Rubix?

So I just found out that putting together a rubix cube while under the influence has a significant effect on my times. I also screw up much more often. My times jumped from 2:30 to 3:30... Sucks! Anyhow, I gave up on that and decided to write in my blog.

Today was a normal day at school. I met up with Bridget for lunch and she informed me of plans to go to Hokkaido at the end of next month. It looks like I might be going with her and Eric! I hung out in the lounge after class and met up with Ayumi. She had skipped the past few Anthro classes so I let her copy my notes down. I must admit that my notes are really bad.... I don't even understand some of them, let alone a native Japanese speaker... She sadly couldn't stay to study with me, so instead I went to the other lounge. There I met up with some of the study abroad students that I have not seen in at least a month. Moons really are flying by! We caught up a bit and I got my ear talked off by Laura, who had tons of things to say about a specific 留学生... I went to Laura's apartment with Milton for a tad and then headed off to Baba to meet some Waseda students.

Now I know I said before that I had a dinner planned with them. The students are not the month-long engineering students, but the week-long give-a-presentation-about-Japan students. I was surprised. We sang some songs at Karaoke for an hour and then met up with the rest of them. The party was a lot of fun, but I dunno about meeting them individually on later occasions. They don't seem interested in meeting outside of a big group setting. Well, we will see what happens.

わあああ

漫画集めがすぐ終わりそう。今日ヘルシング５番冊と７番冊を買った。後サムライチャンプルーも買い終わった。もうすぐ終わる！！

今朝の人類学について授業も映画を見て、意見を書いて出した。今日の映画は一番抽象的なやつだった。センスがなかったその映画。。。来年の水曜は期末試験（期末じゃなくても最後のテストだ）。ちょっと心配してるけど、教科書も全部読んだ。先生はそれだけをするなら大丈夫だって。明日アユちゃんと復習するつもり。頑張れ！！！

１２時から７時までずっとICCセンターでいろんな事をした。まず、風邪の影響でエクスチャーンジパートナーが来なかった。幸運にもヴァソが来たから、一人じゃなくて、二人でのんびりした。結構楽しかった。マリオかいぞうEDITIONというスパーハードのスパーファミコンゲームをやった。６時から７時まではJAPANESE　HOURという特別なプログラムだった。皆は東京についてゼミみたいなやつをする。もちろん日本語で。無料ノートとお茶をもらった。＾＿＾

今日はじめて２分以下ルビックを完了した。速くなるよ！

Is it good or is it bad?

So yesterday I went out with Sheung Sheung to Roppongi Hills and saw the Bucket List. It is about these two guys who have cancer; one the head of a hospital and the other a mechanic. They learn that they have only 6 months left to live and decide to go on an adventure to see the world. You can see the ending coming from a mile away, but it is still sad. Sheung Sheung had tears by the end of it. It's not my kind of movie, but it was a way to get out of the house and away from studying. Aside from that it was really cheap at only 1000 yen after the student discount.

I returned home and instead of doing homework, I started playing FF7: Crisis Core. Now I got the game when I bought my PSP way back in August, but this is the first time that I have started playing it. I wanted to wait until my Japanese level was good enough to be able to understand the story. Since this is an RPG, it is a heavily story driven game. I am glad that I did wait because I can understand %80 of what is going on WITHOUT LOOKING AT MY DICTIONARY! It is probably the best feeling in the world. I also get to learn new words like "air raid," "pride," and "mission." It is such a good feeling...

So since yesterday I have been playing non-stop in my free time. This morning I had a speech and a kanji test in Japanese. I did not prepare for either of them except on the hour long ride to school. Needless to say they went just as well as if I spent hours preparing. After class I went with John and Kyle for lunch at Malibar. We spent the entire time talking about friends back at our home colleges. I think everyone is getting a little homesick by now.... For 4th period I met my language partner Ryota and his friend from Vietnam. I forget his name, but he has been living in Japan since he was 2 so he is not really a foreigner. We talked in the ICC for an hour (all in Japanese) and then went to play darts at a nearby place called "The Hideout." The perfect place to go when you skip class. We played 4 rounds of darts and I managed to win on the first one (which was highest score) and the last one (pizzarea). There are a bunch of interesting games for darts where you try to give you opponents points and the lowest score wins. Anyway, after that I returned home and started up Crisis Core again.

I really am addicted to video games. But it is a good thing right? I am once again not doing my homework, but at least I'm getting Japanese practice right?

