and sleeping cubicles? What is the true Japan?"
This has the potential for any answer imaginable. All parts of Japan are true, and there isn't one part that defines all the rest. Like the English language, there is never not an exception to the rules ;-D heh. [on a side note: almost every grammatical error I make can be blamed on not using much English of late, sorry all you English or writing majors out there] While places where there are examples of old and new in the same area exist, I can't think of many that display it so proudly and often as Japan. You can find little 5ft tall shrines between skyscrapers as often as you can find remote shrines in the middle of mountainous forest with coke machines... With the old castles, skyscrapers, capsule hotels, love hotels, bars, soap lands, shrines, temples, convenience stores, train stations, maid cafes, model shops, and old and new style homes there is always some sense of Japan-ness that has to be experienced to fully understand. It'd be interesting to know what comes to mind when someone thinks of Japan regardless of whether or not you have been. I can't answer this question in one post or even a single line of thought With more and more posts, maybe I'll answer this without knowing it. I'm gonna leave this alone for a while, but does anyone else have any thoughts at all? What screams Japan to you?
Edit: I forgot that a lot of my classmates made blogs about Japan in some way or another, and are all linked here: http://visualgonthros.blogspot.com/
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| Things I know little about |
[02 Jun 2007|05:50am] |
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mood |
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6am... still goin |
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music |
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Random noises my house makes in the early morning |
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"3) Tell us something you learned about their culture that really interests you. Again, something preferably you didn't have previous knowledge to. So "martial arts IN Japan" does not count. ^__^"
I can't pretend to be an expert on any culture, I just know what I like or care to find out about. But martial arts aren't everything, sadly ;-(. Food really interested me, but that should be no surprise either really. And rather than make another post on food I'll say if you want to know more about it, come to my house and I'll make some. My host mom mailed me some ingredients and the last of them should be in maybe 2-3 weeks from now.
The medical system in Japan, outside of a few rare exceptions, scares me with how bad it is. Common sense, courtesy, and competence are all missing from a lot of the nurses in the big hospitals. My doctor and some surgeons know what they are doing, but on a whole, the hospitals have some serious catchin up to do if they even want to be up to par with the US (shivers).
Religion in Japan is a very odd topic and is possibly a very awkward set of questions to ask and can have very unexpected answers. Some things are scary like AUM Shinrikyo and the gas attacks, yet other things are comical like the tanuki outside of most shops and the Shinto legends of their shape shifting scrotum. If someone reminds me later, I can write a lot about Japanese religion later on.
That blog Gaijin Smash (www.gaijinsmash.net/), is often scarily accurate with stuff in Japan. Keep in mind that they are stories, not truth and I don't know if he makes that distinction. I swear it seemed like some of the stories were ones I experienced. I refuse to believe all of it is true, but it's entertaining.
"Actually, I was wondering what martial arts over there really are like. I'm sure you found a place, but how was it? How did it measure up against your training here at home? Was it ridiculously intense, as movies would lead us to believe?"
I have a poorly made website covering this topic to a degree: http://1kick2kick.blogspot.com/.
It was made for an anthropology project, and it was a last minute affair. But as for Karate and dojos, not covered by the blog, the experience I have with this left impressions...on my ribs. Look for pictures on that soon. They can be extremely serious, they train 2-3 hrs 6 days a week together and 3 times a week at the gym alone. The guy in the pictures I plan to upload put someone in the hospital the night before I sparred him because they were "being too rough." In short, the training in Japan would have me dead or invincible in a year, one or the other no in between.
If anyone has anymore specific things or areas of Japan they wan to know more about I can do a little more on it maybe. Hell if you have a school project in anyway related to Japan, give me a shout I really would like to share my little knowledge for the greater good ;-p.
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| ビックリした！！ "Whoa!! you surprise me!!" |
[02 Jun 2007|04:26am] |
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Awake at 5am...still |
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"2) For me, the most enjoyable parts of new places is the things you weren't expecting that were so good. What did you see that you didn't know about or something you experienced that wasn't on a big to-do list before you left home?"
