Shinkansen

Mom and I decided to go to Kyoto on Friday morning. I woke up bright and early at 4 am in order to catch the train. I ate a quick breakfast and headed down to the station. The first train from Shimotakaido is at 4:40am headed towards Shinjuku. I arrived a little after 5 (my quickest trip ever.) Mom was waiting for me and we headed out immediately when I arrived. By the time we got to the Shinkansen platform, our train was getting ready to leave. I lamented in the fact that I could not buy my Friday Famitsu as the magazine stands were not yet open.

The train ride was beautiful but we had to sit in the middle two seats. It sucked for the middle part because we could not sit by the window and look out. All well.

When we arrived in Kyoto the first thing I noticed was the rain. It was raining hard and was not about to stop anytime soon. Noticing this I made a crucial error that quickly hampered our first day adventures. Instead of finding the maps and guidebooks to Kyoto, we set out in search of cheap umbrellas. We found the 100 yen shop and picked two up. Next we hopped on a bus towards Ginkaku-ji (Silver Pavilion.)

The gardens around the pavilion were absolutely gorgeous. I took loads of pictures (which I have been failing to upload) and enjoyed every minute of it. The temple itself looked very run down and in need of repair. It was never actually plated in silver for some reason, so it is just a big temple sitting in the middle of a garden. A little ways up the mountain would have shown a great view of Kyoto, but again the rain prevented that.

After the temple I had no idea where to go. Without a map, we set off down the Philosopher's Trail. We found a cool wind chime shop among others. We only made it halfway down the trail before turning down towards the main street in search of food. The food shops never came.

We did manage to find a map explaining how to get to various places around Kyoto. Following this, we hopped on a bus that was supposed to go to the Imperial Palace. After about half on hour on the bus, we arrived at kinkaku-ji (Gold Pavilion). I don't know where the palace got off to, but I decided that it was time to get off the bus. The gold pavilion itself was completely destroyed after the war and re-built with every detail perfectly intact. The pavilion was also completely covered in a gold layer (only the top floor was covered in gold before) which fulfilled the original intentions of the builder. The temple itself was beautiful, but the surrounding area had something to be desired. The paths all revolved around the main temple. During our time here, some of the locals approached me and we talked for a while.

Back at the bus stop I asked a couple if there were any other temples or things around the area. They said there was not, so we hopped a bus back to the train station. I realize that I really hate buses. They are never on time and take forever to get anywhere.

First of all at the train station I got a map of Kyoto, the train routes, and the bus routes. I then located the Ryokan (hotel) that I reserved a room at and we headed out. The Ryokan was owned by an old man and only had a couple of rooms. It was dirt cheap, provided a nice 9 tatami mat room, yukata's, futons, and all the amenities of home. We were finally able to drop off all our stuff and go out for a nice dinner.

It was still raining. I wanted to eat Yaki-niku or some type of Shabu Shabu, but not being able to find any places nearby, settled for Okonomiyaki and Yaki-soba. The place I selected was a little hole in the wall shop on the 3rd floor of a random building. The owner was really nice. Mom liked all of the food.

Back at our room, I planned out a route for the next day in Kyoto and proceeded to crash hard on the futon. I don't remember the futon being that uncomfortable before... But at least I slept until almost 8am. We checked out and hit up a convenience store for breakfast. Yay for melon bread and milk!

This day was much much better than the last. I was beginning to get pissed off at Kyoto for being so inconvinient, but Saturday totally made up for it. The rain stopped and we were able to walk all around Kyoto. We visited some nice temples right nearby the Ryokan before heading up to Nijo to see the palace. We took a train this time which was much faster than the bus. At Nijo we got to look outside at the moat and walls, but that was about it. The place was closed for new years already and would not let anybody inside. We then walked a kilometer or so to the Imperial palace and found out that it was closed as well. However, we were still able to visit the gardens and walk up and down various tree lined paths. That in itself was worth going to see. Not wanting to go far for food, I settled on a Thai buffet right near the subway entrance. The food was alright, but I have had better.

Back at the train station we met up with Steve, who was there with his host family for New Years. I wanted to go to Hiroshima and visit the museum, but found out that it was also closed. I decided that it would be best to return to Tokyo and find things to do there. We bought Shinkansen tickets back.

Steve being the man that he is, showed us around the part of Kyoto that he knows. We took a taxi to Kiyomizu Temple and walked around that area. Kiyomizu was absolutely gourgeous albiet the number of people there was a little disturbing. It would be amazing if it were not so crowded. Right outside of the temple there were 3 girls walking in front of us wearing the full on kimono attire. Steve started up conversation with them which lead us to taking pictures together. We wandered through the streets picking up various food items such as Niku-man and miso flavored dango. Steve showed us the main shopping district of Gion, the river with a path through the middle, and led us back to the station. It was great to have a friend who knew the area.

Steve hopped on a train to Osaka and we stayed around until our train departed. We explored the station and found tons of little food shops around. I made mom try some taco-yaki (octopus) but she did not seem too thrilled. Right before we headed back to Tokyo, I finally bought my issue of Famitsu. I read it most of the way back and then proceeded to sleep the rest of the way. I made it home on the last train and immediately passed out in my own room

Today I slept in until 10 or so maybe later. I did not make it out to Baba until around 2pm. First of all we went to Yasubee to get some lunch. I then took mom to Ueno park, where we enjoyed some Yaki-panda (fried panda) and some nice sights. All of the museums and the zoo were closed for New Years once again. I then took her to the shopping district of Ueno. It was really congested with people trying to buy fish and crab at dirt cheap prices.

I also took her to Harajuku where we had crepes and oogled at the girls in gothic clothing. We walked down Takeshita-dori and then down to Shibuya. I showed her the biggest pedestrian crossing in the world and then the Hachika (dog statue). We walked around a bit then headed to Shinjuku. There I showed her pretty much everything I knew in a short tour. Kabuki-cho, yakitori-dori, Takashiyama, Kinokuniya, etc. It was a lot of fun.

Back at Baba she got to experience the joys of Japanese fast food, Yoshinoya. Yay for Gyudon!

Busy Busy

This morning mom called me at 6am... ugh... I went back to bed until 8. It was almost 10am when I reached Baba, but that was ok as a lot of shops do not open that early. The first thing we did was exchange money at the Mitsuitomo bank right next to the Sunroute. We had a bit of a problem with "fixing" the form. You see, on an official document, instead of signing your name, Japanese have a stamp with their name on it. Apparently by law, when you screw up one of these documents and then fix it, you have to stamp where the mistake was. It took a couple of times before I figured out what the bank teller was telling my mom to do. Finally we got it.

The next stop was Shinjuku to get Shinkansen tickets. Once we finally figured out where they sell them at, it was extremely easy to buy them. I was disappointed that they would not give me a student discount... Our train leaves at 6:30am tomorrow morning!

After all this we made our way to Asakusa. We shopped for a couple of hours on end picking up various gifts for everyone back home. I think by the end of the day we managed to get something for everyone. You guys will just have to wait and see! We also visited the main temple, saw the Kaminari-mon, and generally wandered the streets. For lunch we ate at this Chinese-family restaurant. They had a drink bar which was really nice. I had a tofu platter and mom had an eggplant one. Delicious! It was really funny to watch mom shop for stuff. She is still working out the coin and bill values for buying things. It is also really funny when she speaks in plain English to everyone and they reply with Japanese. I had a few good conversations with the store clerks about that.

We eventually made our way back to Baba to drop stuff off and finish off a couple of loose ends in the shopping department. I was not really that hungry so we hit up a cheap ramen shop down the street. Again, the food was amazing. I swear the only reason I wanted to visit Japan was because of the food :)

Mom has Arrived!

Today I went to Shakey's for a year end party thrown by my Resident Director. I thought it was really interesting that only the guys showed up. The only girl there was his daughter. We had all-you-can eat pizza paid for by the man himself, Don.

I left early to head to the airport. I took the Kosei line all the way there from Nippori. It only costs 1000 yen and takes exactly an hour (if you take the express.) I arrived and went to the waiting area. Mom arrived about 20 minutes after I did. It was timed surprisingly well. The first thing we did was get her train pass. The JR Rail Pass allows transportation on all JR trains (except the Nozomi) at no extra charge. The reason we did it starting today was to take the Narita Express back to Tokyo. It brought back a lot of memories about the first time I visited Japan... The JR Pass seems really outdated though. You have to physically show it to the guy at the window to be let though. This means that you cannot use the sweet gates which take half a second to register your card and let you through. Come on Japan, I thought you were the technology capital of the world.

Of course when we get to Shinjuku it is 6pm aka rush hour. The trains were all packed so getting on the Yamanote with all mom's luggage was quite a feat. We managed it though and got to her hotel room. Check-in was relatively painless as was the walk with the luggage.

I took mom to a place called Watami on Waseda-dori. I had her try out some Sashimi along with some other Japanese dishes. She seemed to like everything. The idea was to keep her awake as long as possible as to cure the jet lag. Dinner got over earlier than I expected (because she did not want to drink) so we walked all the way to campus and back. Waseda was gated up and closed, but we still got to see it. There's one thing marked off the list.

Having someone who knows no Japanese really makes me see how long I have come in my language training. Just the ability to get around, ask directions, and even order food really makes me appreciate all the work I have put into studying.

Back at the hotel room I was given gifts from home. I would especially like to thank Pam and Dave Plummer for the freeze-vacuumed cookies. I would also like to thank everyone for the cards. I know you guys couldn't really get me anything, but that is alright. I will send some gifts home for everyone to enjoy (you could also give me some *hints* as to what you want ^_^). I also really liked all the pictures from the Christmas party. It looked like so much fun compared to what I did for Christmas. I had to make a photo in response to the one from Ed, Alysa, Logan, and Amira.



Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas

Christmas is finally here and for the first time in my life it feels just like any other day. I am stuck here in Japan with nobody else to celebrate with. Even for my host family it is nothing special. People are still out working. All the businesses, banks, post offices, and restaurants are still open. Meanwhile I am stuck at home at the moment. It looks like Vaso and I are going out to find some fun in Tokyo later on today. I may have to pick myself up a present just so it seems like Christmas.

Yesterday I woke up and celebrated with Vaso, Sheun Sheun, Amy (from Kyoto), and Miles. We went to a Chinese food buffet in Harajuku. After the food we went to a really expensive cafe (Bellagio?) We sat outside and savored some delicious cuppacino and hot chocolate. Vaso then ditched us to go to Disney Land, meanwhile we went to Karaoke for 2 hours. It was lots of fun.

That night I met up with Steve and Kyle to have a Christmas feast with Steve's host family. The first thing that struck me is that Nishi-Ooi is a maze. There are roads every which way and I swear we turned 10+ times just to get to Steve's house. Steve's family is really cool. It made Kyle and I jealous because we are both living with an older couple. Steve's little sister Chika-chan is so cute! She is 5 years old and has all of the exceptional energy that little kids have. We played baba-nuki (old-maid) with her after dinner. Speaking of dinner, (Hiromi?) is an amazing cook! It was a feast to behold. We talked of school, host-families, and life in general. I had a really good time.

After dinner we walked around Steve's neighborhood, got lost, found a train station, and then headed home. On the way back home I e-mailed every single person in my phone book to wish them a Merry Christmas.

Mother 2!!!

I made a trip back to Nakano today and managed to find and buy Mother 2. I also picked up a bunch of other Japanese only releases that looked like fun. On the way to Nakano I stopped at a bunch of cell phone places and asked about pre-paid phones. Apparently as of last year they have all but disappeared from the Japanese market. This poses a problem for my mother who wants one to keep in contact. Luckily Don Capener (our program director) has offered my the chance to use his. He has an extra because his family returned to the US for the winter and some of the spring. What a lucky break!!

In other news, I went out with Kyohei and Vaso to hang out. Kyohei has previously told us that he hates the Tokyo trains because they are always so crowded. He took us out in his car. First of all, his car is sweet! It's a Red Mercedes Benz and a typical Japanese compact car. There was no GPS system, but that makes it more of an adventure driving around it Tokyo. It was my first experience of the Tokyo street life since last year. I must say that there are a ton of cars, people, and even animals everywhere. I never want to drive in Tokyo.

We went to go bowling at some big sports center. These bowling balls had smiley faces on them instead of the basketballs of last time. It was still rather amusing. While we waited for a lane to open, we wandered around the place a little bit. There were billiards, darts, batting cages, driving ranges, and a mini-arcade. The arcade section had none other than a pinball machine!!! It was the first one I have ever seen in an arcade before! I played one game and lost almost immediately. For whatever reason it gave me an extra credit. Whoo me! A lane opened so we grabbed shoes and a ball. I always forget what shoe size I am in centimeters. 28 centimeters equals approximately a 12 in American shoe sizes supposedly (Thats what my shoes say anyway). We bowled 2 games. I had a 148 and a 92. My first game is always better than the others.... Overall I beat Vaso by 1 pin, Kyohei beat me by 6 pins, and I had the highest and lowest game. Ironic.

For dinner we went to this place called Royal House. I had some sort of rice donburi looking thing with cheese, mushrooms, corn, and shrimp in it. Vaso and Kyohei both had meatloaf (called Hanbagu for some reason.) After that we went back to where Vaso lives and had desert at a Mister Donut.

Italian Foodz

Today I did not wake up until 3pm or so, and by the time I ate breakfast and showered it was time to go. I went to Iidabashi to eat with a friend at Shoko's restaurant. She works at a really classy place called Sossiso. I did not know this at the time, but it was pretty expensive. Definitely the most expensive meal I have had to pay for anyways. It was good though as we split a salad, pasta, calzone, and wine. I was rather pleased with the presentation and service. I really wanted some lasagna though.... It must not be Italian enough.

After dinner I headed back home and because it was still early, decided to check out the places between Shinjuku and my stop. I found out why I never have gone outside the station before. It is because there is nothing there. First of all, a lot of the shops were closed for some reason (Christmas time maybe??) Secondly, there wasn't a whole lot of variety. It seems that my part of town by far has the most stuff available. There was a Mister Donut in Daitabashi that I may be stopping at one of these days before I go to class in the morning. Other than that, nothing.

Missed the week

I cannot believe that I already stopped posting everyday... I guess things are just too hectic to be able to maintain it.

Wednesday was my free day, and I spent the time around Shimotakaido. I explored the town a little bit more and also bought some stuff at the supermarket. I found out that the place has 3 floors which makes it the biggest supermarket I have ever been in. There is pretty much anything one could want there (in Japanese standards anyways.) The rest of the day I spent studying kanji, grammar, and Genji. I got tons of sleep and basically my mood went from a 6 to a 9.

I should mention that my host father spent 2 days in the hospital from Tuesday to Thursday in order to have tests done. From what I could gather from my family, he has some sort of cancer and they are doing their best to contain it. I hope he gets better soon.

On another note, everyone in my family has gotten sick this week. Miki missed a couple of days of work, Kaasan was also sick for a little bit. They wanted me to eat in my room Wednesday as to not catch a cold from eating together with them. That is a little extreme in my opinion, but once in a while is alright I guess.

Thursday was another boring day at school, nuff said.

Friday I got my Teiki renewed for another 3 months. I cannot believe that it has been 3 months since I started living with my host family! The time is just flying by and I do not like it one bit. To think that my stay is already a third of the way over... Depressing man.

I skipped out on my special engineering class this morning in order to get some money exchanged and do some miscellaneus shopping. I also figured it was the last day of school and many people would be absent anyways. The exchange rate was 112 yen to the dollar, so I exchanged lots of money. $2000 for entertainment, food, and a new psp in three months seems pretty cheap to me. I was talking to other people and they have already spent waaaaaaaaay more than that ($4000++!!) Our kanji teacher gave us a bunch of different interesting websites for studying and recognizing kanji. I may have to check some of those out during the break to keep my skills brushed up.

That night I got together with Vaso and Mike for the marble party. We ended up crashing the illumination project party first as they were taking up space in the international lounge. We just wanted to get out of the cold for half an hour till we had to meet. Ended up meeting some cool people from Enbushi and other places, along with Cameron and Ren from my class. There were also people there dressed up in halloween costumes... Think spiderman, pirates, and a couple cross-dressers.

The marble party was at La Cafe Retro. It was a surprisingly small place for the so-called 70 people that were there. I said my 自己紹介 to probably half the people there. It gets really old asking the same questions to everyone, especially when you forget everything after moving on to the next person. Made a couple of new friends before the party ended though. I also ended up stealing Erika's santa hat which I wore for the rest of the night.

The after party was to be at club atom in Shibuya. Vaso and I parted ways with the rest of the group and grabbed some bento first. The place was empty so we asked the tenin if it was alright to eat inside the place because it was warm there. They looked puzzled at first and told us that no one had asked them that before. I think they were happy that some nice foreigners kept them company for the 30 minutes or so that it took to eat. I just love the hospitality of the average Japanese person. At the yamanote, we somehow managed to meet up with everyone else at the train platform. Random. Vaso and I once again broke off from the group and went to the club by ourselves. We met up with Mike there and danced for 3 hours or so. The place was really cool, but the ventilation could have been a lot better (or the water could have been cheaper.) There was way too much smoke, and no way to get fresh air. We left early and hit up a McDonalds for the rest of the night. I found it amusing the amount of people passed out at their tables. You never see that in American fast food restaurants!

The scoop today

So I went to class today completely un-prepared. The only studying I did for my kanji quiz was the hour train ride beforehand. It was plenty of time to cram 20 kanji in my brain for the test. I am going to try to actually "learn" them later on tonight. There was also a grammar quiz which I forgot about. Luckily the stuff that was on it was taught in Genki II way back when. It went all right hopefully.

Before Genji class I managed to read 2 chapters and answer all the questions. In class I pretty much slept the entire time. 3 hours of Genji is just too much in one day. We also watched this interesting documentary about bringing the ancient pictures of the text back to life. They did this really intense analysis of the old inks and materials that were used, and made replicas of the original colors. It was cool, but I could only understand half of what was going on.

Finally during my song class, Louvie and I played psp. Nuff said.

After class I went to Mister Donut with Vaso to check out the new Simpsons flavored donuts. The Simpsons Movie is debuting in Japan sometime this month and MisDo is running a special. They have two flavors, banana and mixed-berry. I really liked the banana, but mixed-berry had it's own flair. Honestly the selection at MisDo is really bad. The so called "limited-time" donuts are by far the best they have flavor wise. Why they don't have those all the time I don't know.

Michiyo Sensei just sent us the placements for the spring practicum. From Feburary 5th to March 4th I will be spending my time in Niigata teaching 2nd graders English! I will be completely isolated from the rest of the study abroad students (they are going to other places). It is going to be really weird to have absolutely no contact with other English speaking people for an entire month. Hopefully it will be a really good experience for me. I get to learn Japanese at a grade school level! The only thing I am not looking forward to the coldness though... There will be snow everywhere! Maybe I can go skiing...

I wanna do this everyday

So I realize that I should start blogging everyday... Hmmm... Its hard isn't it? Even the most miniscule piece of information should be important...

So over the weekend Shoichi sent me message simply stating "Are you free Monday?" I replied "Yes after 12pm." Then he told me "Meet at Takadanobaba at 12:30 Monday." That is usually how plans get started here. Text messaging is cheaper and more efficient than calling, so little messages like this get sent to and from my phone at least once every couple of hours.