Spring Cleaning

部屋を掃除した。２ヶ月過ぎた。。。

宿題は何だ？

今日、初めて午後一時まで寝た。どうしてか分からないけど、昨日終電に乗った。４回目だった。

宿題を一生懸命するはずだったんだけど、できないわ！日記を書き始まったとき、淳子からメールが来た。すぐ宿題をしないで、お風呂に入って、出かけた。高田馬場のミズドで２時間ぐらいしゃべた。久しぶりに会った。その後、代々木公園で散歩した。今９時のに宿題がまだやらなかった。できるかなあああ

命、どこへ行っちゃって？

今日は楽しかった。まず、池袋駅でスティーブに会った。スティーブは何とかIcocaカードの問題があって、僕が手伝ってあげた。駅の中で二人ともヨヨを使って遊んだ。ステぃーブの影響でケースに帰るとジャグリングクラブに入るかもしれない。囲碁より楽しそう。

でわ、西日暮里という駅へ行って、ねず駅へ次行くはずだったが、Icocaは関西から持ってきたから地下鉄で使わない。そして、山手線に戻って、上野駅で降りた。歩いたあいだにヨヨを使った。道で歩いている人は変な顔が出って来た。ま、外国人だな～

上野公園からねず駅まで歩いた。驚くほど短期間で到着した。ねずにあるスーパーでダンゴともちで作ったお菓子を買って食べた。ベンチさんがないから、食べながら歩いた。今日の予定は東大際っていう祭り。東京大学はどこか知らないけど、歩道にある地図を見て、すぐ分かった。最初に工学部キャンに行ってみた。そこで何もない。学生もいないし、ビルが閉まっているし、自転車もないし、どう見ても誤っていた。では、次のキャンへ行ってみた。こんかいは正解！東大正門を見つかって、　祭りも見た。マークというステぃーブに会った東大学生を電話した。５分後、来た。マークは８年間日本に住んでいた。最初は僕と同じ留学生だった。今PHDの学生、沖縄の古い言葉を研究しているって。

This is taking way too long. So this guy Mark introduced us to Tokyo University. It is a very nice campus with nice buildings and trees everywhere. I think it is much better than Waseda. We watched a couple of the events which included a dance that we were dragged into, a juggling demonstration in which our yo-yo skills were greatly shown up, and ended up outside a host bar. There was a girl standing outside that tried to get us to go in. We started talking to here and it turns out that she goes to Waseda! On top of that she is in SILS! It is amazing that I havn't met her before... But of course I guess SILS is bigger than I thought it was. There are a ton of Japanese students in it. We ended up talking with her for about an hour. After that we parted ways. Mark went home while Steve and I headed to Baba.

Steve and I stopped at Waseda first in order to check out the book off there. Steve had a list of things he wanted to pick up for friends at home and himself. I ended up getting almost the entire series of the original Tenchi Muyo manga. It was the first time I had seen it and it was almost in its entirety so I couldn't pass it up. Next we were planning on going "conbini hopping" コンビ二ホッピングっていうのは最初のカンビニで好きなお酒を買って、歩きながら飲む。終わったら、次のコンビニでもう一度買って。。。。など。こいう風に安くてよぱらくなる The problem was that Steve picked up a small bottle of Whiskey. It is great if you want to get really drunk, but the first store is pretty much your last in the way of conbini hopping. I got a Chu-hi. We walked back towards Baba (it was raining BTW so it sucked) and stopped at いっぷど for dinner. Steve had yet to finish his drink so he shoved it in his pocket. The ramen was amazing as always. I think that you only get free rice and Gyoza at lunch which is a real shame. It would be sweet if you could do that all the time. We ended up back in Baba and went to the book off there as well. I picked up 1-10 of Tenjho Tenge which was also the first time I have seen it. It is so weird how you start seeing things after spotting it for the first time. The final book store was a ポーンオ bookstore. Steve wanted to pick up some interesting books for his friends back at home. We laughed while Steve looked through a couple looking for the most outrageous one. Finally, we spent the next hour at the arcade in big box. The plan was to beat time crisis 4, but the 2nd player gun was broken. We instead played DDR again, and various other 2 player games. I said bye to him on the train station and returned home.

It was nice seeing Steve again. It makes me realize how long it has been since I have seen anyone of relation aside from Vaso and the others here. I'm really starting to miss home.