Well first off, I'm very very lazy and because of that, there a lot I don't know because I don't often go out and look things up. For instance, I first saw a map that confirmed not all of Japan looks like Tokyo about 2 yrs ago... Embarrassing? Very, but I know my flaws and work on them when I can. Almost everything I have seen on this trip has been a surprise to me, I made no "to do list". It was bad sometimes when I didn't know what to look for, but I liked that I had no preconceptions on what I would find most times. A lot of things in Japan are based off or from other cultures (at first). This causes a lot of confusion when you first get to Japan. The most obvious thing is English. I don't understand how there can be so much English in Japanese (katakana), while almost every person I have met who didn't major in it in college sucks at English to an almost unrealistic level. This statement might at first seem a lil off, why should everyone in Japan be able to speak English you might say. Well every Japanese person is required by the government to study English for about 7 years before college... If I had that much time I'd be mistaken for a Japanese person in no time... well maybe on the phone or sumthin ;-p With all the time they spend studyin I get to read signs like this:
Other things surprised me like when I went to Hiroshima (you may remember we dropped the biggest bomb in the history of war on this place). The amount of destruction caused by the bomb that detonated a hundred meters or more above the town is recorded in the Museum at the Peace Park and the "Atomic bomb dome". I originally thought (once again a little ill-informed) that the bomb instantly killed everyone within the blast radius. Now i think that maybe about half the people died instantly, the rest died from the radiation, fires, drowned, or met with several other horrific fates because of the bomb. I have a lot of pics from my trip there as of now unposted, but one day they'll be up.
The image of Japan is a very safe place, low crime, strict gun laws, polite people. According to most people you talk to around Japan, this has changed in the past 10 years. While no where near as dangerous as say L.A., NYC, or heaven forbid D.C., Japanese people have been tryin to compete. Coin locker babies, rapes on the express train, high school students sawing off mom's head and bringin it to the police himself, Yakuza assassinations and gun battles are in the news more often than I imagined. Last month, a British lady was murdered and the guy who did it still hasn't been found even though his face is on TV and posters all over the country, thus making the 96% crime apprehension rate questionable.
On a less serious note, the multitude of personalities I came in contact with surprised me a lot. The general stereotype of a Japanese man is serious, works all the time at a company like Mitsubishi, and is married to a submissive wife. Well this Salary-man theory can be shot to hell 100 times for every one case u find that meets up with exactly that. I joke with my host dad, teachers, even my doctor every chance we get. A large percentage of the women above the age of 30 can be just as joking but have a will the multitude of Shinto kami couldn't break. If a man is married, the wife is often expected to cook and clean while he is at work. A little known fact to these arrangements are that the wife would then control every financial asset of the family. If dad wants a car he has to ask mom, regardless of who makes the money!
Pretty much everything I saw or did in Japan was a first for me, so i don't know if they count as surprises or what. All i know is I had lots of good experiences and very few bad ones, and I can only think of what to say if you ask me. I can't wait to go back and get more experiences and food (just please no natto!!)
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| F00ds!!! |
[02 Jun 2007|04:18am] |
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Awake at 4am... |
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OK~ Jetlag is whoopin my ass like nothing I've ever encountered before, I slept from noon to 10pm today....WTF!!!
Anyway, since I'm wholly awake I can write out some of the stuff I remember about what ya asked me! Let's see what I can do.
"1) I think we've all seen your away message "i'm eatin a new and exciting dish?" and I wanted to know what kind of stuff you're eating for the first time and what you like (and what you never want to eat again)."
Hmmm. Well basically I found that most of the stuff we have at Japanese restaurants doesn't come even close to the shear amount of dishes that I ate at my host family's house. The names of which are hard to bring to mind, but they had simple things like tofu or grilled fish sometimes. Other times it was elaborate spreads of sashimi/handrolls. It was always somethin close but still a lil different from things I'd seen before elsewhere, but I never ate those things because they were odd lookin... While in Japan, I decided to just try anything that was put out before me to mostly good results.