Anywho, I met Shoichi and gang at Baba station at 12:40 (I don't yet understand it, but I am always late!) Shoichi, Hiromichi, Chisato, and Takako joined me in a lunch expedition. The suspect was this Thai buffet that apparently Chisato had heard about. After passing it no less than 2 times, we finally turned down the correct ally and found the place. It was a nice cozy basement filled with Chirstmas lights and giant plates of food. I was astonished that there were authentic metal plates for use instead of the normal Japanese style tiny plates. The selection of food was something to be desired, but all in all it was good. It was all nice and spicy just the way I like it. To top it off for desert we had tapioca pudding. Delicious!

After lunch the gang had to go back to study. I had a short meeting with Yamana sensei about doing some research next semester. I am still undecided, but if I had more time I would love to do something like that. Afterwards I headed to the nearest game center to kill some time. It was at the Baba Big Box and I played a game of each DDR, Guitar Freaks, Drummania, and Beatmania. I found out that my new favorite game is Drummania. Why not hit buttons when you can smack a rubber pad with a stick that does the same thing? It is amazing. I am afraid of how much money I may blow on that game alone during the course of this year.

I also learned an important lesson today. I went to Nakano then decided to return to Baba without actually going out of the gates. When I got back to Baba the gate would not let me out. So I go talk to the Eki-in and he tells me that I have to pay for the trip there and back. Great, $3 down the drain because of a change of plans. That money could have bought me a drink!

I made up my mind to go hang out with an unknown person named Nishio that I met a couple months ago. I did not recognize him at first, but he obviously recognized me first. That was all that really mattered. We ended up going to Karaoke for an hour and then to dinner. I was very impressed with the Karaoke place as most of the songs had furigana over the kanji. Every song that I sung was full of hiragana everywhere, which could be a good or a bad thing depending on what kind of level you are at. At the restarant we had some really good sashimi and other fish platters. It was really cool to talk in Japanese from lunchtime all the way through dinner. I wish I could do that every day... But at the same time, I spent a lot of money today on food and entertainment. That does not need to happen every day...

And finally, just got home a little past midnight with tons of homework left to do.

週末

今週末はゆっくりことをした。金曜日の５限の授業をサボっちゃった。飲みに行っただから。最初に家に戻って、下高井戸の町を探検した。ほかのスーパーや酒屋やいろんなおいしそうなレストランをみつけった。今晩のパーティーのためにジントニックを買っておきた。全部の町をみつけったよかった。近くのさえきというスーパーは最近閉じるようになった。残念だなー

とにかく、父さんは夕食を作ってくれた。俺は「いつもありがとう」と言ってた。後出かけた。高田馬場でリエンゾさんとヴァソ君はハングアウトしたかった。でも二人はまだ食べていなかったから俺は早くショウコウ姫の家へ行った。予定は皆さんがショコウの家で集まって、飲んで、アゲハへ行くつもりだ。俺はアゲハに行きたくなかったけれども、一緒に飲みたかった。そのことはいつも楽しいことだなー。アイダさん、キートンさん、ヴァンスさん、アダムさん、ショウコウ姫がいた。ジャスティンという人はもいる。彼はショウコウの最近の彼氏だった。彼は優しそうな人だった。

１１時ぐらい酔っ払いで家に戻った。覚えってない。

土曜日何もしなかった。勉強したり、ゲームしたり、漫画を読んだりした。一日中家にいた。

今日もパーティーだった。ホストファミリーと留学生たちは集まって、感謝祭を祝った。俺は食べ過ぎた。ターキーや色々な肉とかおかしいなどあった。すごくうまかった。

小学校

１２月６日新宿区立戸塚第二小学校に訪問した。そこで小学生達と遊んだ。みんなさんは楽しんでいた。

僕はあまり準備しなかった。レンさんとカメロンさんと２０分ぐらい簡単な自己紹介を作った。みんなの留学生は日本人と最初に会ったら自己紹介をすることになっている。それにしても上手にできる。授業中で奥原先生は同級生に準備されたけど授業の以外でぜんぜん練習しなかった。なぜかというと小学生達は４年生ので、適当な言葉を使わないのにみんなはわかる。

最初に早起きて高田馬場駅前に同級生と集まった。小学校はけっこ近い。あるいって１分ぐらい。何回も隣にあるいってわからない。外のスクールはアメリカの小学校みたいけど中はぜんぜん違う。ロッカーがないし、日本的な部屋もあるし。たくさん日本について絵がはいてある。会議室で待った。

体育館で小学生達を集まった。まず小学生達は「君をのせて」という曲を歌ってくれた。本当にきれいだった。４年生代そんなうまさができなかった。それから、僕とカメロンは説明してあげた。後留学生たちは名前とどこから来たと１つの好きなものを呼んだ。そしてレ、ンさんは日本の地図とアメリカの地図をみせた。ほとんどの子供たちは違いをもう知ってる。次はクイズをやった。だいたい適当な答えを答えた。日本の子供は日本以外ことが知ってるのでびっくりした。後で「ホットポテト」というゲームをやった。ゲームのグループはやっとホットポテトを決めた。簡単に説明してやった。子供たちは「好き」だって。

休み時間になると色々なゲームとかおもちゃなどをやることにしている。僕は面白いカードゲームをやった。何というか覚えていないけど楽しかった。ほっかの人は剣玉を使ったり、しょうぎを習ったり、チョコレートパズルをやったりした。この時間は一番楽しいと思った。終わって小学校の国語について授業を見た。小学生も同級生も言葉の使い方を習った。「とる」とか「かける」などの使い方を勉強した。一番変なことは子供は質問を答えば、「みんなさんどうですか？」と聞くことになっている。アメリカの小学校でそのことがない。ほかの授業はアメリカの英語の授業と同じぐらい。

Daft Punk

So first of all I did not bring my camera to the Daft Punk concert for fear of it getting taken away at the door. I did manage to take some pictures with my camera phone, but at the moment I have no idea how to get them on my computer.

I met up with Mike at Shinjuku and we made the hour commute to Makuhari Messe. Yes, it is the same place where CeaTec, Tokyo Game Show, and the Tokyo Motor Show was held. That huge convention center. We got there about half an hour after the show started, around 3:30pm, which was alright because the first band sucked.

The first thing we did was get a locker for out jackets, and by locker I mean plastic bag. You heard me right, they were selling plastic bags for people to put their stuff in. A number was then attached to it and the bag was set in a section alloted for 200 bags. We were 42**. There were a ton of people there. At the very least 10,000.

We scouted out the floor for a while deciding where to go when Jeremy ran into us. He introduced us to his friends and we watched the crappy band play. Once the band was over there was an intermediary DJ group on the side named Dex Pistols. They were actually pretty good. Got the crowd pumping a little bit. Once the next group came out the place really started to pick up. Tons more people filled in and the music by Ryukyudisko was amazing. Lots of drum and bass stuff.

At this point I decided that we needed to get into the crowd and as close to the front as possible. I dragged Mike to the floor and we weaved our way through the ever growing crowd. We got separated pretty early, which was alright with me. I proceeded to move away from the large group of drunk foreigners and had a good time dancing with some Japanese groups.

The band after Ryukyudisko was also good, but I don't know their name. It was a band much like the first one, but this one had no singer and the instrumentals were at least 10 times better.

Finally at 7pm Daft Punk finally came out! There was a big push to the front of the stage initially. I was a little worried that it would turn into a large mosh-pit, but soon learned that Japanese people are not about that. The concert was amazing. Daft Punk played a lot of their popular stuff mixed with their non-so-famous songs. The led's on their pyramid coupled with the lasers and flourecent lights just made the entire thing come together. I had a blast.

I will try to post pictures whenever I figure that out. Until next time!

Ageha

This week was pretty boring. I did some homework, ate some food, went to class, and maintained my routine. I did buy some more Super Famicom games which brings my collection to 25 games or so. I also got a couple more manga too. Hopefully I can start finishing some of these series off!

Yesterday I went to my special class that Yoshimoto Sensei hooked me up with. I find it very amusing that the class is about databases using SQL, and yet almost no one in the class has even done anything with html. I spent half the class explaining how to program in html to the people sitting next to me. They were in awe at how much I knew.

I went home early as my 5th period class was canceled. I proceeded to take a nap until dinnertime. For some odd reason, whenever I am sleeping and one of my parents says that food is ready, I always wake up instantly. They could say it in the faintest voice from all the way across the house, and I would still wake up. This has already happened on multiple occasions, but I never noticed it until Vaso mentioned that he experiences the same thing.

I left the house at 10pm. Met up with Brittany, Josh, Steve, and Jeremy in Shibuya. The plan was to go to Ageha all night for their special 5th anniversary event. I made up my mind to go weather or not anyone came with me. Jeremy was the only one that decided to go. Now I had no idea where this place was. It was supposed to be somewhere in Shinkiba, but when we arrived there was nothing around. It felt like we left Tokyo. After consulting with the Koban, we found the right direction.

I had a blast. As Jeremy and I were waiting for the doors to open, Rebbecca, Elena, and 4 of their friends showed up. This was unexpected, but the more the merrier I guess. Once we got inside, everyone separated and went their different ways. The party ended at 6 in the morn and we all dragged our butts back home.

Tomorrow is DAFT PUNK!

Yay for Kamakura

The group trip this Saturday was for Kamakura. We all met bright and early at 8am in front of the Big Box, Takadanobaba. Don distributed 3000 yen to all of us for transportation and lunch. We then headed off. As it turned out, Don did not know how to get us to Kamakura, so he looked to Steve and I for directions. After much debate, we finally got on the right train.