やっと金曜

長ああああい授業があった今日。１から４限はwaaay長すぎる。授業後、Steve, Meion, Nanae, Joe, and Chisatoとカラオケをしに行った。楽しかったけど、スティーブと僕が歌ったばかり。ナナエとチサトは歌うのが下手だって。関係ないよ！上手かどうか関係ない！ｈｍｍｍ。。。その後サイゼリアで食べて、皆帰った。スティーブと一緒BIGBOXのゲームセンターで１１時までゲームをやった。スティーブはゲームが好きって。

Business Meeting

今日早起きたのにやっぱり遅刻した。でも東西線の問題があったから、サラとダビーダも遅刻した。奥原先生はいい先生だよ！ことわざと擬音語を勉強して、スキットも作ってやった。休憩に奥原先生が明日のスピーチを直してくれた。よかったけど他動詞と自動詞の間違いがあった。”つける”と”つく”をスイッチした。

昼食は弁当だった。２２号館の向こうにある弁当屋さんでのりから揚げを買って、次の授業の部屋で食べながら東京について本を読んだ。桜井先生は今回わかりにくい。隣に座っている女性が全然わからなかった。どうしてかというか、科学の話だった。科学と仏教の関係があるかなぁ。桜井先生はそう思う。

次、おうくま像の前にカメロンと会った。一緒に恵比寿へ行った。

Okay it is getting late and I need to get some sleep so English go!

So the Bridging Scholarship people put together a meeting for different companies in Japan to give a recruiting speech to people who received the scholarship. The meeting was in Ebisu on the 11th floor of Ebisu Tower owned by Morgan Stanley. We spent the next 2 hours listening to speeches by various presenters. These included representatives from the JET Programme, US Embassy, Shinsei Bank, and even Square Enix! I got to talk to the JET Programme guys about their experiences on it and what they think is best for me to do. First of all I need to make sure I will graduate on time, then I can think about applying. I then talked to the localization head of Square Enix. He is a normal guy just like me with a fascination for video games. Surprisingly, he started studying Japanese when he got to college just like me, transferred after 2 years to a Japanese college, then got the job at Square after finishing his 3rd year there. He said that the most important thing about video game localization is to remember that most players have no idea about the "true" Japan and the translator needs to keep that in mind. It is much less about literal translation then about writing creatively and keeping the character of the games intact. He showed an example of an easy sentence in Japanese and different ways of translating it depending on what game it shows up in. It sounds like a really cool job, but I need to practice my creative writing skills if I ever have a chance of doing it. I also need to pass the level 1 Japanese profficiancy exam. I think I can pass level 2 right now if I try hard enough.

The presentations were really cool. I appreciate the Bridging Scholarship people for setting it up. I need to start thinking about where my life will take me in the future... ３年後どこにいるかなぁ

About the Japanese Posts...

I really really really want to do all of my posts is Japanese, but it takes so much time!!! The entry below this took an hour to write! It sucks because I feel like I leave so many things out, whether it is just lazy-ness because it takes so long to write, or that I don't know how to express a particular feeling in Japanese. I need to decided if having a nice detailed account or getting a ton of Japanese practice is better... Sure I would love to have my writing skills be better than they are, and the only way to do it is simply to write a lot, but I lose many details... We shall see...

もう一回みよう

頑張るぜ！今回は京都の観光も書くつもり。何時間をかかるか分からないけど、頑張る！前に言ったことのに、本当の日を選ぶことが出来るからこれから適当な日にもうあった事を書く。

今日は普段の日。早起きても、学校に遅刻した。残念。それにしてもやっぱり眠かった。昨日の１時もで起きていた。。１と２限の授業は人間関係。今日すごい変な映画を見た。先週と同じ感じだけど、今回の映画は分かりにくい。ナレーターはずっとストリーを話して、不適切な写真とビデオが出てきた。ぜんぜんわからなかった。見た後、自分の経験を書かなければならないけど、あまり書かなかったね。でも先生が「成績を取らない」って。よかったなぁー

昼にミオンと一緒にドンキへ行って、ミオンが化粧をした。僕が本物のルビッククーブを買った。おもちゃとして高いけど、１００円のクーブに対して上質だ。後、ICCでLanguage　Exchangeっていうプロラムのアンケートを出した。それからバスでおくまキョンへ行った。吉本研でスティーブとシンイチさんに会って、やすべーというつけ麺レストランに到着した。そこで新しい味じゃなくて、ダブル辛味を選ぶことが始まった。やはり僕らは大盛りでダブル辛味を食べてみた。美味しかったよ！！！最初に行ったとき、普通の辛さを選んで、「美味しい！」と思った。次に行ったとき、辛味を選んで、「もっと美味しい！」と思った。それからいつも辛味つけ麺を選んだ。でも、ダブル辛味は最高の味だと思って、これから食べることにした。おなかがいっぱくなった。