But there are 3 things I would be happy to not eat again:
Raw squid - chew for 10 mins while fish oil gushed down ur throat daring u to stop focusing on swallowing. Easily identified at conveyor belt sushi places as a slick, white strip of seafood on rice. Avoid if possible. (hate lvl - 7/10)
Kobe beef - (keeping in mind I didn't actually eat it) Japanese meat tends to be graded on fat content [more=better] this is the ultimate in this dept. The cows are fed beer hops and treated to daily massages. This translates to 80% fat and the rest is mostly meat...maybe. And to top it off for a small chunk about 2/3 or less the size of a NY Strip steak is *drumroll* $130. SCREW THAT I hate fatty meats outside of bacon... Lots of other ppl like it, and if u have a spare wad o' cash go for it. (hate lvl - 3/10)
Natto - To ppl who have been to Japan, this name can strike fear in the most culinarily open-minded of foreigners. All it is is soy beans....fermented (rotted) for a while. After a very very short test, I have found that most natto in the US is Kanto 9Tokyo and the surrounding) style. I had it before once in the US but never again I said. My host sister loves the stuff and insured me that Kansai (Osaka and its surroundings) was different. Well she was sorta right. Kansai smells like rotten, festering ass and it's hard to get past that. Kansai style smells like beer, but I end up concentrating on the texture. Imagine a mouth full of snot and edamame and you got the general idea... You'd know it if u saw it, but just in case, it looks like light brown beans in sticky semi clear sauce while "at rest". After mixing it (so it sticks to chopsticks), it looks like beans in bubbly spiderwebs and snot. (hate lvl - 51230091x1382910743/10 My hell is full of natto ;-)
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[28 May 2007|02:14pm] |
OK, so yea I said I was gonna post more often. It turns out I didn't ;-P. I didn't realize (or fully think out) that when I got here I wouldn't want to write out journal entries (even if I could restrain myself to writing short ones). I hate writing, always have and probably always will, and I especially dislike free-writing. The fact that I had to write a total of 16 or so papers in combinations of Japanese and English didn't help either. I posted literally over 2000 pictures so far,a nd I have hundreds left I haven't yet. If a picture really is worth a thousand words, I've written more than my fair share; just sucks that most of the 1000 words will mean nothin unless u ask me...
Let's try this game instead, shall we? Anyone who sees this post and has a question about what I did, what something was like, where a picture I took was, etc. leave a comment. I'll do my best to answer it in an actual post!!
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| Shikoku pt 2 |
[19 Jan 2007|01:32pm] |
January 15
Woke up around 9am skipped/missed breakfast, and told the head lady person I was going hiking today and be back around 4pm. I decided looking for a map would probably be a good idea, and I was supposed to call David last night but couldn’t use the phone. First off, the stairs at this temple are very, very steep, and there are about 200+ steps to the bottom. At least I was warmed up by the time I got to the bottom. Went into town for about 2 hours looking for the station and found it was pretty far off, unmanned, and without a phone. Grabbed a drink from the vending machine and began heading back toward the temple. I get back to the steps and see a big poster of a map… Go me. Lots of temples and stuff in each direction, but no scale so I just head down the road and see where it takes me. About 40min of walking and I’ve seen a few memorials and graves, some nice wooded scenery, and what may very well have been a puppy farm. Time to do something less than safe… I cut off the trail and start climbing up the hill/mountain/cliff, and end up about 100ft higher and have a better vantage point. The place has 2 long building and about 30 potable kennels outside filled with a whole lot of barking dogs. I still don’t know for sure but if I had thought to take pictures, you could judge for yourself. I didn’t feel like asking them about it either, so it will be mystery yet unsolved.
I got a few more pictures of the sea on the way back and stopped to eat finally at a small shop just outside the temple gates. I was the only one there other than the old lady who ran the place. I ordered udon noodles with meat, she said “No no, try the soba noodles!!” I did, and they were good. During the course of my meal she brought out extra toppings one after another and put them in my soup. I tried holding a conversation as best I could. Then, she asked if I drank coffee and served me a cup before I could answer. She started opening a big box of the little tissue packs everyone tries to force on you out here, and I instinctively helped rip the tape. She was apparently stuffing adds in the tissue pack for an on the side job. I asked her how to do it and got to work helping her. I told her she was a very interesting person and must always be busy. She said she likes being busy and switched from calling me onii-san (brother [a customary title to use for men you don’t know]) to o-tomodachi (my friend). Awwww, now I feel all warm and fuzzy. Haha. She served me more coffee, and her daughter and grand-daughter showed up. She explained where I was from, how I helped her save lots of time and her back and that I was her new friend/part time worker faster than I could have said “Hello. My name is…” After entertaining the 1 yr old kid for a bit I decided to leave. When I tried to pay for the meal that I figured she was buttering me up to pay for (a 400yen bowl of noodles with two 300yen cups of coffee and six 120yen toppings = about $10 more than I planned to buy) she said the meal was on the house and that I should come back tomorrow at 10am for coffee before I return to Osaka.