Once we arrived, the group headed for the closest temple, Tsurugaokahachimangu (鶴岡八幡営). The the group started to dissipate as everyone went their own directions. The temple was the same as it was last time, except the renovations were done. I got to see all of it this time. Later in the day we all met at the Daibutsu for a group picture (which I have yet to receive back...) Finally, we all separated again.

My group of Steve, Nikki, Austin, Wallace, and I went to Hasedara temple first. This one in particular is really cool because it is built on the side of one of the mountains. There is a beautiful view of the sea and the city. There are also a few caves that you can walk through with various praying spots along the way.

After the temple we stopped by the beach for a little bit. There were a lot of people trying to surf (both boards and windsurfers.) It was too cold to be doing that if you ask me. The beach was not very beach like. The sand was not "fluffy" and I felt that sitting down on it would be a bad idea.

For the rest of the day, we went hiking up in the mountains. We started off on the Genji trail and proceeded to get ourselves lost. It was a very pretty hike with lots of rough trails. I enjoyed myself greatly.

続ける

It is getting harder and harder to write in this everyday.

Basically I only had class on Monday and Tuesday this week. Wednesday I have no class, Thursday Japanese classes were cancelled, and Friday was a holiday. I really should have gone somewhere outside of Tokyo, but that was bad planning on my part. During the days off I just relaxed and hung out with friends.

Saturday I went with Sheung and Keaton to Takaosan. It's basically a popular mountain that you can reach by going all the way to the end of the Keio line. That being said, it is also a very popular spot as it is so close. There were tons of people there. Being the hardcore mountain climbers that we are, we climbed all the way to the top instead of taking the tram. It was well worth it. We got to see so much of nature. A cliff going up to the left of you, and down to the right of you is a pretty cool sight. I was very surprised by the amount of older people climbing the mountain. There were old ladies walking up with their canes! Upon reaching the top we were all famished. Everyone there had brought their own food and were having picnics at the top. We settled for some snacks to tide us over till we returned home. It took about an hour and a half to get to the top, and another hour to get back down. It was a lot of fun.

Today I did some homework in the morning then headed off to visit my old host family. I was very surprised when I remembered how to get to their house. I guess walking it every day for a month will do that. They were all really glad to see me. The first impression was that my Japanese was tons better than it was before. They said that they could speak a lot more freely now that I could understand more words and phrases. We ate dinner together and talked about all the things that have happened between then and now. They have not changed at all. The kids are still studying at school and the parents are still as quirky as ever. I was very glad to see them once again.

My Fun for the Week

First off I need to say that I bought tickets for Daft Punk in December. It is going to be a huge event at the same place where Ceatec was held. I am really excited.

Friday night was insane. The plan was to meet at Shoko's after class, chill for a little bit, then hit up a club. This was all going to be for the sake of Asuka as she is one of the coolest girls we have met. She has also never been to a club as she is still a couple months too young. In the morning I decided that I wanted to buy some headgear. Originally I wanted to get some cat ears so I went to Don Quixote to check out the selection. There were only a couple of different kinds so I decided on some different headgear.



I was the first one to arrive at Shoko's place. We talked for maybe 30 minutes until the rest of the gang started showing up. The pre-game party was a blast. I am truly surprised that we made it out the door. A lot of the people did not really want to leave, but for Shoko and Asuka's sake, they did. We went to Roppongi. I had never been to Roppongi before, but from what I have heard, it is a pretty sketchy place. Apparently it is the hotspot for foreigners as well as all sorts of other bad stuff. We went to this dance club / bar called Gaspanic. While it is free to get in, you are supposed to have a drink in your hand or nearby at all times. I guess that is how they make their money. Anyway, we stayed up all night dancing. The night consisted of a combination of good and bad music. Each hour they changed the style whether it was for good or bad. I left with Steven at around 6 in the morning to head home. By that time, everyone else had left.

Today I woke up at 3ish, surprisingly well rested. I met up with Shoko, Adam, and Nikki for dinner. I just got home on the last train of the night.

勉強したくないぞ！

明日は忙しいなー。たくさん宿題があるし、４つの授業もあるし。今勉強したくない！源氏物語の宿題は一番つまらないだ。火曜日に宿題をしなかった。ローリ先生はうれしくなかった。僕の本はわかりにくい。一枚を読んで、ぜんぜんわからなくて、もう一度読まなくちゃいけないよ。大変だなー。日本語のためにスキットを覚えなくちゃ。１週間があったけれども始めなかった。時間がない！

昨日ヴァソとケープナー先生と一緒に昼ご飯を食べた。原宿でメキシコ料理を食べた。レストランの名前を忘れちゃったでも、その場所を覚えている。色々なことをしゃべた。例えばホーストファミリや生き方など。

その夜、ケースウエスタンレザブ大学の卒業した人の会議を行った。それも楽しかった。

So yesterday I had lunch with Don (our resident director) and Vaso in Harajuku. We went to a Mexican place with tacos, quesadillas, and nachos. Mexican food places are very rare in Japan for some reason. We had a pretty good talk about homestays, classes, and the like.

For dinner I met up with Vaso, Mike, Mieon, and Aaron for the CWRU Alumni Association dinner. I got to meet Dr. Eastwood and a couple other people for the second time in Japan. I also got to meet our president Barbara Snyder. I got my picture with her :)



The biggest perk about going was the excellent food and wine. They had some pretty exquisite crab, nikuman, and sushi. I was very pleased.

Today I have been studying almost all day. I took a break to attend the Super Mario Club at around 3 or so. I got to play Mario Galaxy! It is very nostalgic, but feels gimicky at the same time. The sweetest part was when I played with the Nunchuck and Vaso played with the wii remote. I moved around and crouched, while he was in charge of jumping and attacking. It worked out rather well and we suprisingly did not die at all.

Nakano

I went to Nakano again today for some Super Famicom shopping. I ended up buying a whole bunch of games. I found 3 different shops that had varying numbers of old games. It seems that if a shop only has a shelf of Famicom games, they are usually 100 yen or so cheaper than the huge stores. It really pays to look around! Speaking of which, there are a couple of games that I have not spotted yet. The biggest one being Mother 2. I need to buy that game. Period.

In other news, I got my cell phone bill recently. For the entire month it was 3,500 yen. Not too bad if you ask me. From here on out, I will not be using any of the extra services (internet, music, etc.) I am hoping that I can cut that bill in half for next month.

I have been going to the supermarket a lot in the past week or so. I cherish the moments at home when I can just get out a piece of bread and start chowing down. On the instant side of things, I found my new favorite food: instant yaki-soba. In theory, it sounds like a terrible idea. Since it is instant, the noodles cannot be fried which is the whole point of yaki-soba. I believe it is better than ramen because there are twice as many noodles, and it is a lot more flavorful. After making the noodles, you put in some sauce, green flakes, and mayo. It tastes nothing like actual yaki-soba, but whatever the strange taste is, it is really good. I picked up a bunch of them for my lunches when I stay at home.

Trying Not to be Lazy

It has been a while since I posted anything decent. Life has just been going on.

Yesterday was really fun. After class I played my PSP in the lounge. I finally got the firmware flashed so I can play old PS1 games on my PSP. It is so nice to be able to play something like FF7 on my way to school every morning. Keaton joined me for a little bit with his DS. Afterwards I took Shoko to the best Tsukemen shop in Tokyo. It is called Yasubee and I have probably mentioned it somewhere before. Surprisingly, it was not at all crowded, very weird for a Friday night.

After dinner Shoko had to leave and I had 1 hour to kill. Needless to say, I went to the Big Box in Baba to play some games. 250 yen kept me occupied for the entire hour with a game of gundam, DDR, and Pop'n Music. I met up with Micheal and the gang in Baba station to head toward Shinjuku. The destination, Kabuki-cho theaters. The reason, Resident Evil 3. It is a very good thing that I know my way around Shinjuku. Nobody else had any clue. The price to get in was only a little more than what it would be back in the states. The reason for this is the Japanese subtitles I believe. In any case, the movie was pretty bad. There was no plot until the last 20 minutes or so, which is also the highlight of the movie. There were not too many zombie encounters, which is the entire point of the series.

I also ended up going to Shibuya all night clubbing with Vaso, Rienzo, Kyohei, and Shun Shun. It was my job to round up people to go with us, but nobody from my group wanted to go. They just went home instead. It was probably for the better. We ended up going to Club Asia. The music in all 3 rooms was a techno / trance / drum'n bass mix. I absolutely love that kind of music, but the DJ's were really bad. Two of the rooms were not loud or dark enough to have a good time, and the other had way too much bass. On top of that, there were simply not enough people. We danced for a good 2 hours or so and then decided to leave. I would like to go again, but to a different club with more people. Rienzo is going to work something out with Ageha (supposedly the most famous and biggest club in Asia). I got home this morning and slept.

サボった

今朝日本語の授業へ行ったけど、５減の授業をサボった。

Too tired to type this in Japanese. Actually, I think I am really too tired to post much at all. I am going to do some homework now.

Squall

Hamamatsucho Project

Everyone needs to watch this video. During orientation everyone was forced to do a presentation of an assigned place in Tokyo. My group of Shoko, Adam, and myself were assigned to Hamamatsucho. Instead of doing a lame presentation, we created a video. Please note that this video has absolutely nothing to do with Hamamatsucho (It was just filmed there).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kCchh8GOZNg

天国

今天国にいる。友達と大事なことを話したし、すき焼きを食べたし、宿題がないし。

I am totally in heaven right now.

And life is good.

