Day 67 - One Piece!

I'm going to mention school simply because it happened today. Nothing really special there, though I did miss a class… Can't really do that anymore.

After school is the important part. Went to go see the One Piece art exhibit today! It was lovely, and beautiful, and exciting, and all I've been doing since I got home is reading and watching one piece. Yep. Unfortunately, since it's a museum / licensed works, I couldn't take any pictures. There was this video bit at the beginning that was almost 3D and made exciting use of the normally 2D comic panels.

There were a lot of people there, which made just walking around kind of a chore, but it was this amazing nostalgic trip, and I wouldn't have missed it, and don't regret going. The only really disappointing part was the gift shop. Wanted to see much more, but it appeared they really weren't prepared for so many guests. Oh well.

But yeah, came home pretty much right after and watched a few episodes of one piece. During dinner, I started watching a movie, and got to sit with Yuri and watch that together. Her favorite character is Zoro, and he was rather prominent in it. And that was it. That was my day today.

Day 66 - Getting Stuff Done

I think it's day 66? Once I get those other days in, it should be easier to know.

I'm so tired. Japan just does not let me rest. Today wasn't as busy as yesterday, or the past like, 5 days, but it was tiring enough. Classes started at almost 11, which is normal. And classes went normally for the most part. But I've just felt kinda icky for the past day and a half. Eating food is not a really fun decision right now. Also, I keep waking up with terrible leg cramps that don't go away for hours. Walking to school today was exquisite torment. And dance practice after school was worse. I guess we preform in a few weeks? Exciting but also an unexpected surprise. Oh well.

Hopefully I'll get those other posts up before the end of the night. Meanwhile, just for fun, here's a picture of the wallpaper inside the tower of terror in Disney Sea:

Edit: So, I didn't go as far back as Disney, but I did post about my recent trip to Kyoto area. If you're interested in reading, the fun starts back on Day 61.

Day 65 - I'm back!

I will upload previous posts. Later. I'm tired now. Still. Got back from Kyoto about 7 this morning, and still had to go to classes and such. I am here, and whole, and not dead yet. Haven't had time to rest though, really. I have class starting about 10 tomorrow, so either I'm going to sleep in or I might get to posting stuff from last week. For now, this is it. Sorry. Goodnight.

Day 64 - Last Day

Woke up and got going a little late this morning. Managed to find the bus stop, though seconds too late. Got back to Oosaka, but too late to catch the connecting train. Went anyway, and managed to talk with an attendant. We somehow managed to understand each other enough to get me and Tamarra on the next train. I was really nervous though, even when we got on the train, that they'd kick us off next station because it's all reserved seats. But they didn't. Whooooo!

Made it to Ise very early this morning. Thankfully, the good weather was holding. We first went to the outer shrine of Ise-Jingu, and spent some time there. I'm really in love with the Japanese style shrines and temples. All the woodwork is so detailed and intricate, even on the outsides of buildings.

Found our way to the Inner shrine next, and despite the misleading name, it's actually about 15 minutes away from the outer shrine, and not inside it. The grounds here were beautiful. We crossed this bridge to get in, and it seems they rebuilding the bridge, outer shrine main building, and inner shrine main buildings every 20 years. Unfortunately for us, this year is the one they're still building, and will actually reveal the new ones next year. Oh well. It was still a lovely sight. Started raining though, as we were leaving.

Caught a bus to out next destination, which was a good ways away. Found our way to the shore of Japan (first time seeing actual beach!), where there's the shrine to Izanami and Izanagi, the creator-sibling gods of Japan. Called Meotoiwa, the shrine represents the gods as a pair of rocks in the ocean, tied together with a rope. Sounds really podunk when I write it like that. It's actually very beautiful in person. Here:

After that we found some food in the aquarium shopping center nearby. Hadn't actually eating anything til that point, and it had been at least seven hours since we woke up. I was crabby. And did not want to eat crab. Haha. So we headed back to the station and off to Nara.

Oh Nara. We got there later than expected, of course. Stupid mix up with the trains. But Nara. It's known for it's great wealth of temples, being home to the largest wooden building in the world, which happens to house the largest bronze buddha statue in the world. Oh, and there's also the deer. Sooooo many deer. And even though they're wild, they're tame enough and used to humans enough that I walked right up to one and pet it. It was amazing.

The Todaiji, the wooden building with the buddha in it I mentioned was closed by the time we got there. Of course. Like everything… But I got a beautiful almost-sunset shot of it. All in all, it was lovely.

Then it was time to return home. Hopped a train to Kyoto, where we picked up the bus back to Tokyo. This bus was much nicer than the first one, though I will always feel too big for Japanese seats. And that's pretty much it. I did take a lot more photos than this, but don't really want to post all of them…

Day 63 - Lazy Busy Day

Started the day very late, not leaving until about ten. Went down the street and found a shop where I got strawberry and pear pancakes. Tasty, but Japanese pancakes tend to be too dense.

First actual stop was the pokecenter in Osaka station. Before we even got there though, we stood to marvel at the water sculpture thing first. Beautiful. Here's a link to a video, so you can see for yourself. That one even has different patterns than what I got to see. Anyway, at the Pokecenter, I got a little whale pokemon for myself. Don't know which one it is, but it's cute.