I get back to the temple for 3pm. I am told dinner is at 6pm, I head up to the room to relax. The room is frigid; apparently the heater is broken now or I didn’t notice the cold last night. I gladly run down stairs early and am told to just wait a bit since its cold downstairs… After showing them my room is actually colder they rush in a space heater and let me sit in the kitchen. Lots of warm food and tea is served. I get a chance to talk with the lady who runs the temple (maybe 35 years old) and her mother (the lady I met the night before at the door). They are going to Florida in March for a graduation. They ask me about Florida, Louisiana, and America in general. Some how I manage to explain lots of things. I told them that Florida’s weather is usually warm as is Louisiana’s (easy), explained gumbo and jambalaya (rather difficult), and how not everyone has a gun in America just like not everyone has a sword in Japan, plus I managed to explain how Bush lost the election but still became president (near impossible to do in English ;-).
Side note: So far I have been right about no one speaking English, and I have to let people know I only understand the main dialect of Japanese. Their regional dialect is very, very different from the rest of Japan. It seems like the “a” sound as in harbor replaces all “o” sounds as in hello.
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| Shikoku pt 1 |
[19 Jan 2007|01:29pm] |
Ok this stuff is gonna be completely out of order now but anyway.
January 14
We got up kinda late; Ian finished packing everything for his Hiroshima excursion and I packed up for Shikoku. We got to the train station around noon and I began the long ride to Ehime prefecture Shikoku. It was mostly uneventful until I reached Aioi station. There I waited for 20 min for a transfer to a different train, and had a conversation with a few people headed mostly the same way as I was. The two ladies in the group stayed heading the same direction as me for quite a while and made sure I got all my stops and transfers mapped out correctly, thanks to them I only made 3 transfers total as opposed to 6. They talked about all kinds of things like visiting sick relatives, and the most beautiful places they have seen so far. I got a picture of them then asked their names. From right to left in the picture is Eiko-san (of Nagoya) and Kazuko-san (of Kagawa-ken, Shikoku). Go figure, those names seem to be good signs. I got to the youth hostel/Temple around 8:30 I think, and the place looked closed. I hadn’t made reservations and hadn’t even called to see if they were open. Even still someone eventually answered the door and filled me in on the pricing and accommodations. They were extremely hospitable even after I figured out it was supposed to be a members only hostel… The lady was especially concerned because no one spoke English their. The taxi driver said “Don’t worry he speaks fluent Japanese;” and since I couldn’t figure out how to stop him I denied in Japanese furthering his claim. Eventually I had tea, set up my room, bathed, and went to bed watching tv.
Side note: Shikoku is not like the rest of Japan in that it has no real major cities and compared to the rest of Japan is a bit underdeveloped. In other words, I will be the only foreigner for miles and will be giving my Japanese even more practice than before, since no one else speaks English.
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| Jan 2-7 |
[16 Jan 2007|09:52pm] |
January 2
Ueno and Roppongi (Cheap vs. Unbelievably Expensive)
Ian, Michelle and I went to Ueno. There were loads of people on the street and shops with everything from leather jackets and shoes to puppies. Had omelets and moochi for lunch and then walked through Ueno Park. We saw a few street performers and more than a few homeless people along the way the Tokyo National Museum. Lots of old art and signs saying to not take pictures of things (I may or may not have missed some of these signs). We stayed until the museum closed and then made our way to the subway bound for Roppongi.
Roppongi is very shiny and no one should have to pay 15 (or was it 20) dollars just to go up to an observation deck on a 6-7 story building. We saved our money and took pictures of the big spider Momon and a few other things. We started to walk toward Tokyo Tower, but had to head back since we were out of time. Unless you are just that obscenely rich, this place has nothing for you.