２時に高田馬場で新しい工学部の交換プログラムの人に会った。５人にいるけど、２人しか会わなかった。ミシェルとマイックと呼ばれ、２年生の人たち。ミチェルは高校で日本語を勉強して、ケースでもう一年勉強した。マイックは初めて言語を習う人ど。後、前にこのプログラムで来た人ジョも来た。最後に吉本研の大学院２年シニチとサキが来た。９人で原宿方面へ出発した。

原宿でまず東京で第一神社、明治じんぐと呼ばれ、を訪問した。そこで変な中学生の制服を着ているおじいさんを見かけた。まじで？

やっと駅に戻って、竹下通りで散歩して、帰った。

スティーブと僕がバイバイして、新宿で電車を降りた。スティーブは買い物をしに行きたいって。よよを買いたいって。TakashimayaというでっかいデパートのTokyuHandsへ行って、おもちゃのフロアで買い物した。スティーブの影響でYomega　Fireballというよよを買った。余計なひもを半分した。最後にトリックペンと呼ばれ特別なペンを買った。普通の値段だからしょがない。

スティーブは高田馬場にあるBlue Parrotという中古英語本屋へ行きたかったってけど、僕がこの日記と宿題をやらなきゃから、帰った。どこにあるか教えてあげた。みつかったかなー

オッケー！これは１時間かかったよ！京都の分は絶対英語で書く。。やるたくないでもしょがないね。日本語を使うと終わらなさそう。。。

眠いよ！！

ほんまに眠いよ！ナイトバスはすごい大変！ま、今回隣の席が空いていたので、足が長くしてた。それでよく寝た。後はね、大雨の影響で平気に眠れた。でも何回も起こされた。。。

京都から１１：１０に出発して、７：３０に東京に着いた。授業に絶対遅刻するのに、家に帰らなければ教科書を持たない。家に帰って、ご飯を食べて、教科書をグラブして、また出た。やっぱり遅刻した。でもバスでイトウ先生にメールを送っておきた。

授業はつまらなかった。新しい教科書を使い始まったが、もっと頑張らないとダメ。

お昼になって、留学の人にちょっと話して、おくまキャンへ行った。５１号館の前でスティーブに会った。スティーブは観光でケースから日本に来た。２年間前にスティーブ、ジェッフ、私、が一緒に日本に来た。あの時１ヶ月間日本語を勉強に来た。スティーブは留学したいけど、他の勉強の方が大切だって。このままでスティーブとずっと話した。久しぶりだった！

僕らはまずインドレストランで食べて、高田馬場を紹介して、新宿へ行った。紀伊国屋で日本語の本を探しに行った。Heisig, Kodonsha Kanji Dictionary, and the Japan Times Grammar booksをちょっと説明してあげた。日本語の勉強のために、その三つは最高の本。三つの本しか使わない。その良さ。で、やっと最後の文法本が発売した！！！日本語文法辞典（上級）という本を買った。メールを送るとヴァソがうらやましいって。つまり、買ってください！

ええええっと、新宿でもうすこし散歩して、帰った。

京都についてブログで待ってて！

Kyoto Day 3: Lost in Nara

I woke up to Yuko staring at me. She set the alarm for bright and early at 7am because she had class at 10. Then unexpectedly she started making breakfast. Ok letting me stay over is one thing, but making me breakfast? I have never had any of my friends do that for me before. I helped out. We had eggs, toast, sausage, and salad, my first American-style breakfast since Niigata. Then I took a shower, packed up all my stuff, and we were ready to go. She gave me directions about how to get to Nara and then walked me to the train station. I definitely need to get Takura and Yuko something for letting me stay at their apartments.

I thought I got lost on the way to Nara, but ended up arriving at the right place. Lucky! I could not find a map of Nara around the train station, so I took a picture of one out front. It is a good thing that I still have a camera!

I spent the day wandering around Nara. I visited some temples first off. I also visited the giant buddha statue (the biggest one in Japan) and saw lots of kids. Finally, I fed some deer. That's right, deer. Nara is famous for its deer population. They are well fed by tourists like me who pay 150 yen for a pack of senbei to feed them. If you are carrying senbei, you will immediately have 10 deer run up to you and make you give them a piece. They will tug at your shirt, pockets, and if you are not careful will try to stand up and take the senbei straight from your hand! Needless to say I had a good time with them.