Next stop was Osaka castle. Which was gorgeous. We took it easy today, and I was feeling hella lazy anyway, so we didn't actually go into the castle. There was some sort of Korean fair going on in the park.  By it was hot. Oh well. They had an adorable giant bouncy castle shaped like a dinosaur.

Osaka castle itself was impressive and huge. And surrounded by multiple moats. Even the station had beautiful art. Japan always seems to have a little surprise around the corner.

Next stop, Shitennouji Shrine. It's more a group of shrines than just one. Lovely, windy, quiet. Stayed there for a while, just chilling out. There are so many pigeons in Japan. Got to watch them strut around the grounds. Pretentious little flying rats. Then headed to our next hotel.

By hotel, I mean Ryokan. This place... So pretty. Tatami mat floors, traditional Japanese meal, the whole nine yards. Also, an open air cedar tub. Soaked in there for hours. Still want to be soaking now. Oh well. Went to bed late, have to wake up early for our train to Ise in the morning. Actually missing out on traditional Japanese breakfast to go at 6:30.

Not that I really want another meal like that. It was, of course, gorgeous. But I'm realizing more and more that I cannot stand some Japanese food. Well, most Japanese food. :/ There's too many foods that are just jelly or pudding texture when they should be solid. Or creepy and pasty. Can't get used to the Japanese palate either. I'm just gonna have to eat cup noodles the rest of my time here.

Day 62 - First Full Day

Sooo today was exciting and exhausting. I'm lying on a hotel bed right now, my feet up against the wall, hoping I'll be able to continue tomorrow. Bus made another pit stop at about 4:30 this morning, and I didn't get much sleep after that.

We arrived at Kyoto main station this morning a little before 6:30, so the bus made good time at least. Then tamarra and I got to enjoy trying to navigate the station while most everything was closed. Because nothing opened until about seven. Purchased tickets to get us to Osaka tonight. Thought they were Shinkansen, but unfortunately were mistaken.

The main plan today was to first visit a castle, then museum, a few shrines, then head to Osaka. Whelp, we got to the castle, but it didn't open til almost 9. So we went to the museum. Didn't open til 10. So we finally got breakfast. Found a sweet little coffee shop, awesome atmosphere, delicious food. Then we tried finding our way to the first shrine, since it wasn't even 8 yet.

First shrine of the day was Kinkakuji shrine. It was packed. Soooooo many people. I took a bunch of pics. There was this giant blonde American woman there. She was huge. Not even kidding. My persecution might be distorted by being around all these shorter people all the time, but she literally looked like she could have straddled my shoulders with no effort.

Spent some time wandering. Got some really strong nostalgia in places. We left the shrine, fully expecting to go back to the castle, but convenience had other plans. Found a bus that would take us to Ginkakuji shrine instead.

Ginkakuji is the younger brother to Kinkakuji, Thea's were the builders of each. It's more arts focused, while Kinkakuji was a political move. Also, Kinkakuji is gold, and Ginkakuji is grey and wood-colored.

The reason I go to know so much about both places is that we ran into a small group of students from Kyoto International School, from their English Speakers Society club, who had taken it upon themselves as a club to go to local shrines and castles (there's a bunch in Kyoto) and act as guides to English speaking tourist to practice their skills. It's a really cool idea. A few of them were pretty good, and they were all really sweet. Got to learn a lot about the temple, and hopefully got to teach them good things about Americans, lol.

Finished that rather quicker than I expect, and it was finally back to the castle. Nijo castle. I had visited there 11 years ago, and the nostalgia really hit me hard. Took a bunch of pictures. My favorite is of a couple who had been recently married and were doing a photoshoot on the grounds.

Next stop was the Manga museum. A little bit of a disappointment. I had expected something more museumy, but this was basically an expensive manga library. And most of the manga was in Japanese. *shock* It wasn't what I expected, but it was nice to visit anyway. Unfortunately, I spent a little too long reading interesting english manga, and we headed out late to the next stop. Inari shrine.

The shrine was one of Tamarra's big interest spots. However, because we headed out so late, everyone was pretty much packing up by the time we got there. We managed to find a man selling some stuff, and on little stall was open selling the good luck charms. Really glad. Took a lot of pictures here, too. You might not recognize the name Inari right away, but the toori gates are quite distinctive. Unfortunately, what comes hand in hand with all that wonderful nature is mosquitos, and they were out in full force tonight.

Anyway, got back to Kyoto station, all ready to take out shinkansen to Osaka. Unfortunately, it turns out they were just normal train tickets. Even though they were sold at a shinkansen ticket booth. It was very upsetting. We were able to get over it though, and when we got to Osaka, took a taxi to the hotel. I know I wouldn't have been able to walk even the 15 minutes it was supposed to take. Tired. Finally got Tamarra to watch an episode of Sherlock with me. She doesn't like Sherlock much, but I think she likes the series. Anyway, bed time.