January 3
Ian and I met with Die-san and her parents out in the country-ish area about 30min from Shigeo-san’s house to speak English. She still didn’t talk much, and her little lap dog, ironically named Angel, tried to get blood out of all of us. Ian had plans to go to the SGI headquarters with Shigeo-san and Eiko-san. I decided to head to Tokyo instead, so I met with Michelle about noon. Michelle and I went to a scenery garden to kill time and take pictures. Then we made plans for the 4th, and I headed back home.
January 4
Ian went to the Soka University campus with Shigeo-san and company. I went with Michelle to try the freshest sushi I could get at the famous Tsukiji fish market at about noon. I did karaoke and enjoyed it, but I proved I don’t exactly have a singing voice. We went to a restaurant in Sugamo and had some quick tasty food. We started trying to map out things to do in Kyoto and Nara until… A very drunk salaryman decided to put his knowledge of Kyoto and English to the test. He attempted to give a profound speech on how a certain cleansing stone in Kyoto shows how with knowledge one can have satisfaction. He degraded it to rather suggestive gestures and then went back to the conversation that I think I overheard mizu-age (watch Memoirs of a Geisha or look it up) being mentioned.
January 5
What do you mean we’re hiking?
Michelle stayed to pack for heading to Osaka, while Ian and I went to Kamakura to see a few temples in Kanto area before seeing all the ones in Kansai area. We started off well enough, catching a temple just as it was opening effectively skipping the compulsory temple fee. Next we went to a temple that had unmarked (maybe unblocked is a better word) paths leading all over the grounds. After climbing a few paths and sorta blazing a new one for a short period, we headed the direction of the Kamakura Daibutsu (Great Buddha) shrine/temple. It was marked just off the map we saw, so I figured it would be close. Instead It turned out to be about 2 -2.5 kilometers through the woods. Along the way, we met a really nice old couple who pointed us in the right direction and, after we helped them down a near vertical path, gave us candy. After a few detours for seemingly unmarked temples and a misleading “You can seeing Mount Fuji from up here” sign, we made it to the Daibutsu. It was big and Buddha-like. Lunch was at a Japanese-Chinese restaurant. Tasty stuff and after talking with the waitress for a short time, I think Ian and I both ended up with free tea. I guess the novelty of Japanese speaking foreigner can be fun for both parties. Walked to another big shrine where there was yabusame (horseback archery) during New Year’s. We got bored and headed to a train station to go home.
Side note: The Kita-Kamakura station is a ghetto stop!!!!!! There is nothing stopping you from just hopping on a train without paying. If I knew where the train on that side of the tracks was going we might have tested it, but Totsuka station in Yokohama was only 3 stops down anyway so it wasn’t a big deal.
January 6
The amount of luggage I have it ridiculous for travel. If I weren’t traveling between cities so much, it wouldn’t be too bad. Trying to run with all this stuff is a no go. We came kind of close to missing the train because I had to lug these 2 huge bags around. After one hell of a workout, we sat on the bullet train and watched Aquateens and Takeshii Kitano’s “Dolls” until we got to Osaka. I finally met with David and his wife Fifi, who graciously let us stay with them for a while in Amagasaki, just west of Osaka city.
January 7
We left with David about 10-1030am to visit some places in Osaka. First was Osaka-jo Castle. It was pretty big and shiny. There were a few exhibits telling the history of the castle and the battles fought near or in it. There was also a place to try on some of the ridiculous kabuto (head gear) but I would never do that…
Next was lunch at a curry place and a few more trains to the famous Umeda Sky Building. The station we stopped at had the biggest single electronics store I have ever been in (B3-5th floors). After gawking at that we walked a few blocks to the actual Sky Building. It is about 40 stories and has a good view of most of the city. It had some fancy 5 story see-through escalator action and some rather odd art exhibits like the samurai town in fantasy land (??). While on top of the building I figured out that I could use the telescope for free and take a closer picture of Osaka-jo Castle if I lined up the lenses correctly.
If i forgot anything forgive me, its been a while since i posted text. I'll try to put up the next set as soon as it's done.
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| Things and stuff |
[09 Jan 2007|09:39am] |
Ok so i didnt keep up with writing post and stuff (been doin a lot!!) But as proff that I havent just been sittin around laughin about how I am not posting, I upgraded this accnt and posted a metric ton of pics!! go here ---> http://pics.livejournal.com/2manyasprin/
Responses are as akways welcome!!! I like to think Im not just posting this to see my own typing.