Eventually I ended up at this hill that you could pay to climb. I was about to do it when I saw a map of the area. Apparently that small hill was only one of 3 levels. I wanted to go to the top one. After a little more searching I found a hiking trail. It was 3 kilometers to the summit and 5 to a waterfall. Now I ran cross country, so I figured that it would take about an hour to walk all the way to the summit and waterfall, then another hour to come back. If it took a little longer that would be alright too. It was only 1pm and I did not have to be back to Kyoto until 11 to catch my bus. I departed on a hike through the woods.

It was a good hike with almost nobody around. Once I reached the summit I was greeted with a beautiful view of the city. It was amazing. After getting my fill of pictures, I headed off to the waterfall. The waterfall ended up being pretty tiny, and it was a ways off the beaten path. It seemed that nobody had been there for a while because there were rocks and fallen trees in the middle of the path that needed navigation.

I started my journey back and passed a guardhouse. I'm glad there was a guardhouse there. I continued my journey and ended up on a paved road for the rest of the way back. After going a little ways it started to sprinkle. On top of that, it was almost 4:30 so I was getting worried about making it back in time. That is when a car came up from behind me (the guy from the guardhouse) and I stopped him to hitchike a ride back to the station. It was this guy from Osaka and his daughter from Nara who were kind enough to give me a ride. I was very grateful. The ride was much longer than I thought. The road winded down the mountain and would have taken me another couple of hours if I had walked it. They dropped me off right by the station so I could hop a train back to Kyoto. I am so very grateful to those two.

Back at Kyoto I had 4 hours to kill until my bus left. Unfortunately, all of my friends were busy with school and jobs. I spent time around the station. At some point I decided that I could win at Pachinko and went to the nearest parlor. After settling on which machine I wanted to play, I put in my money and read the instructions. The screen said to push some button, but I couldn't find it anywhere! The guy sitting behind me helped me. I lost all my balls within 15 minutes of starting. How do people win at this game? I looked around and did not see anyone with buckets of balls sitting around. There has to be some sort of strategy to it... After that I went to Karaoke for an hour by myself. That was sort of depressing, but I got in some practice. Finally, I stopped by the local convenience store to pick up some booze and water for the trip.

I slept much better on the bus this time!

Kyoto Day 2: Down Time

Today was much less exciting than yesterday. We all woke up around 9am and talked for the next hour. Tan had left much earlier and Ayana and Yuko had jobs to go to so they left too. Takuro and I chilled around his place for a while. I got to take a shower, but not change clothes because my bag was still stashed in the locker at the station. Once freshened up a little we went to McDonalds for breakfast. Sadly it was too late for breakfast sandwiches so I settled for a cheese-katsu sandwich. McDonalds is a good way to get away from Japanese food for a while. We went back to Takuro's apartment and watched some TV. I emailed all the people who I knew in Kyoto and tried to find something to do. Eventually I ended up deciding to go to the station by myself. Takuro walked me to the street and I was off.

The first thing I did at the station was grab my bookbag. I found an empty bathroom stall to change clothes in and brushed my teeth at the sinks. Now I was "freshened-up." I got an email from Keisuke saying that he wanted to hang out so I spent the next hour doing nothing around the station.

Once Keisuke showed up I was finally not alone anymore! We got on a bus and headed to Ginkaku-Ji in order to see the giant 大 symbol on the side of the mountain. It was nice having someone to talk to on the bus. We walked, went the wrong direction, and ended up on the wrong side of town. Retracing our steps we returned to Ginkaku-ji and found out that if we turned left instead of right, the entrance to the mountain was 100 feet away. We decided not to climb the mountain. I really should have tried harder to convince Keisuke, but didn't.

We ended up walking around Kyoto for the next hour. I got a call from Ayana asking if we wanted to eat dinner with her. Sure. We met up in 4th street in front of the Keiyo department store. Then we decided to eat some Italian food in the same department. The waitress mixed up Keisuke and my order, but we all received free drinks so it was alright. I got a speech from Ayana saying that I have to return to Japan in the future. If I don't then this experience will all be for nothing. I totally agree with her, but I need some sort of entry way to come back to Japan for an extended period of time... I basically have 3 options to do this: Join a Japanese company, come teach English, or get married to a Japanese girl. Coming back to study again is pretty much out of the question because I will be graduated by the time I have a chance to...

So anyway we returned to Kyoto station and I grabbed my bag again. I said bye to Keisuke and Ayana because I probably won't see them again before I return to Tokyo. Then I headed to Yuko's apartment.

Previously Yuko said that I could not stay with her (well she said to ask Takuro anyway) but since Takuro had to work all night she said it was alright. I gave her a call when I arrived, but she was cleaning so I had to wait 20 minutes until she finished. I didn't mind, but just thought to myself that I am used to really messy rooms. Living with college guys kinda gives you a different definition of the word "clean." She arrived and took me to her place. Needless to say it was almost spotless. She lives a couple blocks down from Takuro.