Day 61 - I'm on a bus

So, today was rather plain. Went to school. Late. Late enough i should have just waited and gone to the second class. :/ Managed to stay awake in my lit class again. I swear, that guys voice is like a sweet sweet lullaby I cannot resist. I can only make it through with the use of a strong energy drink.

Oh yeah, and I'm on a bus. :3 had dinner with Tamarra and her host parents at a cute Italian place. Stopped back at mine so I could saw goodbye again and drop off my school stuff, then onto the bus at 10:30. This is actually not too bad. A little small, but there's plenty of leg room and it's quiet. The nice part is when they started pumping lilac trough the ac. Speaking of, if you're ever inclined to take a night bus in Japan, remember a jacket. They really crank that ac, so it gets kinda chilly.

We're currently at a pit stop or maybe in one of the stops along the way. But not moving, so I woke up. It's 1:30 now. So about the time I normally go to sleep anyway. Hope I'll be able to sleep more before we get to Kyoto.

Day 60 - The Big Reveal

I'm going to Kyoto! Yep, that's it! That's what I've been hinting at for the past few days. This weekend, Tamarra and I are taking a night bus to Kyoto, heading over to Osaka, back towards Nara, and finally to Ise before traveling back by bus to go to school Tuesday morning. It is going to be a very busy weekend, but I'm super excited. So much that I just kinda wanna skip all my classes tomorrow and go early. But that's not gonna happen. School first. Or whatever.

Speaking of school, today was rather ordinary. After missing all the classes same time last week, I actually missed out on surprisingly little. Econ and a Japanese class later, I feel like I could do this every week… If I had the money to go to Disney every week. And I promise I'll go back and post more about that. Eventually.

I had expected to head straight home after school, but surprise, we actually took a trip to Nakano, the quieter, slightly shadier version of akihabara, the geek capital of tokyo. Basically an enormous shopping mall, it was filled with shops hocking all sorts of different and exciting anime, manga, game, and other popular culture goods. Got myself an adorable little kitty key chain thing from a ball machine. It's called "gacha gacha" here, or something like that. But it's cute, and makes me happy. Also, have a tiny star wars lego ship thing now.

Went to a little pizza/bar place. Spent a lot of money. Nakano is expensive. But got to try a bunch of different and weird cocktails. I think my favorite was something called a Malibu Dance. It's kinda hard to tell when it's all in Katakana. But Kenna managed to order a bloody mary just fine. And I had this one that was amaretto flavored. Forget what it's called, but it tasted like sweet almond cakes, with liqueur, of course.

But yeah. I came home, sat and chatted with the host mother for a while. Reminded her I wouldn't be home for dinner tomorrow. Packed, and here I am. Sitting, typing, excited about tomorrow, but not wanting to do school at all.

Oh, since I'll be traveling, I most likely won't have access to the internets while I'm away. That means no blog posts. If you only check my blog once a week or whatever, you probably won't notice since I'll be writing them and will upload and backdate them when I have internets again. So yeah. Don't worry, but I won't be back until tuesday. Til then, bye!

Day 59 - Pause for a movie

Today was lovely. Class, as usual. Kinda blows. Oh well. But dance practice was cancelled today. Instead, I hung around campus until 6, kidnapped another friend, and took an adventure. To shinagawa. I guess I've been there before, as a transfer point on an earlier trip, but this was my first time out and about the station. Lovely at night.

Walkway to the theater. Coincidentally, there's an aquarium in the same building.

The reason for the trip, of course, was to go to the theater. Lets talk about that for a moment, yeah? Theaters in Japan are crazy expensive. Typically, they run about 1800yen per person. In american dollars, that's about $22.50. Yeah. Students have it a little better off at 1500yen($15), and Wednesdays are special, women only pay 1000yen. Which is still about $12.50. Ouch. That's like, brand-new, IMAX 3D movies back home. Crazy.

But we went and watched Dark Shadows. Feel like I kinda should have watched a Japanese film, being in Japan and all, but I wouldn't have been able to understand that anyway… Not that I understood this one much either. Weird, campy, and probably a little too much a throwback to the earlier series and films to make much sense to those of us who haven't seen them. But it was fun, a good excursion. Haven't seen a movie in theaters for a while, and it's a good excuse to hang out with friends. Also, got to see the trailers for Hobbit and Batman, both of which were very exciting. Might see a few more expensive movies while I'm here. But seriously Japan, for three people to go see a movie, it's way better price to just buy three different movies to watch. Or rent. There's 100yen rental places here. Movie theaters are unfortunately becoming obsolete.

Also, it's kinda strange for a minute or two coming out of the theater, because it's all been in english, surrounded by english, so I kinda forgot I was in Japan. But then I was surrounded by it again. Kind of a mini culture shock moment.

Day 58 - Super short. Sorry…

I was totally gonna spend any extra time today editing old blog posts from last week. But I ended up spending a lot of time drawing instead. Whoops. Today was almost entirely uneventful. Oh! But I managed to stay awake all the way through that Literature and Art class. That's an achievement. I definitely could have spent my free time today in a better way. Oh well. Tomorrow I'm going to a movie, thursday is gonna be pretty dull, but friday… Will be the beginning of an impressively great adventure.

Day 57 - Eclipse!