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| Shall we review? |
[02 Jan 2007|11:40am] |
OK let me redo some of this, please excuse any repeated info and the fact that I didn’t cut it. I’m still working out of a by the hour café. We met Shigeo Odaka (Dad) Eiko Odaka (Mom) Kaede (their grandchild [girl]) and (blanks out) – grandchild male. Had a fun 2 hr ride back explaining where we were from and that we planned on attending a wedding in the morning. They pointed out some sights and I got the general impression that they were friendly and more outgoing than one would expect.
Dec. 29
Hopped on 1 train (very magical seemingly unlisted) that went directly to Shibuya., where we finally caught up to Michelle. Then caught what seems to be the same train that led us all the way to Urawa station in Saitama, near where the wedding was going to be held. Ian’s friend Takashi (Mike in America) was getting married; his younger brother Hiroshi (who spoke good English after living in Atlanta for 8[?] years) rode with the youngest brother Akira (he’s a cop with a race car and drives like a mad man) to pick us up from the station. When we got there, we toured the SGI Cultural center until the wedding started. There was sakura blossom tea, which smells sweet and tastes very salty, and lots of pictures before the actual ceremony. The actual marriage consisted of lots of chanting, a slow paced choreographed walk down the aisle, joining of families by drinking ceremonial sake, and speeches from both sides of the family. It was a bout an hour long and after it there were more pictures and we received some dried seaweed and a thin cloth as gifts. Why we got presents at someone else’s wedding still escapes me a little but I guess it’s ok.
At a train station after we left, we changed into street clothes in a small bathroom, acrobatics ensued. We eventually went to Sugamo saw the fox shrine (covered with cats) and ate Kaiten (conveyor belt) sushi. I had 12 individual dishes of sushi and only spent $12!!!! The American equivalent to what I ate would have cost at least $65. Michelle said Sugamo would be an elderly person’s Harajuku (trendy fashion district for people with butt loads of money). Every third place was a drug store and the sold sweaters everywhere, Michelle was right. Made plans and ate at McDonalds of all places in a mall back in Ikebukuro. Then Ian and I went back to Yokohama a little later than we planned because apparently line changes happen without warning. There was a color coded system that went with the signs and the map I got from Michelle. It worked everywhere else except for on the Orange line. We rode that in but…. On the way back we were supposed to instinctively know to ride the green and orange train on the blue line. Uh huh… We got back some 2hrs late and they said they got worried when we didn’t call. Now all that is squared off and we have a better system for finding each other.
Dec 30
We met Michelle later than expected at Tokyo City main station. It seems that adding breakfast into any equation involving time will throw off everything. We went to the Sony Building and took a few pics of it, Sapporo Lion, a Kabuki theater, and the silver surfer (no really it was a painted man outside of Toshiba Building waving people in… and giving me directions mime-style). I will upload pictures at some point promise, although it will take possibly a few weeks. We stumbled upon a Nodame music festival and took quite a few pics and a couple of vids. I think Michelle would be better at describing what happened there so Ill skip it for now. We hit up Akiba checking out a few stores with retro games, and we got a couple lungs full of smoke in the SEGA Club 7 floor arcade. This time we got home without much trouble but were still late since the concert at Nodame festival was longer than expected.
New Year ’s Eve
Got a chance to sleep in and took it. I didn’t start the day until almost 2pm. At 3, Die-san and her mother came by to practice speaking English. It was kinda slow since Die-san is extremely shy and I guess not very confident in her English. When they figured out I spoke some Japanese they quit doing things in English almost entirely. After that we went this same Internet Café/ comic shop near the station. Got on the train form here and attempted to meet Michelle in Harajuku to go to the Meiji shrine for New Years. We missed most of the Goth kids dressed up in their Sunday tourist picture attracting best. I changed into a yuukata for a while, but after an hour I got tired of losing feeling in my limbs since it was approaching 37 degrees. That coupled with the one guy who looked generally offended at my wearing summer attire to a shrine at New Years was enough to convince me to change in the bathroom again. [I think I’m getting really good at acrobatics]. After finally getting a connection to Shigeo-san’s cell phone, we got Michelle’s number and met with her group of friends. We got ripped off at a soba shop that charged 14 dollars for a bowl of soup, then we went to the big Meiji Shrine and waited in line for New Year’s. Just before 12, they attempted to play the national anthem of Japan, but the cd was scratched so we got the techno remix version. While most of the crowd was laughing their heads off, the koban (police) were looking nervous as if they knew the ink was already drying on their pink slips. Ian and I went out to eat with Michelle an her friends until 4am, then we split to ride the trains for 2hrs so it’d be closer to a respectable time to call for a ride from the station.