やった！

Saturday was amazing. I slept in until almost noon, piddled around until 3, then went to Waseda-sai. Personally I didn't think it was the greatest thing ever. It felt like a county fair or a town jubilee. I am not a fan of either of those. I walked around, caught a couple of shows (they were mostly dancing with music), and grabbed some stuff to eat. I met up with Vaso and Nick during that time as well.

After Waseda-sai was over for the day (about 6pm) I headed to Shoko's apartment for a housewarming party. Now her apartment is pretty small. I have no idea how we managed to fit 12 people in there and still have room to eat and drink. Adam and Josh made some really good food consisting of curry rice and quesadillas. It was really cool to talk with some people from the program. I have not seen most of them since the Nagano trip. We ended up playing a couple of drinking games and then going to sleep. Some people went home, but most stayed overnight. Being selfish (or smart if you will) I staked out a piece of the bed for my sleeping purposes. Josh slept in the kitchen, Kanjina and Vance shared a futon, Nikki and Adam shared the fold out couch, Austin had his own futon, and Shoko also got the bed. The entire place was filled with people sleeping everywhere. It was really bad because if one person got up, they ended up stepping on everyone else to get to the bathroom. In the morning everyone woke up really early as Shoko had to go to work. Adam made some quick breakfast for everyone. The apartment was a mess, so before leaving, everyone helped out by cleaning up.

I attempted to go to Waseda-sai again Sunday but decided that I was too tired to
attend. I ended up going home and sleeping / studying the rest of the day.

Today my class went to the disaster relief center where we learned all about earthquakes, fires, and the like. It was really cool as we got to do the whole simulated Earthquake thing. There was this room with some stuff in it, and the guide cranked it up to a magnitude 7 earthquake. The room was shaking so much that it was near impossible to stand. Everyone cowered under the table until it stopped. I got some rugburn on my knees because we were forced to kneel. We also did 2 fire simulations. In one we got to use a fire extinguisher to put out a virtual fire. In the other, we had to navigate through smoke filled corridors. If you stood up too high, a sensor would go off and that person would be penalized. It was really fun.

Finally, the biggest excitement of the day was going to Nakano. Brendan told me that there are a bunch of used game shops there (I need to get him to explain where some more are btw). I ended up buying a Super Famicom with Mario RPG, Chrono Trigger, and Bahamut Lagoon. うれしくなった！

大変

It has just occurred to me that it is November. Wow October just flew by. I noticed it today when I was heading out of the house. There is a Lawson convenience store right outside my train station that had all sorts of Halloween stuff in it. When I walked by it today, there was a huge sign that was promoting Christmas! I cannot believe that it is only 2 months away.

This morning when I woke up, I finally got around to asking my host father to call the shipping company for our area. I had ordered a memory stick for my PSP last Sunday, and it had still not arrived. The tracking website said that I had the wrong address and I received a call on my cell phone on Tuesday informing me about the mistake. When I inquired to my host father about this, he assured me that the package was on its way. I had to fight with him to finally make him understand that it was sitting at a warehouse somewhere. I learned that my Japanese skills were still pretty bad when dealing with this sort of stuff. My vocabulary is just not up to snuff yet. Anyway, I finally got him to listen to the voicemail to make him understand. After a few times of listening, he called them up and sorted everything out. Apparently, when you use a shipping address in Japan, you also need the family name. I had everything right, but instead of putting 臼井　スレバー　ジョン, I just put スレバー　ジョン. It still boggles my mind that you need to put the family name. Each house has its own house number! Why in the world do I need a second confirmation that this is the right house?

In any case, I received my memory card a couple of hours afterward.

At 4pm I headed off to 日本大学 for a "The Brilliant Green" concert. I am really getting in to this whole concert thing. It is really cheap to go and all the bands I like will play in Tokyo sometime during my stay. In any case, I made it to the concert and had a blast. Nihon Daigaku is a couple of blocks away from my home. I walked over there and again felt like a complete outsider. I am sure I was the only foreigner there. This concert was completely different from UVERworld. It was much more mellow. The crowd reflected this as they were not as energetic. It was all very well though, I still had a blast.

After the concert I went to Takadanobaba to meet some people at the HUB. It turned out that there was a private party going on and everybody ditched to go to Harajuku. I hopped back on the train and backtracked to Harajuku. I finally met up with Kanjina, Nikki, Adam, and Austin at the Takeshita exit. We went to this bar / resturant and chilled for a couple of hours. Next we headed to Shibuya to go to a club. Adam is keeping in contact with this guy who lives in Harajuku. He was telling us about a new club that was only charging 1000 yen ($10) as a cover charge. Even if the DJ's are not good, its still really cheap. This was all fine and dandy until we found the club. It turns out that the club opens tomorrow night. Sad and dissapointed, everyone returned home.

日本語で

なぜ日本語で書くかというか、練習したいよ。これから日本語に書かれた日記がほしいんなー。英語がわかる人がいっぱいから、英語を使った。別の日記を書きたいけれども時間があまりないね。宿題やパーティや会など、たくさんある。

この日記を書くことは難しいと思っているが、いい経験でしょ？多分、毎週に一回ぐらい日本語を使う。なれた時もっと使う。

今週は楽しかった。もっと勉強すればよかった。今日の文保クイズは難しかった。悪い成績を取ると思う。

昨日は僕の休み日だった。何もしなかった。少しだけ源氏物語を読んだり、漢字を書いたり、ゲームをしたりした。PSPのためにメモリカードを注文したでもまだ着かなかった。ファイナルファンタジーCCをしたい！カードがなればセーブできない。

今朝父は電話した。びっくりした。電車のりばにいるので一分しか話さなかった。父はマイクロフォンを注文した。インターネットで話すといいんですが。G-TalkかSkypeを使うつもり。

じゃまたね

Rejoice!

My last blog got cut short because some random Japanese kids started talking to me.

So Saturday I ended up staying home and doing lot of studying. It was very good for me.

Once Sunday rolled around I really wanted to get out of the house. I still wanted to go to Akihabara as I had not been yet. Vaso and I headed out around noon to go. A couple stops before Akihabara, I saw a roller coaster from the train. Curiosity got the best of us and I made us get off the train. It turns out that the station where we exited was right next to the Tokyo Dome! Along with the baseball field, there is also a small amusement park which housed one roller coaster. It was 1000 yen to ride it, but Vaso and I did not feel like waiting in line for it. Quite possibly the coolest thing about this coaster was that it went through a building! Check it out:



We finally made it to Akihabara around 3 and it was packed. We walk out of the train station and the first thing I see are maids handing out fliers for their respective cafe's. Sadly, because we were foreign, they did not try handing us any. We walked down the main street of Akiba checking out all the little stores along the way. Once we reached the end we went to the other side of the street and walked back towards the station. I dragged Vaso to a model shop where I purchased a couple random boxes. In front of that store they were selling Final Fantasy Potions. I had to buy a couple:



He then dragged me to Kaitenzushi (Rotating sushi) to eat some dinner. We actually went to a good place this time. All of the 100 yen sushi was really good, and 10 plates was more than enough to fill us up. By the time we finished, it was starting to get dark out. The road was opened once again to traffic and people were starting to go home. Not wanting to go home yet, we headed into the back allies to see the real Akihabara. There were all sorts of shady merchants and shops selling all sorts of electronics. We searched high and low for a used game shop that was selling a Famicom or Super Famicom for cheap. I really wanted to buy one for nostalgic gaming purposes. It was during this adventure that I happened upon the thing that I had been searching for for ages.





A Limited Edition Final Fantasy Crisis Core PSP (Number 46,466 / 77,777)

I saw it, and I bought it almost instantly. The store clerk kept saying that there was dust under the screen, but I could see no such thing. The thing is in near perfect condition and looked like it had never been played. I was so pleased with this find.

So after Akiba, Miles invited us over to visit his apartment. We went over to Nezu (which happens to be the same place that Shoko lives) and had more dinner. This time it was Indian Curry. I thought the serving was kind of small, but the place was really exquisite and it tasted really good. After dinner we went to Miles' apartment, chilled for a while, and headed home. It was a good day.

Today after class I went to Nakano with some people to go beetle shopping. There is this weird craze about beetle fighting which led to these kinds of shops popping up. Austin ended up buying a beetle, cage, and some food for a little over 3000 yen. Not bad if you ask me. I was a little jealous about the whole ordeal. Owning a beetle sounds like it would be a cool experience.

When I returned home I stopped at the supermarket for the first time. This was mainly to supplement my lunches with instant ramen and the like. Our host families are not required to feed us lunch, and sometimes I feel bad asking. I was never so happy in my life to buy milk, cereal, and bread. I had some when I arrived home and felt like I was in heaven. Here is a pic of my stash:

Yeah Yeah

The Good Stuff

I am just going to skip my boring days at school and go right to the good stuff. On Saturday there was a Typhoon off the coast of Japan. It rained all day. My original plan was to go to Akihabara with Michael and Keaton to shop for some games and figures. Well I got dressed, grabbed my umbrella, and walked outside. I did not get 50 feet out the door when I decided to go back. My pants were completely soaked.

I Wanna Sleeeeeeeeeep

So it has been a rough couple of days. The lack of sleep and lots of homework is getting to me. I really need to get caught up and stay that way. The biggest thing is reading Genji. The book is just soooooo long. Coupled with the fact that I cannot concentrate on reading it past 10pm or so at night, means that it never gets done. I also do not take the book to school because it is so big. The book itself easily doubles the weight of my backpack.

So right now I am trying to find something to do. My translation studies class today was cancelled as the teacher never showed up. Therefore, I have to find something to do for 3 hours until my next class. Posting in my blog seemed like a perfect idea.

So two days ago I stopped by the hub and met 2 Waseda students who wanted to practice their english. I wanted to practice my Japanese, but it is always a give and take relationship. We talked a lot about the differences between American and Japanese schools. I had a lot of fun. We also agreed that next time we meet we will converse in Japanese.