So today was… a trial. And lovely. And exhausting. I woke up super early to view the eclipse. In Japanese, eclipse is Nisshoku (日食), which literally is closer to "eating sun", and is either the sun is eating the moon, or the other way around, I forget… But I thought that was really cool. I could actually see it really well from my room, so I stuck in here, was comfortable, and tried snapping a few pics. They did not turn out well. But it was an amazing experience. Since the next eclipse in Japan isn't until 2030, in Hokkaido, it may have even been a once in a lifetime event for me. Though, that would make an amazing excuse for a return.

Was supposed to go to my second and final Taiko class today. Was a little late getting out, but only arrive maybe 5 minutes late. However, when we, as a group, finally got to the building where the lesson was held, the teacher wasn't there. Just… gone? It's actually on the roof of an apartment. The door was unlocked, and other doors were open, but there was no one in the building. It was kinda surreal. So we left. Will reschedule for sometime in June.

Went to the library with Tamarra. There are no private room on campus, anywhere, where a small group of say 2-5 people can sit in quiet and work together. Closest we got was a room with 8 desks that sat 3 each. It was loud, and obnoxious. Still, Tamarra got a lot of work done (I think), and I had an excuse to sit on my ass and read webcomics all day. Many of which I am still reading. Hope I sleep tonight…

Sorry for the really short updates lately. I've been really busy, which would normally mean lots of interesting things to write about. Unfortunately, I've been too busy, and haven't even had time to write them. I plan on making it up before this weekend, because I know after that, I'll never be able to. So yeah… Sorry. It'll get better soon, I hope.

edit: At the time of this posting, I had exactly 1000 views on my blog. Makes me feel super special. Thanks for all the views!

Day 56 - Not really a post

Realized how late its gotten and I havent made a post yet. Will update tomorrow. Too tired today. This is mainly filler so I don't break the chain. Sorry.

Day 55 - So short… Better soon, I promise

Sorry for all the copping out I'm doing, but tomorrow's gonna be another long day for me, and today was long enough. Went with Tamarra to the Tokyo Edo museum. Which was lovely. Then got to go to a sumo match, of which I recorded a lot. I will post stuff online eventually, I promise. For now, just know it was amazing and there's more info to come. Good night, more tomorrow.

Day 54 - Short again

Sorry for the stream of short posts. I'm still exhausted from yesterday. Feel asleep in class despite drinking a Monster energy drink. Sore still, pretty much everywhere. But tomorrow should be fun. And I will find time this weekend to post pics and stuff online. Today itself was rather plain. Oh, other than the terrifying earthquake. I was in the middle of class, on the 7th floor, and there was a magnitude 4 earthquake nearby. I swear the ground jumped a foot. It was short, but violent enough to get my heart beating out of my chest. I've decided I don't want to be above the 2nd floor of any building in an earthquake any more. That was no fun. Directly related to that, Tamarra and I went out for drinks for a short while after. I felt much better. Ok, gotta go to sleep, tomorrow should be long, too…

Day 53 - Short. For now.

My feet hurt. I managed to make it home without falling asleep on the train. I am extraordinarily tired. And extremely pleased. Took more than 200 pictures today. And will update this post as soon as I can. This weekend is packed and tomorrow is gonna be a long day as well. Anyway, the thing I take away from today is, Japan is kind of wonderful when you can forget that it's Japan, and just do something that you like.

Day 52 - In anticipation of better days (tomorrow)

This one's gonna be short, I have a long day planned for tomorrow. Today was as ordinary as you get for Japan. No earthquakes or anything, fortunately. Found out that Mama's washer ate one of my shirts a little. After I wore it and got to school. I am not happy. Well, that's one less thing I'll have to pack and take home, I guess…

Classes today were the usual fare. I wondered today if you have to have a minimum grade to graduate at UofO? I can't drop my Japanese classes, but am not really getting anything from some of them and kinda just don't want to go… I'll probably keep going, but fantasize about not being there. Might even sleep in them…

Looks like I'm really doing this Nihon-Buyo dance thing. I've been hesitant towards it for a while, mostly because I feel awkward being the huge foreigner in a room full of tiny, graceful Japanese people, pretending to be one of them… But I'll carry on. I know the dance now anyway, might as well stick with it and perfect it. Or I could give up now and be satisfied in knowing I learned it… No, must push myself to continue interacting with Japanese people, rather than just english-speakers… But it's so hard. :(

Like I wrote earlier, tomorrow's gonna be busy. Got lotsa plans. Won't post til late again. Sorry for being all mysterious and junk, but it's more fun for me this way, and I'll be able to write more tomorrow. So yeah, good night.

Day 51 - I don't know if I'm gonna bother naming posts anymore…

I think I've realized what bugs me the most about Japan. It's my lack of control in almost everything. At my homestay house, I have almost no say in what I get to eat. Mama simply makes food and I have to eat everything or I'm "selfish". I've told her I don't like some foods, but apparently it's selfish to not eat everything in front of you. I have to spend most of my time with the family or I'm "selfish". There are many rules around the house that I'm not used to, and there is no sway here, it's either do it, or I'm a bad person. Which sucks. I have to worry about offending them because I have to stay here. It's incredibly inconvenient to move in the middle, and I'd have to get to another, different situation. I can't choose when I get to be alone, if at all, especially at the school. Don't get me wrong, most of the time I love it here, and enjoy spending time with the family, learning new things, trying new foods, but there are bad days, too.