More stuff has been happening but I cant type fast enough o recount all the food I tried and liked, although I didn’t know the udon at the restaurant we went to had shrimp cooked the way I cant eat it. Found that out the next day when my throat was burning and sore.
Jan 1
Slept until 2pm when Ian, Shigeo-san, and Eiko-san returned. Chatted for a bit, but mostly finally watched some of this lovely stuff called Japanese tv.
I understood a few news reports about the plane highjacker from about 10 years ago recently passing away, global warming is bad cuz it kills penguins, and the weather is gonna be cold. After that, the comedy stuff came on. Almost all of it is some type of game ranging from 2 comedians being randomly assigned a driver so they can race (legally) around some town in Osaka/Kansai area doing all sorts of near impossible tasks. One driver (a lady who never drove before) nicked the Jaguar’s bumbers at least twice, then crashed it for real!! The other driver (a 65-year old man who has sight problems) was given an American SUV (read: steering wheel on left side of car) to drive through narrow, steep backroads. The entire time the comedians are giving them directions and encouragement. By encouragement I mean making fun of them any chance they can. I keep thinking to myself “How illegal would this be back home?!”
We waited until 4:30 because Die-san and her mother to arrive to speak English, but we found out shortly after 5 that she was only coming to drop off a cheesecake and moochi made from scratch (I think Ian started an Infinte Gift Cycle that he was warned not to do). We were told to call sometime and visit them at their house. Next, we went to kaiten sushi again. Still tasty = gonna go back again later some time. Tomo (Yoshi’s youngest sister/ Kaede & [what was that kids name]’s mother) and Masa (her truck driver/surfer husband) were in the house when we got back accompanied by Kaede and her little brother. Did the interpreter thing while Ian talked about New Orleans, mardi gras, blues, and artificial neural networks. …yea…. That was fun to explain even after Ian showed the picture of Terminator to clarify things. It was just like earlier that day when he explained that my family lives on the huge farm of Opelousas. I guess that’s what I get for leaving him to his own devices for too long.
All is good out here, though the only culture shock either of us would have is just how small the drink sizes are, seriously now 5 dollars for the kiddie cup of coffee!
Ok I guess that’s long enough for now.
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| I made it!!! |
[31 Dec 2006|12:50am] |
Ok I have reached the promised land after many stuggles and hard times. I just wanted to let ppl know that I am quite alive and well. Ive been in Tokyo/Yokohama since 5pm Thursday. Fun times all around, and I`m gettin a whole lot of practice with speaking and explaining things. Yea...Yoshi{s parents gratefully accepted both Ian and myself staying in their home until Jan 6, but neither of them speak much English. Conversations usually involve heavy dictionary/jishoo usage. It's working out ok so far though, I know a lot more functional Japanese than I thought I would. Anyway, lemme try to do this from the beginning. Basically covered the FedEx stuff in the last post, but now I hate the main staffed DHL place off siegen. I was supposed to pick up the damn form I was so desparately dependant on at 8am, giving me plenty time to get to NO Japanese consulate. The bastards wouldnt come up front for half an hour, but when they did at 8:30, they claimed electronic failure and said it would take 2hrs. After I got pissed and yelled enough I ended up gettin them to manually search through the envelopes first. I got the form at 810. made it upstairs to the conulate at 1015 ish but all was good, I rode around with family and ate lunch. I was dropped off at 2 to stay at the Redler home :-) had dinner with everyone there after spendin the day out in metarie with Hope.
Skipping ahead the plane ride was long and boring. I still dont like The Village or Lady in the Water (sorry if I offend you but I just dont). The Illusionist was good though. The rest of the movies not worth crap. I spent a lot of time explaining plans to Yoshi's parents after they picked me up at Narita.