I thanked her immensely for letting me spend the night. We stayed up quite a while talking. I sent her and all my other Kyoto friends the links to my blog and Brenden's picture website. They all appreciated it. The sleeping situation was a little different than Takuro's. Yuko only had one futon. She opted to sleep on the floor, but I couldn't put her through that, especially since I was the guest. I made her sleep on the futon beside me, it was plenty big enough.

First Day in Kyoto: Link BBQ

I arrived at Kyoto station at 7am in the morning. It was so terribly early. I figured that it would be better to just get up and deal with being tired all day rather than finding a place to sleep. I grabbed my stuff and headed up to the big steps in Kyoto station to eat breakfast. I would have gotten Mister Donut for breakfast, but apparently they don't open until 9. That is not breakfast time... I had a granola bar and the rest of my water. On the steps there were a bunch of college students who were stetting up camp to watch some sort of show later in the day. I sent everyone an email saying that I had arrived, but figured that they would not be awake until later. I decided to see what was around the station.

I first went to the only temple on the south side of the station, Toji. It was only a little bit of a walk and I got to follow some middle school students all the way there. I only found out later that there were a bunch of students in Kyoto on a school trip. Why didn't we go on any sweet trips like that when I was in school? Oh wait... We went to Chicago... It doesn't feel the same though ^_^

Anywho, I paid the full price to see the temple grounds, treasure museum, and special exhibit that they had going on. The 5 story pagooda is the largest one in Japan, but the general public is not allowed to go inside. All well. The grounds were actually really nice. There were a couple ponds and park-like areas. You were also allowed to go into two of the "normal" temples to see the statues inside. I listened in on an explanation that a priest was giving to the visiting students. The museums was not worth it, but I did manage to kill a couple of hours. Finally, there was this really cool house that I got a personal tour of!! The guy working there was really nice and tried his best to use vocabulary that I knew. He explained about each room and the gardens that were outside. I should invest in personal tours more often, especially if they are free!!!

Ayana gave me a call as I was watching the Koi in the nearby pond. We talked a bit and planned to meet at the station a little before 11. As it was 10 already, I figured I should head back and explore along the way. Sadly I did not find anything interesting.

I met up with Ayana and gave a big Hisashiburi hug. College kids are nice because they don't cringe when you hug them. We decided to grab lunch at a nearby noodle place and catch up a bit. Ayana has been busy with work and school since returning from Spring Break. She is working two jobs; a bakery and at Tsutaya (video store), as well as studying medicine. We caught up on what had happened the past month. She gave me directions to the BBQ and gave me her commuter pass. We parted ways and I hopped on the train for the hour long commute to the middle of nowhere. Ayana's teiki took me all the way to the station before I needed to get off. It is normally a 480 yen fee but only cost me 180! Thanks Aya-chan!

When I got off the train I spotted a bunch of people standing outside the ticket gates talking. The problem was I did not recognize any of them. I figured what the hell Kyoto people are nice and just started talking to them. I listed off some names of people I knew and just saw blank faces staring back at me. I got even more stares when I said that I attended Waseda. I gave my friends an email and they said they were at the BBQ already. Little had I known, it already started. I stood around looking confused for a while when a girl came up and asked if I was Jon! Yes! I found someone at last! Apparently most of the people standing around were from a different club at a different college. The people that I wanted to see had already left and started up the grills.

We gathered a few other people and headed to the BBQ. It was about a 20 minute walk to the side of this large river. Amazingly, the river had a beach with a ton of people on it. To get down there we had to climb this amazingly dangerous hill full of plants, rocks, and dirt. Of course, I was the only one that lost my balance.... As soon as I got on the beach, Takuro found me. Now we are getting somewhere! The BBQ was set up so that there were 10 or so stations with people huddled around them. Everyone choose a number at random and was placed at that particular station. A good mixer. Since I was a guest, I went with Takuro and was introduced to BBQ 7, my new home for the day. The BBQ was just a couple of cinder blocks with a rack on top and coals placed underneath. I introduced myself in English and got the usual "!!HHEEEEE?!?!??" when I mentioned that I went to Waseda. Yeah, it is that popular.