I don't really feel like typing much else today. I did take a couple pictures today though. First is a tiny shrine that I walk by almost every day on the way to school. It's adorable. And I have no idea what it's for. Felt really conspicuous taking the picture. Still not sure on the Japanese stance on taking pictures of religious sites. I feel like it should be okay, but am not sure… The other pic is of Big Box, the main landmark of Takadanobaba, the station I stop at to get to school. It's enormous, and honestly, a big box. There's all sorts of clothing stores inside, but also a Karaoke parlor, and an entire floor devoted to an arcade. Quite a lot of fun to just explore inside.

The other two are what I had for dinner today. The first is a very Japanese lunchbox. I found that I liked pretty much everything in it. Especially the egg, it was sweet, and very tasty. The one thing I just can't get used to is this thing called Konyaku. It's a gelatin thing made from some sort of vegetable, that kind of greyish thing on the leaf on the bottom right. It's typically a light grey with black flecks in it. Apparently it's very good for you, but I hear that about pretty much all Japanese food. It has no flavor, and is just really chewy, and I can't eat more than a little bit. But I guess it has almost no calories, so women like to eat it when they're dieting? I don't understand eating something just to eat, especially if there's no flavor… The other is a soup Mama made. She's on this kind of soup kick. But this is just weird. Egg and chive? There was no other flavor. Yeah… I don't really know what else to say. Drinking egg is weird. Can't really do it. :/

Day 50 - Drumming up some fun

I've reached day 50 in Japan, exactly two weeks until the half way point. Today was an exciting new adventure. I signed up for classes through Marie to try out Taiko drumming! If you haven't seen it before, here's an example of something similar to what I learned to day on Youtube. There's honestly a bunch of really good videos on youtube, this one is one of my favorites. They just put so much movement and emotion into it! Learning was really fun, but also really exhausting. After practicing for only two hours, both of my arms hurt all the way down to my fingertips. But I did get to learn the main drum patterns for the Bon-Odori, which is a song and dance done during the Obon festival in late July. If you wanna read up on that, here's a wikipedia page, it's pretty cool, but I don't wanna waste a bunch of space explaining it. I also got to learn a little bit of the dance. Hopefully I'll be able to at least go to an Obon festival while I'm here.

I also got tickets from Marie to go to a Sumo match in a week or two. Haven't actually looked at the date… It's the 19th, so this Saturday. Awesome. There's also supposed to be a big festival that happens this weekend as well. Called the Sanja Matsuri (wiki), it takes place in Asakusa, which isn't too far away. It's supposed to be one of the biggest Shinto festivals in all of Japan. I really hope I'll be able to go. That makes this coming weekend really busy, including more Taiko lessons next monday, and the eclipse!

The rest of my day was fairly ordinary. After taiko, had lunch, then came back here to do a bunch of laundry and clean my room for the first time in a while. Bought some little air fresheners for my clothes drawers. For some reason, whatever wood the drawers are made out of stinks terribly. Oh! I also got my birthday gift from my parents today! An adorable 11th doctor toy set and a shirt with van Gogh's Tardis from the "The Pandorica Opens" episode of series five. Love it. Also, sorry for the pun in the title, but I just couldn't resist.

Day 49 - My and Mother's day

Today was lovely... And my birthday. To celebrate, I decided to drag my two friends here in Japan to a magical place called Sanrio Puroland. If you wanna look into that, some info is here. Pretty much, it's a theme park dedicated to Hello Kitty and her friends. Fortunately, One Piece and especially Chopper are so popular in Japan right now, that it means one of Kitty's friends is Chopper, thus there was a lot of One Piece themed food, toys, and best of all, a 3D One Piece ride. YEAH! It was awesome! I wish I could Have taken pics of that. The 3D makes photographs rather unfortunate though.

Took a lot of pics of weird Hello Kitty things, and got to enjoy a special Hello Kitty cake you can only get on your birthday. And a bunch of little "happy birthday" things that they give you. I go to wear a special name tag, and staff would stop me to put stickers on it.

Since today was also mothers day, I decided I wanted to get a gift for my host mother. It's a type of tradition in Japan to get mothers carnations, so I got her a red one, and a small box of snacks from a local fancy french bakery. I got home early, and was the only one here, when a past homestay of hers dropped by. Ki-san was here many years ago, and I guess genuinely came to feel like family, and since he lives in Japan now, wanted to thank her with a gift. She was really happy to receive them.

It's unfortunate I couldn't be home for today. It feels really different celebrating away from home. I mostly thought of my own mother today and regret, just a little bit, not being home to celebrate with her. I keep reminding myself that this is for Japan though, and she understands me not being there.