Yesterday I had an optional Japanese class. The program is offering 4 different classes that are taught by Waseda students wanting to teach Japanese. We spent the entire hour and a half going over the differences between ありがとうございます　と　ありがとうございました. It was the most long and drawn out class I have ever been in. Needless to say I will not be taking that again.

Afterwards, I went to the Super Mario Club with Vaso and Rienzo. It turns out that the club only has 4 members and therefore is not really a club at all. They share a room with another club that plays the cardgame "bridge". They just go there to hang out and play some Nintendo games. It was really cool to get to meet some people that share the same interests as me although, I do not think I will be joining. I will however, keep in contact with the guys running it. After playing some games, Vaso and I decided that we wanted to start collecting Famicom and Super Famicom games. They are relatively cheap and you can find them used all over the place. The only problem is buying the actual system...

Coffee

So now I drink coffee. There is not much more to say about it. My host family drinks coffee every morning for breakfast and I have joined them. When the students are out and about, we also tend to hit up a coffee shop at least 2 times a week. It is a great way to chill and talk about life.

Today was a pretty chill day. I spent the morning reading Genji and studying some Japanese. I did not realize that my family had gone out around noon, so I ended up not eating lunch. Around 4 pm I met up with Shoko at her apartment. This time around we went off to Ueno for food. I was absolutely starving. We hit up a 回転寿司 (kaiten-zushi) place and stuffed our faces. I had 5 plates at 100 yen a pop. It was a really cheap and delicious meal. Afterwards we went to a Starbucks where I consumed a white-chocolate mocha. I was immediately made fun of for not drinking coffee black. What can I say? Sweet drinks are the best. I have become used to drinking black coffee at home, but it is still not my drink of choice. Shoko and I ended up talking a lot about the general life in Japan. She is thinking of quitting her job because the work is too hard. She also made me realize that I do not want to work while in Japan. I worked all summer to experience this and to have $$. Now that I am here there is no reason to spend all my time teaching English or something along those lines.

I found out that Ueno is a really cool place. I was told that it used to be the black market of Japan, and still kind of is. Everything there was fairly cheap. There were many vendors trying to sell off the rest of the food they had for the day. The prices on day old fish were insanely cheap. There were also many new and used clothes stores which had some pretty good designs. If I ever need to do some clothes shopping, Ueno is where I would to it. Sadly I did not get any good pictures because it was too dark out...

UVERworld

Amazing. Today was simply amazing. I knew it was going to be good, but it could not have gone any better.

I got to sleep in for the first time all week. It felt really good to just lie in my nice warm bed and not have to worry about anything. I spent the entire morning being lazy around the house. I did some laundry, ate breakfast, and played Zelda.

For lunch I was invited to go with Mieon and 2 students who came to CWRU this year. They just returned to japan a couple weeks ago and were really excited to see me. Their first impression of course, was that my Japanese is really good. When I talked to them in Cleveland, I spoke only in English to help them learn. That is a part of the foreign exchange student experience. Now that I am in Japan, it is the other way around. They speak to me only in Japanese. There was another student named Shoichi that met with us as well. I just happened to meet him last time I was in Japan as he is one of Hiromichi's good friends. It is simply amazing how coincidental life really is.

So for lunch we ate at this place in Harajuku. It was an お好み焼き食べ放題, that is, all you can eat okonomiyaki for 90 minutes. It was really good and we all ended up eating way too much. It was the first time that I actually stuffed myself full since I arrived in Japan. During lunch we talked about how the students spent their time at CWRU, as well as what Mieon and I are currently doing at Waseda. It was a fairly relaxing time albeit a little hot from the grills. Here is a picture of the girls making lunch.


After lunch we wandered around Harajuku popping in and out of shops. I was very surprised to see an used clothes store along the way. It does not have a huge selection like good-will, but in every other sense it is the same. We ended up walking all the way to Shibuya where Shoichi and I departed from the girls. He was going home, I was going to a concert.

I had very minimal directions on how to get to the UVERworld live. I knew it was at this college whose name I could not read. I looked it up on google maps and apparently the college is really close to my house. I stepped off the train at nishi-eifuku station and immediately found a map. Japan is so convenient because there are maps at every single train station. I did what I do best and matched up the Kanji I had written down with the ones on the map. I was off to the college. It did not take long before I caught up with some students who were also on their way to the live. I did not get a chance to talk to them, but they kept looking back at me for some reason. When I found the college I instantly saw the massive crowd of people waiting to get in. I asked one of the helpers if I could buy a ticket and he said "NO"

Heartbroken. The only word to describe my feelings at that moment. I was looking forward to seeing UVERworld so much and then there was this huge letdown. Defeated, I slowly started back towards the station....

Just then, a group of 4 Japanese students caught my attention. A blessing has come down unto thee! One of the students was selling 2 tickets because his girlfriend could not go with him to the concert. I spent a while talking to them about whether or not they were trying to rip me off, which was a very amusing conversation. I ended up buying a ticket from them for 1000 yen. I was expecting to pay 2000 because that was what the general admission was. What a steal! I exchanged phone numbers with them and was on my way.


The concert ended up being amazing. I could not take any pictures as that was prohibited, but I did snap one of my ticket to prove I went. First off everyone was ushered into the school gymnasium where there were 400+ chairs set up. My first impression was that this was going to be really lame if everyone was sitting down. I found an empty seat next to these two otaku looking guys. They had never heard UVERworld before and were just there for the entertainment. The girl that sat on the other side of me was a huge fan. She got really into it. When the lights went out, everyone immediately stood up. I heard cries from the girls sitting behind us 見れない！見れない！ (I can't see!) The two guys next to me were roughly the same height I was, which is approximately 20cm taller than any of the girls there. So the concert started and it was the same as any other concert I had been too. Everyone cheered, screamed, and sang along to the songs. The show was amazing.

After the show I was exiting the building when I noticed something. Most of the people there were girls. I hadn't noticed it before, but when I gave it a second thought it made sense. There were parts during the concert where the crowd sang a few lines from a song. It was an overwhelmingly female sound when those parts came up. All well, it makes me think no less of UVERworld.

When I arrived home I also received an e-mail from the guy that sold me the ticket. He wanted to go out drinking / partying. I was all for it except for the fact that I was already at home. Hopefully we can hang out another time.

I must be missing out

I feel like I am missing out on something. I go to school and then come back home. Sure there are some fun times in between, but life seems to have slowed down for the moment. It feels as though I am adjusting to school and the initial awe of being in Japan is wearing off. This must be what it feels like to finally get used to another culture.

Bills

Today I did not go to school but was out all day anyways. First there were interviews for some English teaching jobs this morning. I attended the meeting, filled out the forms, and got interviewed. It was not very exciting. Afterwards I went to a convenience store to pay my bills. It was then that I realized how much better they are than standard American stores. I can go to almost any convenience store in Japan and pay my cell phone bill (or electric, gas, etc). I also just found out that if you want to go to a concert somewhere, you buy tickets from a convenience store too. I was amazed. After this adventure, I went to Waseda with Vaso to start the work permit process to secure a job. It turns out that this was pretty much a wasted trip as we needed our alien registration cards. So we headed to Setagaya town center to pick up our cards. We got lost as soon as we got off the train station. There was a sign on the sidewalk that said the building was 20 meters to the left... There was nothing there. We returned to the train station and went to the other side. There was yet another sign that said the place was 140 meters straight ahead. This one was actually correct. Getting the card was a painless process. We handed them our passports and they handed them back along with the card. Now we are all set. Just need to open up a bank account so I can get paid.

Wait.... What homework?

So Monday I had finally recovered from the trip. I got a lot of sleep the previous night, therefore it was going to be a good day. The day started on a good note when we actually went over new concepts in my Japanese class. It became even better once class ended. I met up with many people for lunch and afterwards headed off once again to Shinjuku.

We spent the day wandering around again. The biggest discovery this time was a little alleyway with all sorts of really small food shops. At that point Steven went to work, but we promised to eat some Yakitori with him when he got back. Nikki, Austin, Vaso, and I ended up wandering around Shinjuku some more which eventually led to a Okonomiyaki shop. It was the first time I had been to an actual resturant of that sort. Afterwards we found this hippie shop with some crazy clothes. Nikki was really into it. Finally, Steven got off work and we went back to the alleyway. We ate at this tiny shop which was filled with people. The food was amazing, the bill was not. I guess it is alright to splurge a little every once and a while. That night I got back around 12:30 and immediately went to sleep.

The next day I regretted staying out so late. I had homework in all my classes which I failed to do. I somehow managed to read enough of Genji during lunch to make it through that class. My song class was having difficulties with the website so its homework was postponed. I was really lucky. After class ended I ran to the station to get to the Shinsei Bank in Tokyo center. There was a bridging scholarship reception. I figured it was free food so I might as well go. The party turned out to be amazing. We were on the top floor of this bank with windows all around the room. There were tables in the middle with all sorts of food from sushi to pasta. I also enjoyed some red wine with my meal. Of course I met lots of people too. There were only 3 of us from Waseda, the rest were from various other places around Tokyo. I was very pleased with the entire presentation.

Retreat to Karuizawa

This weekend we had the Japan Study trip to Karuizawa. First and foremost, I am really tired so this will most likely be a fairly short post.

We all met in Takadanobaba to leave for Karuizawa. The program chartered a bus for all of us. There was just barely enough seats for everybody. The thing that surprised me the most was that some people had their backpack and a small suitcase. I could not believe that someone would need all that stuff for a single overnight trip. I brought a change of clothes and my gameboy, nuff said. The ride up was alright. It took about 3.5 hours to get there, but we also made a stop for lunch. My first impression was that this place was in the middle of nowhere. There were mountains and farms all over the place. When we arrived my first impression was that I wanted to go hiking in the woods. I am disappointed that we never did.