Friday, Ian and I went to Saitama with suits and change of clothes in hand, meeting Michelle along the way in Shibuya. Ian's friend Mike (aka Takashi - caused a bit of confusion) got married in the traditional Buddhist style. It was really differnet and interesting to watch. I'm payin by the hour for net so i cant add details on that since its a post all its own.
After that we went to a cat infested (heh) fox shrine in Hasune. Went to Ikebukuro and hit up a few shops, I got some zori to go with the rest of the stuff for new years (yuukata/obi/tabi). I LOVE COVEYOR BELT SUSHI!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I had 1260 yen worth of sushi and was almost full (12 plates of nigiri) thats like saving $50 at any restaurant in BR. TAKE THAT KOTO'S!!! Got mega lost on the way back since color coding isnt really what works on the train lines. [how can the green and orange labeled train not ride on the orange or green line but instead the blue.] Got back to Yokohama at about 10pm tired as hell yet stayed up til 1 explaining what happened and appologizing a lot for bein so late (sposed to be there at 830ish). (Side note my version of jet lag has me tired enough to crash no matter what im doin by 12 midnight and wake up whether i want to or not at 8am sharp. I hate this new super power of normal person sleep cycle)
Saturday was all about Tokyo city, ginza, and akihabara. Quickly, Tokyo has lots of averagely tall buildings for businesses and such. It blurs into ginza, while being rather expensive all around. Sony no onger does the almighty floor of playstaion games for free play thing unless there are 2 Sony buildings in Tokyo. Akihabara is loud and cramped usually (compared to ginza at least). Lots of video games, movies, music, electronic everything, and PORN!!! hahahha But seriously there is lots of porn in there and there is no way around it. We happened upon a Nodame festival back in Tokyo/ginza and hung out there for a while both before and after goin to Akiba (short for Akihabara apparently). Was extremely late for our 9pm pickup in Yokohama (got in at 1040). Still feel bad about that and hope to not do it again.
Hopefully u dont mind the wierd train of that this piost was in and dont mind grammar/spelling errors. Out of time so no fixing gonna happen. Later......./
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| That;s right I made a post out of nowhere! |
[23 Dec 2006|04:21am] |
It sure has been a long and crazy semester. Lots of things went down (things like my gpa, but not by too much ;-p). Everything always seems to come to a head near the end though. My epic battles with organic [vomit inducing, hell bending, rapefest] chemistry turned into a victory with some rounding. I got out of the class with a C, which isn't the best but I made what I needed to insure my leave from the States. That is of course if the paperwork that I went through FedEx hell to get processed ever shows up.
( A side note on dumbasses, broken promises, and customs. )
The past two weeks have been jammed full of going away parties, end of the semester parties, and even a full-fledged water war. Every last one of them was fun, and I'm gonna miss all of y’all while I'm starting new adventures in the Land of the Rising Sun. I was told I got the camera I wanted for Christmas (although I don't recall ever picking one out), so there will be some pictures on here or my flickr account in the future to help detail the whole journey. I promise I'll figure out some way to post on a regular basis (at the very least once a week), but understand if I get caught up staring at shiny or pointy things. I only have like a week max to deal with the crazy assed mess that is my car. Then it can do whatever it wants, like experiment with spontaneously combustion for instance. No longer will I have the radiator shooting off the cap and hot antifreeze at my face trying to blind me, nor will the transmission stop the engine halfway through a turn at a yellow light, no longer will I be rained on with the windows up and the door closed, faulty seatbelt sensors be damned, and finally expensive repairs and lame excuses for failing inspections can all go to hell.
Only recently was I able to slow down and think about things like Christmas, packing up, and family. It took something that in no small way really hurt and shocked me into reorganizing a few of my priorities. I'm not really up to elaborating just now on what happened, but I really appreciate everything that everyone has done to help me the past few days whether you knew about it or not. Just know that I feel a lot better now, and I plan on hanging out with old friends now that I'm home. I’ve been busy, I always will be; it’s no excuse to lose touch with friends.
Life's all about the journey, right? If you're gonna get to the end of that trip no matter what you do, it can't hurt to take a few side trails to keep it from being too short of a trip.
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[29 May 2006|05:49am] |
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Ok found the password for this accnt only a year late.... Changed a few settings and uploaded a few pics. Now to figure out how to get anything else done.
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2manyasprin's journal