Day 48 - And one more day

So, today was great. Got to have curry at takadanobaba with friends. Hung out with people for a good long while. Oh, and went to the Ghibli museum! Yeah, that's right. It was awesome! There was so much detail and thought put into every little thing, it was like Disney set the whole thing up. The building itself had the same kind of organic feel that most of the sets do in the movies. Many of the windows had stained glass in them with characters from the movies. It was beautiful. Unfortunately, since it's a museum, I wasn't allowed to take pictures. But I think taking pictures would kind of ruin it. There's so much movement and magic to many of the pieces that a still picture could never show it right. And it kind of helps to maintain the mystique of the place as well. I did manage to snap a few of the outside, and you'll see those soon. For now, I'm eagerly awaiting tomorrow and will post more probably monday. 'Til then, bye!

Day 47 - Thoughts on Japan

My day today was rather ordinary, so I'm gonna write about some other stuff today. I've realized there's always something new to learn about Japan. Or at least the few places I go in Tokyo. First of all, it's almost impossible to find somewhere to be alone, especially on campus. On the Oregon campus, it's easy to find one place or another in almost any building where no one's around, so it's quiet, and there's a comfy chair, and you can just sit and read or maybe take a nap. There is no such place here. No matter where I go, I'm surrounded by people. I thought I found a good place on a window seat near the stairs, but a campus security guy came and told me I couldn't sit there. I tried the library, but they only have massive group tables, no chairs alone to sit. No comfy sofas. I tried three or four different buildings, checked all the floors, and was either shooed away, or surrounded by curious Japanese people who can't quite talk quietly about, or stop staring at, the strange foreigner. It was kinda upsetting.

The other upsetting thing is the Japanese lack of the concept of personal space. I understand it on the trains. If you're gonna be pressed up against your neighbor everyday to get to work, you kinda got to get used to it, whether you like it or not. But the teachers and teacher aids here don't really understand that I don't like to be four inches from their face. They get so close in when correcting or looking at your papers. Or stand right in front of you when you're trying to figure something out. And stand right up against you when riding escalator or scaling stairs. It's just a little disconcerting.

On the other hand, there's lots of cool interesting things to learn, too. Like the fact that Takadanobaba, the city of the station I take to get to school, was the home of Osamu Tezuka, the writer for Astro Boy. Not only that, but the song they play when people board the trains is the theme from Astro Boy.

Another interesting train station fact: the station that I arrive at when coming back is called Meidaimae (明大前, meaning something like "infront of a large light") now, but was originally called Kayakuko (火薬庫), which means "gunpowder warehouse". Not a pleasant name for a residential district. It's actually from the Edo period, and was changed in 1935 to reflect the name of Meiji University instead. It was actually used as a major warehouse for gunpowder for the shogunate in the Edo era. I thought it was really interesting.

Welp, tomorrow is probably gonna be a long day, I'm going to sleep.

Day 46 - Hey, still in Japan

Sooo, today wasn't what I had expected. I made plans, but they didn't go through. Oh well. There's always next week.

The weather this morning was lovely. Sunny but a little overcast, and warm but not hot. It did end up raining about the time I went home, but was nice otherwise. Only had two classes today, Econ and an Activities Japanese class. I had a few hours to read Harry Potter between classes though. Read a whole three pages. I don't think I'm gonna finish before I get home…

Nothing really remarkable about today, other than the fact it's another day in Japan. Friday will probably be about the same, but I have high hopes for saturday. I'm starting to think I should make plans for after school on days like today, because all I ended up doing until dinner was watch television. :/ I'll figure something out.

I will take this time to mention the fact that I smell like Japan now. My hair has a distinct Tokyo scent to it (thanks, pollution), and all the fishy Japanese food I'm eating makes me smell fishy in general. It is not pleasant. I scrubbed really hard in the shower today, but I think it's still there… Ugh.

Day 45 - Just another day in Japan

I don't actually remember much of what I did today. Class. Had lunch with Colleen. Currrrrrrryy. Love that place. More class. Then dance with Tamarra. Well, I danced, she watched. She's still pretty sick. The dance is simple enough but also takes a lot of precision. I think it's gonna be really fun.

Had dinner with Tamarra at an italian place called Saizeria. It's nice, but pretty Japan-ized. Got rained on on the walk back. Apparently the weather's gonna be pretty bad for the next few days. That may actually be a good thing for tomorrow. Bought a poncho and tiny umbrella in preparation, but I think I'm still gonna end up soaked. Going to bed early, tomorrow's gonna be a long day.

I kinda feel like I should write more, my posts recently have been pretty short… Oh well. Maybe next time.

Day 44 - A boon. Well, Laboon.

Soooo today was another lovely day. It was freakin' HOT outside, and it's only gonna get hotter the longer I stay, but I was kinda melting. On the plus side, there was also a breeze again, which made the weather seem much nice. Tomorrow it's supposed to be awful and rainy, so I'm appreciating today.

Was gonna meet with Tamarra to trade off some items. She has my camera card, I have her sweater. Never ended up meeting, she was too sick to come to school today. I feel really bad for giving her that cold now… I just hope she's all better before thursday.