It is a good thing Ayana suggested we eat lunch before I went to the BBQ because I ended up not eating much. I spend most of the time socializing with people who I had never met before and will probably never meet again. It is alright though because I got to use my Japanese skills. I stayed at the BBQ until it ended. We had a final walk down the beach to pick up the trash and then formed groups to go to various after parties. I went with Keisuke and Takuro to go bowling. Just then, Shoko showed up! She went flower viewing with her mother this morning and could not attend the BBQ. It is so nice seeing all my Kyoto friends again!

We got a group of about 20 for bowling. There were not enough lanes for everyone so some people just watched. Bowling was not as fun as it was last time. Mostly because I did not know a lot of the people that were there. Last time I could socialize with everyone. I bowled my game and talked with Shoko, Keisuke, and Takuro between turns. We decided to leave after the first game was over and grab some food.

We went to the local family restaurant and ate.

After that we returned to Takuro's apartment. It was only 4 of us at first, but more people started showing up until we ended up with 10. Among those were Ayana, Tan, Yuko, Hiro, and a couple others. We spent the night playing various drinking games and conversing. The last game we played involved putting a "base" in a large cup and floating a shotglass in it. We then went around in a circle pouring something else in the shotglass. The person who sinks it has to drink it. It was fun and all, but Yuko was sitting beside me and had already had too much to drink. I felt compelled to save her from drinking more so I sunk the glass on purpose and blamed my own drunken-ness. She was thankful.

We made a couple of snack runs during the night but eventually all passed out on the floor. Takuro had a ton of futons so we just laid them all out on the ground and made a giant bed for all of us. Yuko, Ayana, and Tan ended up staying because they missed their last train. I slept really good that night.

The First Night Bus

I left the house and met up with Yoshi in Shinjuku in front of the Bic Camera (the usual meeting spot.) She found a place that she wanted to eat at and I wasn't about to suggest something else, so we departed. Using a map on her phone, she led me to some parts of town that I had never been before, weird because I thought I had found all of Shinjuku. It was a tempura restaurant where you can order any kind of veggie, meat, or fish on a stick that has been deep fried to perfection. We ate and talked. She is really into music... Hardcore. Some of it is my style, but a lot of the bands she was rattling off I had never heard of before. The original plan was to catch a movie, but we had just missed the 8pm showing and she had not returned home from work (still wearing a suit) so we parted.

Now it was still early and I was alone is Shinjuku. I had my bag on my back (which was suprisingly light) and went for a walk. Nobody was available to hang out in Shinjuku with me and I had 3 hours to kill before the bus departed. Well, what better way to spend a couple of hours other than drinking? I also realized that I would sleep really well on the bus after a couple drinks. Before buying anything, I went to the bus station to make sure I knew where my bus was departing from. I don't want to miss that thing! Then I hit up a nearby convenience store and picked up the new "strong type" lemon chu-hi. It's 8% and tastes like lemon ^_^ For the next couple hours I did what the other exchange students like to call "conbini-hopping" that is getting something to drink at a convenience store and going for a walk. Once you finish, you stop at another store and continue your walk. I wandered around Shinjuku and made it to the bus on time.

Before I got on the bus I bought some water. I knew that I was going to be thirsty in a couple of hours (or when I woke up) and I did not know what the air was going to be like on the bus. I got on and saw that it was surprisingly comfortable. There were only 3 seats instead of the normal 4 per row which gave a lot of arm and leg room. I could lie my seat all the way back and almost lie down! It was nice! Now because of the nature of the bus I did not sleep to well, but it was good enough.

Off I Go!

I had a good time at school today. My Japanese class went by pretty fast this time and I actually learned a few new things too! For lunch I met up with my language partner and his friend with bento's in the park. We spent the latter of lunch hour and some of 3rd period talking about topics from America to life at school. You know, all of the usual stuff. We all then walked to 3rd period class together (we are all in it!) and listened to the prof speak. Finally, my Keigo class (which I missed the last 2 weeks of) had a test (which I did really well on) and the rest of it flew by. On the way home I ran into Vaso, John, and Kyle and talked to them until Shinjuku. I bought some earplugs at the local supermarket and now I am ready to go to Kyoto!

Taking a bus that you are supposed to sleep on is a really weird experience. The thing leaves at midnight and arrived at 8ish in the morning. It is like getting into a time capsule and waking up at a different place. I am all ready to sleep there too with my earplugs, neck pillow, and eyemask. It may look stupid, but I need my sleep!