The facilities were really nice. I was assigned to a large room with 12 or so of the guys. As soon as we walked in, we started setting up the futons. Everyone asked us why we were doing it so early. Little did they know that the plan was to be able to walk in and sleep wherever one may fall. Outside there was a large baseball field, tennis courts, and basketball courts. There were also other buildings for housing as well as a nice cafeteria. Apparently this place is often used by Waseda for club outings.

First off about 10 of us went for a walk. Being around nature was a nice change of pace compared to the center of Tokyo. A few people explored some of the woods nearby, but I did not join in. It was a very rural area with not very many houses.

When we got back from our walk some of the guys and I went back to our room and turned on the heater. It was so cold outside. By some freak reason I felt the need to not bring a sweatshirt. Bad choice. I ended up wearing a t-shirt and two long sleeve shirts the entire time. I did not realize that it was going to be that cold such a short distance away from Tokyo. We had dinner, a meeting afterwards about how things were going, and then a party. We all drank, danced, played games, and generally made fools of ourselves. We had to be out of the building by 11pm, so the party ended up moving to my room. Everyone loved the fact that the futons were all set out. It was very homely. I ended up going to bed around 3 or so once the party faded and people returned to their own rooms.

Today I was so tired. Breakfast was at 7:30 in the morning. This announcement came on and woke everyone up. I saw many people sit up, look around in sleepily, and then roll over and fall back asleep. I for one, wanted some substance so I forced myself to get out of bed and head to the cafeteria. I was very glad I did because it made life so much better afterwards. We had another short meeting and then free time before departure. Many of us enjoyed the warmth of the sun by playing frisbee and badmiton. We had lunch and then departed.

As soon as I arrived home I took a nap. It felt so good.

Ma Na

So school is finally starting to set in. I have not taken many pictures at all recently. This is mostly due to the fact that I am not doing much besides attending classes and studying. The week has been pretty boring.

Yesterday I met up with Vaso and had lunch. Today I had lunch with Rienzo, then dinner with Shoko. Tomorrow I don't have class until late afternoon which means I get to sleep in.

On Saturday we are departing for Nagano for a weekend trip with the Japan Study students. It will be a good time, but I think it should be a little later during the year. We just started classes and are still talking to the other people in our program! All well, it gets us out of inner Tokyo for a little while.

More Studying

I woke up this morning and started studying kanji. Vaso e-mailed me around noon for lunch. We went to this really good Italian restarant in Shinjuku. We had some seafood pizza which consisted of shrimp and squid. Afterwards we went to the arcade and played a game of Gundam and Guilty Gear. I also ended up playing a game of Beatmania, which I realize that I really suck at. It is that turntable that always screws me up. It was raining all day today and I somehow managed to lose my umbrella at one of the arcades. Personally I think someone stole it. Vaso had some club meeting to attend at Waseda so we parted ways. I returned home and started reading Genji. 4 chapters per week means a lot of reading!

Last Train

So now I know when the last train is to my house because I just took it. It runs at 12:15 from Shinjuku station. I am so glad that I managed to catch it, otherwise I would have been screwed.

Anyways, today was a very unproductive day. The good news is that I got to see where my good friend Shoko lives. Her aunt owns a rather large plot of land in Nezu which is near Ueno. She built some apartments and is renting them out to Tokyo University students. The apartments are kind of small, but it is just like living in a dormitory with full amenities. Her aunt visited and gave us these sugar coated grapes. They were pretty gross. Anyway, Shoko was in awe that I had not seen the Miyazaki film となりのトトロ (Tonari no Totoro) so she made me watch it. It was a bit on the childish side, but still a really good movie. We also had breakfast for dinner (pancakes, eggs, sausage) with some dango for desert. There always has to be some sort of Japanese twist in there right? So I ended up staying a bit too late and barely caught the last train home. I will be sure not to do that again.

First Weekend

Saturday was a blast. First of all, I woke up really early to go to Ceatec. Vaso decided to be lazy and sleep in instead. I ended up going by myself. It cost me 900 yen to get to the convention center. That is fine and all, but it only cost me 500 yen to get back home via the same route. Talk about weird. The first thing I noticed as I stepped off the train was that everyone was going the same direction. I followed suit and they eventually led me to the convention center. That place was huge! There are three convention buildings each housing a different specialty: home entertainment, fancy new electronics, and the components that go into the fancy new electronics.

I went to the fancy new electronics first because it was closest. The first thing that struck me was the amount of different companies in this huge hall. There were the big ones like Panasonic and Microsoft, but there were also really tiny companies with some pretty cool electronics. The second thing that struck me were the booth babes. They were everywhere. The big companies had upwards of 15 while most of the smaller places had 1 or 2. I thought it was simply amazing that almost every single booth had at least 1.



So I walked around and enjoyed the geeky-ness that comes with every big conventions. I checked out the new TV's, mp3 players, phones, computers, and everything else that I could find. The bigger companies had a show about every half hour or so. They ranged from normal presentations to song and dance and even a magic show! It was very impressive.

After I had seen everything (or at least walked by it) I headed back home. I made a stop at Shinjuku to eat and meet Vaso and Miles. It took them a while to show up so in the meantime I went arcade hopping. There is a popular area in Shinjuku that has about 5 different arcades on the same block. If there is a game you want to play that is already taken, you can simply go on to the next arcade. I ran into Vaso and Miles while changing arcades. They apparently had plans to go to this bar / international party. I decided it would be a good chance to meet people.

I talked to a ton of different people at the party. Most of them were enamoured that I was attending Waseda University. The rest were just surprised at my Japanese ability (which I still do not think is very good.) The party ended around 10pm so we had to move elsewhere. We ended up just walking around until late.

Forgetfullness

I realized that I have been slacking in the blog department since classes started so here goes.

Two days ago I had planned to go to Ceatec with Vaso. However he sent me an e-mail in the morning saying that he was sick. It was probably something he ate, as he wanted to meet up and do something around 1 pm. Anyhow, I spent my morning being lazy around the house. While I have not picked up any video games yet, I did pick up my Japanese textbook and started studying; something I have not done in a long time. I ended up mostly reviewing my Kanji as that is the gateway for me to learn other words. For lunch I ran up to the local convinience store and picked up some onigiri and a plate of yakisoba. By the time I arrived home, Vaso was already wanting to do something. Naturally, I agreed.

We met up at Shinjuku at the usual spot, the bridge in front of Bic-Camera. From there we went on a journey through Shinjuku looking for the lone bank that was still open. We had already been to this bank once before, but neither one of us really paid attention to where it was. We walked past various landmarks including a row of vending machines and a few banks with only atm's in them. Finally we had a revelation, and realized that the bank we were looking for was right across the street. Well that was a fun adventure.

So now we were left with nothing to do. I suggested that we hit up the local Kinokuniya to pick up the books we needed for school. I needed the Tale of Genji and Vaso needed something called Japan and Korea. We needed to go to the other side of the Shinjuku train station. The plan was to walk straight through from the west exit to the east exit. We came out of the exit, walked around a corner, and there was the Bic-Camera again. Somehow we managed to walk in a circle. Back to the train station! This time we came out a lot closer to our destination, so I decided that it was best just to walk around the station until we hit Kinokuniya.

I ended up buying the Royall version of The Tale of Genji. It is the most recent and hopefully will be easier to read than the other versions. Vaso found his book as well. After that we headed home. I read the introduction of my book later that night. It looks like it will be an interesting story.

Yesterday I had lots of classes. Japanese class was awesome as we had a different teacher. This one is much more engaging compared to the other. I am really glad that we will have her every Thursday. The next class was really fun. It is my Translation Theory class. We started off by breaking into groups and trying to translate a short story from Japanese into English. Our group consisted of me, Vaso, Mariko, and another girl at our level. Mariko is a native Japanese speaker and helped translate all of the kanji. We found out that it is hard to agree on a translation when we are all working together. Everyone has their own idea of what they think would be the best way to describe any particular sentence. After this little project, our teacher started going over some of the basic theories of translation such as word-for-word and sense-for-sense. I really think I will enjoy that class. Finally, I attended the second lecture of Genji. We talked about the family tree of the old emperor Nobihiko. It did not interest me too much, but it is important to know where the tale of Genji came from and why. I just cannot wait to start reading it!

Study Time!

I have been to almost all of my classes thus far. Today I attended Japanese again in the morning, then The Tale of Genji and Japanese Popular Music in the afternoon. In the morning class everyone brought in a show and tell item. Mine was the chopsticks that my last host family gave me. I did not really prepare at all, but think I did a pretty good job explaining my item. Some other people had real trouble, and still others simply read from a speech they wrote the previous night. Now that in cheating in my opinion. The thing that makes Japanese class fun is the fact that you get to use your knowledge to make new sentences. That is also the best way to learn.

The Tale of Genji class looks really interesting. The teacher even remembered Brenden when I said that my majors were computer science and Japanese studies. I want to get my hands on a book pronto. The music class looks like it will be more of a "translating and understanding lyrics" type of course. We started the day with the Japan national anthem called Kimi ga yo. We went through the lyrics explaining what all the kanji was, then compared it to 3 different translations of the song. It is amazing how different the translations were. Thursday I have a class about the theory of translation. I am hoping that these two courses will go hand in hand together.

Tomorrow I want to check out the Ceatec which is somewhere in Tokyo. It is this big electronics expo which shows off the latest and greatest. Admission is free so there really is no reason not to go.