I've decided that I just really hate cyclists. Yep. I almost got run over by at least three today, and I was on the sidewalk, on the correct side and everything. Tokyo was not built to accommodate them, so they just ride on the sidewalk, willy-nilly. It's awful. Every time I see one now, I get mad. They're not even considerate. Barely any have bells. They just make me so mad. ): This rant sounded way better in my head this afternoon. I've kinda lost my anger by now, so it lacks any real passion.

Went to Kenna's homestay house this afternoon! She was keeping something for me prisoner until I came over, so I had to. ALSO, SHE HAS A CAT. Well, two. I kinda miss having them around. The cats were adorable. One of them was only 2 years old, so she was acting like a kitten still. Vocal, but not as annoying as Nasu. The other was much older, and had a tiny tail. A little grumpy, but still willing to get a good scratch from me. That really made my day.

Got to have dinner with Kenna's host family. It's sooooooo different. I wanna trade. Her family is so lively and nice! Kinda a lot like Kenna herself. Hmm… Welp, it was lovely. We had a dinner whose name I can't recall, but was interesting and fishy and I ate my first recognizable Daikon. Which had pretty much no flavor. But nice/interesting texture.

Hung out with Kenna for a good long time. Started watching Maruko-chan, a kid's show that's been going for forever here, but I somehow have never heard of it. It's cute, and seems like it would be good for refining cultural and basic language skills. Also started watching this show called Mononoke. I thought it was the Ghibli film when I saw the title, but it's completely different. Also, really, really engaging while being confusing at the same time.

Oh, and Kenna's hostage? A Laboon plushie! Yeah, she found one! I AM SO HAPPY! Sorry for the shit picture, had to take it with my webcam…

HE'S SO GLAD TO SEE YOU

Day 43 - Short, but sweet

Today has been a rather nice day so far. Woke up far later than I'd intended, but that's fine since it's still break for me, at least. Got up, got dressed and went to campus so I could chat with Marie and pull out some money from the only place I know for sure I can get it - 7-11. The weather was lovely, hot, but windy, and I felt great. Bought a snack at a local supermarket, then went to the park on campus to eat. I think that may become one of my favorite places. Then walked back here. I got back way early, like 4:30, so I watched Criminal Minds until the family got home. That wasn't until after 8, so I managed to get caught up to almost the end of last season. Had dinner with the fam, and am back upstairs, finishing up an episode. I plan on starting tomorrow out early, and enjoying that as well. I should have more to talk about tomorrow, but for now, criminal minds is calling. Ttfn.

Day 42 - Because I should probably actually write a post today

I hadn't realized it had gotten so late. Welp, maybe I shouldn't leave homework til the last moment next time… nah, still gonna do it. But I've been doing homework since 11, and I'm still not done. Thankfully, what I need to finish is due tuesday and friday.

Today was a rather nice day. Dragged Tamarra out of bed to go with me to the Aquarium at Sunshine City, a shopping center/mall/thing in Ikebukuro. Didn't really expect there to be an aquarium at the top of a shopping mall, but there you are. We actually stopped at the Ancient Orient museum first, also at Sunshine City. So much to do! It was lovely, if small. Didn't expect much, and it was free because of the museum Grutt pass Marie-san helped us get.

Next stop was the aquarium(suizokukan 水族館 in Japanese!). Now, this was really interesting, because a lot of the aquarium was out in the open on the roof of the building (6th floor), so the seals, penguins, pelicans, and other various animals were free to enjoy the open air. Lovely for them, but that unfortunately meant that when it started thundering and pouring, there wasn't much cover while still being able to see those animals. We headed to the aquarium cafe to see what kind of themed treats were available. … There was seasalt ice cream. Yeah. Anyone who knows Kingdom Hearts knows what I'm talking about. It was tasty, if a little sweeter than I expected, and hit me with a nostalgia battering ram.

There was a lot of aquarium inside, too. Got to see all the lovely and strange Japanese fishes. And other fishes. Didn't discriminate. Well, maybe a little against the sunfish. That guy was ugly. But saw a bunch of different jellyfish and cuttlefish, and I might have another idea for a tattoo… I unfortunately don't have my camera card, left it with Tamarra, so I can't post pics today, but I will have some to share eventually.

We also went to the highest part of Sunshine City, 60 floors up, the Observatory. A 360 degree panoramic view of the city. The rain partially obscured the view for a while, but it worked out. Got some lovely pictures of the Tokyo Sky Tree, and waaaaay off in the distance, Mt Fuji. Hung out there awhile, and then stopped in Tokyu Hands next door, before dinner. Tokyu Hands is an interesting place, too. Basically like an expensive walmart, or home store mixed with hobby and toy stores. If there's something you want, you can likely find it at Tokyu Hands. I actually got my first birthday gift this year! A little kitty coin bank, (if you wanna see it in action, there's a video here.). I"M SO HAPPY!

Dinner at Dennys again. Had spaghetti for the first time in what feels like forever, and it was delicious. Then headed home to work on homework. I'll try to get my camera card back soon, and post those pics.

Day 41 - Another day in

It feels strange doing this another time today. I edited/updated my post from yesterday, so check it out if you haven't yet.

