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.