First Day of Class

My first class of the day started at 9am. This meant that I had to get up at 7:30 and be out the door by 8. I just so happened to leave my notebook with the room numbers written in them back at my house. Nice. So I ended up being 5 minutes late as I had to find out where on campus this class was.

The class itself was relatively painless. We started out by doing our introductions. I felt like I was in the upper 5 or so people in the class in terms of fluency. Our sensei then explained the class rules and whatnot. Finally we had a set of 3 tests to take: Kanji, Grammar, and Listening. The kanji test was really hard. I should have done a decent job on it, but I had not written any characters all summer. The other two tests were really easy.

After class I met up with Vaso and Shoko to grab lunch. We had Tonkatsu obentou. Vaso is so lucky, he somehow managed to have no classes on Monday or Wednesday. Course, his other days are going to be crammed packed with classes. After lunch we hit up a Japanese modern liturature class. It looks like a pretty cool class but I really do not think that I can fit it into my schedule.

The first day of class was pretty sweet. I am kinda wore out too; It's partially from the bad weather, cold, and class.

One more thing

When we were in Shinjuku yesterday we happened upon a Japanese talent contest. It was called Kabuki-cho Star Contest. The winner gets 300,0000 Yen or $30,000. There were 9 acts witch ranged from comedy skits to singing and dancing. I took a video of 4 of the acts and have uploaded them to youtube for viewing pleasure. Enjoy!

Inventor - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YRYpSTpEJT8
Boy Band - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YaojpFiNd-U
Graduating Students - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N2FVWSPQ_n8
Enka Singer - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=djNdvXd4G5o

Boring

Yesterday was boring. We finished up the presentations in the morning then Vaso, Keaton, and I headed to Shinjuku. I think we walked around for 3+ hours looking for a specific arcade. Vaso and Keaton eventually left me to search alone. As soon as they left I just happened to run into it. Figures. Afterwards I went to the Hub for a little bit just to hang out.

This morning was great. It had rained a little last night and had cooled down a lot. It's the kind of weather when you can wear a long sleeve shirt and not be cold or hot. I spent the morning trying to get music on my phone. I eventually figured out that it has to be in wma format for it to work. As I write this I am converting all the music that I brought with me to wma in order to use my phone as an music player. Around noonish I met Vaso at Shinjuku and we headed to the arcade that I found yesterday. We played a couple games of Guilty Gear Core and Gundam before heading to meet one of Vaso's friends. This kid is apparently working in Japan for a while doing environmental research. He went to Middlebury last summer and has had no Japanese knowledge before that. His listing skills were better than mine which really made me envious. Anyways, we hit up a bowling ally in Shinjuku for 2 rounds. I managed to break a 100 both times, which is all that really matters to me. Bowling in Japan is just like in the states... But the balls were painted like basketballs for some odd reason.

So here I am back at home. This is the first day that I have actually studied Japanese since I arrived here. I feel like I have not been learning much of the language by going outside the classroom. Classes need to start already!

Meh

Once again I woke up way too early. It was not my fault however. My host family woke me up for breakfast. Ugh. I still am feeling under the weather, but it really isn't that bad. I went to Harajuku today with some people and did some shopping. I bought 3 more issues of Yu Yu Hakusho, which brings me to number 7. I decided that I wanted to come home really early today and go to sleep right after dinner. I need to wake up early again tomorrow to finish up presentations...

On a lighter note, I now have full features on my cell phone. For just $10 more per month, I can enjoy unlimited e-mailing, internet, television, and radio through my phone.

Sick

I believe I am getting sick. It is more than likely due to the fact that I have had little sleep and lots of adjusting. Every night I have only been getting a maximum of 7 hours, usually less. It is starting to get to me. On the bright side, I now have a brand new cell phone. It is red. Yeah. Anyways, I need to be getting to sleep, but there is an important website that you all should bookmark.

http://www.risukun.com/Node.aspx?id=259618

One of my friends from college, Brendan Elliot, is letting me use space on his picture server. He went to Japan on the same program that I am currently doing in 2002. I would like to send a big thanks to Brendan.

Class Registration

Today we needed to be at Waseda at 10 a.m. for class registration. First they assigned us to a Japanese course level. There are 5 different levels of classes, 1 being beginner and 5 being the hardest. It is possible to place beyond level 5, in which case, you do not need to take a Japanese class. I managed to place into level 3, while Vaso got into level 4. I am really jealous that he got all that extra Japanese training over the summer. It just means I have to work that much harder to catch up. The good thing is, I have money to spend on things I enjoy.

After Registration we wandered around for 2 and a half hours looking for a bank to exchange travelers cheques. I could not believe how hard it was to find. We ended up going to Shinjuku to do it. Afterwards we hit up a local coffee shop for a break as well as a discussion about our project. We grabbed dinner at this place called "En". They served all sorts of different things. I had the Chirashi-zushi, which is raw fish over rice. Afterwards, everyone split except for Vaso and I. Vaso bought a USB flash drive and a new bookbag. I spent my money on a game of Beatmania Gold and Pop'n Music Adventure. I need to limit myself on how much I spend at arcades this year. It is really easy to spend $10+ a day in arcade games.

Yay for wireless internet!

September 21

Yay! New issue of Famitsu today! That kept me occupied on the train ride to and from our dorm. Today I went to the cafeteria to eat breakfast. It was suprisingly good once I figured out how to order. I told the lady behind the counter what I wanted and she showed me to the vending machine. You buy a ticket first and then give it to her to get your food. I guess it is just an easier way to manage the money. After breakfast myself, Shoko, Adam, and Vaso went to Shinjuku to check out a junk shop. They had lots of cool stuff there. I ended up buying a wallet and a strap that goes around your forehead. Shoko bought a Tiara. Adam bought some plastic ears and a interesting looking hat. We need to do a video for class and we wanted some props. Afterwards we all checked out the arcades. Vaso won a mario and luigi keychain, go figure. We also played this really cool gundam game. Now I'm not a big fan of gundam, but I liked the game. It's team based and you can play with 4 people seated beside you. Once you have a team you play against another team over the net. It was amazing. Vaso and I won the first battle even though we had no idea what was going on. We lost the second one though. Afterwards we had the formal Waseda reception to welcome all the SILS students. It took too much time if you ask me. We met up with Rienzo San once the reception was over. He just graduated from CWRU and is taking a year to study Japanese at Waseda. He was in my Japanese 101 class when I was a freshman. We went out to eat at a tiny shop near the train station. It was really cool seeing another friendly face in Japan. Back in our dorm, we had a meeting to find out who our host families were. It looks like I am living with the Usui family in Shimotakaido near Keio university. It is about a 50 minute train ride. The host father apparently likes teaching Japanese! This should be a great opportunity to improve my skills. The Waseda students put on a little skit explaining what not to do in a host family situation. It was really funny. Shohei dressed up like a girl and had Byu over for a "romantic" evening. Tonight I will be packing my bags back up. They are getting shipped to my host family tomorrow morning, but I won't meet them until Sunday.

September 22

I woke up this morning to take my bags down to the lobby in order to ship them. 7am never seemed so early before. On top of that, the school cafeteria is closed all day on Saturday and Sunday. We had to go find food on our own. Today was the first day of our project. Every person in this program was assigned a group and a place to explore. My group of Shoko and Adam headed to Hamamatsucho around 8:30. It took us over an hour and a half to get there from our dorms. Luckily we managed to snag some seats on the train. Once we got off the train, we all got into character and started filming. Needless to say, I got many strange looks today. I think Adam looked more akward with his ski mask on, but he didn't need to wear that constantly. I however just had a simple headband that said "Japan" in kanji on it. I noticed a lot of people talking about me. Anyways, we started filming our movie. This lead us towards Tokyo Tower via some parks. We just made up a script as we went along, and I personally think it will turn out pretty good. Basically the villan (Adam) kidnaps the princess (Shoko) and the hero (me) gets to save the princess. It's pretty "Super Mario" if you ask me. We filmed until around 2:30 and proceded to make our way to Waseda. There was this club meeting called the Rainbow Club that Adam wanted to go to. It sounds corny, but it is a kaiwa club for Japanese and English students wanting to learn the other language. They put on a good show with many power point presentations. The party afterwards featured Waseda students and international students at about a 1:1 ratio. I met a bunch of cool people. I also found out that there is a circle (club) that plays lots of video games, mainly smash brothers. I have to get in on that.

September 23

I cannot believe that it is 5pm already. We all had to wake up at 9 am in order to check out of our dormitory. Afterwards we went to Waseda for our orientation where we ate Dominos Pizza. The pizza in Japan is much different than in America. The weirdest thing was the eggplant pizza. I don't know if I could eat that. After the pizza there was more orientation while our host families started arriving. My host father Shouzou came to pick me up. Once all of the host families arrived, they had a short orientation and then were sent home with their respective students. On the way to my new home, I picked up my commuter pass. This allows me to go from Waseda to my host family's house as many times as I want. The school will of course, reimburse us the cost. The commute to my new house was only about 20 minutes, but then there was another 20 minute walk to get from the station to my house. I met my host mother Masayo when I got home. They both seem really nice. We had some nikuman while giving our introductions. They handed me a little packet with the house rules on it. I was impressed by this. Afterwards I was sent up to my room to unpack my stuff.

September 24

We finished our project today! Yay! The filming part is all done. Adam is going to throw it together while Shoko and I work on the other part of the presentation. I went to Shinjuku this morning to buy a power adapter for my laptop. All the plugs here only have 2 holes instead of 3. I ended up buying a surge protector so I can plug all my electronics in at once. For lunch we met up with Keaton and had some Gyuudon. Afterwards we hit up the local pub for drinks. I managed to make it home for supper right on time at 8pm. My sister Miko got me connected to the internet so now I will be able to do updates every day!