Today was rather plain. I had a day in, spent a lot of time just chatting with the host family and watching tv. We watched a book-to-tv drama about people that meet on a train. It was all nice and mellow. I tried to sit and translate harry potter downstairs with them, but only got about two sentences in, kept getting caught up in other conversation. So yeah, haven't actually seen Harry as a character yet, still…

Started a load of laundry, and will hopefully have some plans for tomorrow, if everyone's feeling well Unfortunately, it seems I may have passed on my cold…

Day 40 - Really this time, I counted…

So, turns out that I am terrible at actually keeping up with my own plan. I counted double days twice, on like, the 24th, and the 30th days, so I went back and fixed that. Whoops. (≥_≤)

Alright! So time to relate what all happened yesterday. I'm finally mostly over my cold, and with perfect timing. Today we went to Tama Zoo. Tama is mainly famous for their breeding of endangered animals, especially recently the baby Koala they have. I went with Tamarra and Kenna to meet up with some other OUS peoples. By the time we got there though, the weather had taken a turn for the worst. Thunder, lightening, and pouring rain. I definitely didn't wear the right shoes. But we decided to stick through it. And the weather cleared up near the end. The best part was that it was free because of Golden Week/Childrens day, but the weather drove many of the patrons out of the park. Not too many crowds. I took a bajillion pictures. Well, about 80… But unfortunately, I don't have a lot of space on my flickr/patience to upload them all, so I'm not gonna. You get to have some of the best though…

The little guy would not stop moving

A wet, but very happy Tanuki

I'd never seen a tanuki in real life before coming to Japan, and glad I finally got to see them. There's so cute! Kind of like badgers, but a little more stout. They seemed to be enjoying the rain, unlike many of the other animals. The giraffes and zebra seemed to be having the worst time of it. Though, the tigers seemed to be rather testy as well. After spending most of the day at Tama, we decided to head out and get some american food. Well, kinda. We went to the Outback in Shibuya. Enjoyed having some appetizers and salad, and whatever. The went to the Disney store to do a little more shopping.

The next part of the evening was rather disappointing. We decided to meet up with some other people, and try to find this themed bar called what we thought was just "Alcatraz". Well, we wandered for at least an hour in Shibuya, making stilted conversation with people we barely knew, in the rain, trying to find a bar I knew nothing about. Never found it. We ended up going to an Irish pub called The Dubliners or something like that, and paid an absurd amount of money for very little booze. I got a small glass of coconut pineapple, it cost 800 yen. Ouch. So that was not fun.

The worst part was it reaching almost midnight, and me realizing that I probably wouldn't be able to catch my last train. I was terrified for a little while there. Fortunately, it seems the one in Shibuya runs at least until 1am, so I made it home. Less could be said for one of my friends, who ended up having to take a taxi from one of the stations and spend around 6000 yen. Reallly don't wanna miss a train here.

Got back, and checked online. Turns out the bar we were looking for is actually called Alcatraz ER, and it's like, a jail/hospital theme bar? It's also dreadfully expensive. I barely spent money this week, but I don't think I saved enough to blow 3000 yen on a themed bar. Maybe next time, if I keep better track of expenses. And, I actually know where it is this time, too. So yeah.

Day 39 - More sleep

I'm sure it's really exciting to read about me sleeping, sorry. I feel mostly better today, so I'm actually making plans for tomorrow. There should definitely be pics then. Well, hopefully definitely. Since I've been bedridden so much, I finally succumbed and started playing DrawSomething on my ipod. My username's kscooba if anyone wants to play. Aaaand that's it. Talk more tomorrow.

Day 38 - Sleep day

Um, yeah today wasnt interesting either. Sorry guys. I still have my cold, and had no incentive to leave my room today. Mama made me come down and eat breakfast, so I did, then I went back to my room and slept. I got up, took a shower, and felt better for a little while, then went back to sleep. Then went down for dinner on my own (I have no idea where everyone went. Sooo alone. :/) then came back upstairs to sleep some more.

I discovered how very difficult it is to read Japanese when I'm sick. The directions for my microwave dinner was mostly in kanji, so that has kinda hard. I also talk to myself a lot when I'm sick. Not a new revelation, but when I tried it in Japanese, it didn't seem so bad. Starting to appreciate that I got this cold now, rather than later. Can't imagine trying to go to school with this amount of brain-drain. Going to sleep now.

Day 37 - Tattoos! jk.

Hopefully this is the worst day of this cold. Because I'm done with this. So done. I finally decided to get out of the house today, because I think I'm getting bed sores from sitting on my ass all day. Also, I just didn't wanna be stuck inside for all of Golden Week. Tamarra and I decided it would be a good day to visit the Tattoo Museum in Yokohama. Welp, it turned out that it's closed today. Might have been becasue it's golden week, we might have gotten there too early, whatever, it wasn't open. I was severely disappointed, as well as a little dizzy from my cold.

So we headed back. Spent an hour and about 9 bucks each way, but I was so tired. We met to hang out with Kenna, but you know what? I have too much of a cold to be any fun. We found me some tasty american food, and sent me home. So I came back, and laid down, and fell asleep until a short while ago. And then spent the rest of the time watching Minecraft, Kids React, and Jenna Marbles videos on youtube. That's my life. I'm tired, so I'mma go to sleep. Good night.