Before I forget, I am going out with one of the helpers that attended my Japanese class a couple of weeks ago. We are gonna grab dinner and then maybe catch a movie. I know it is going to suck carrying my book bag with all my clothes in it, but しかたないね！

Caught Up Again

After a week of classes I finally got everything caught up again. It is a real hassle to do this stuff every day... It is even worse when I slack off for a week... But it is all here again. And yes, my parents were in Japan last week. I put off posting it on here because of personal issues which will not be explained any further. In any case, I did a terrible job of keeping a journal after the first couple of days. Since it has been a week already, I have forgotten a lot of the details. See? This is why I am keeping a journal in the first place! I took what I could remember and threw together an outline of each day. If I remember any more important details (which is unlikely at this point) I will update the outlines. I will not be fleshing these out, so if my mother or father would like to do this, go for it.

Yesterday I went to my Anthro class and watched a movie. We spent almost 2 hours watching a documentary of a guy's first time journey to Tokyo. It was a little interesting, but a lot bland. He edited the video so that every 10 minutes or so he would change locals. This is fine, except that his philosophy for filming is 1: not panning the camera and 2: leaving the camera running all the time. There were long clips of people playing pachinko or golf with no dialogue. After the thing was over we spent the rest of the class discussing it. I ended up eating at a Korean restaurant down the street with my friend Hayato. It was good.

I had no class the rest of the day so I figured I should continue reading that book for anthro. I went to the library and got half-way through it before getting tired and switching to Japanese homework.

Once I finished it was already 5pm so I figured I would go play some Go again. Apparently on Wednesday everyone shows up, so there were 30-some people there. Needless to say I got a lot of practice in. Afterwards we went out to dinner at a nearby cheap Italian place. I ended up getting home around midnight.

Today I had a presentation in Japanese class. I left the house at 7:30 to prepare for it, but my partner John and I ended up slacking off for half an hour instead. Our speech about Taiko Matsuri was alright... Well nobody elses was any better. Let's just leave it at that...

It took a while, but I eventually met up with Erika for lunch. I first met her at a party in December and have hardly talked since. We had a lot of catching up to do. Three of her friends Asuka, Tomoko, and a name I forget joined us in the park for lunch. I found out that a group of 4 other Japanese is a good number. I could grasp the conversation and put my own comments in as well. Today was a good day for speaking.

I was late for my next class. Sakurai sensei is still the coolest ever, although today he used a ton of kanji. It was fine in the beginning, but near the end I was completely lost.

Then I went back to the park and relaxed for a bit. I did my Japanese homework outside. Nature is good for doing homework... Except for the sun. Afterwards I met with Daniel and Michael in the lounge because I did not want to go home. We talked until they had class. Finally I ran into Steve outside and he told me that the best place to get tickets was in the co-op.

Speaking of which, I decided to go to Kyoto this weekend.

I went to the co-op and after a bit of conversation with the person behind the counter, I was the new owner of a brand new bus ticket to Kyoto and back. Also, if you use the student discount on bus tickets you can upgrade to first class seats for really cheap.

Along the way home I stopped at a book off and picked up some books. First of all I think I need a round of applause because I finally finished 2 of my series! In the Book Off in Baba, I found the last volume of Yu Yu Hakusho. I also convinced a worker to let me buy half of a wrapped set of books. They like to wrap whole series together and sell them as a big bundle. The problem was that I wanted the rest of Ramna 1/2 and they did not have it... Except in the bundle. He let me pick up the rest of the series from 21 - end. Yay! I also stumbled upon this one called Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo. I ran into it when working on the translation for Jump Ultimate Stars and decided it sounded interesting enough for a look.

Now I am packing for Kyoto!

BTW: I just found out that I can change the date and time of each of my posts! This means that I can change all my previous ones so that they are on the correct day! It is pretty useless to do, but if I find myself with a ton of free time, you bet I'll do it!

May 13 - Language Partners

Today I got all my pictures renamed and my blog entries for last week finished. The only problem is that the wireless is not working at the moment. Ugh. I do not have access to the thing so I need to wait until Mariko gets home. We are looking at midnight here folks.

In other news, I went to class for the first time in a week. Of course, I was late getting there but luckily Ito had not started yet. For some reason the 3 hour class felt like an eternity. Was it because I was having so much fun and then went back to this boring environment? Yeah I think that is it actually... For lunch I ran into the rest of the exchange students once again. It sucks running into these people because they always want to stand around and talk all lunch hour. I finally got them going 20 minutes later when they decided to go to Mos Burger. Gah! Sonja and I went by ourselves and eventually bought Original Bento and ate it on some steps inside a random building.

The rest of the afternoon I spent in the ICC (International Communication Center) lounge area meeting my new language exchange partners. A couple of weeks back I signed up to become one. It is a program put together so that for 45 minutes you talk one language, and for another 45 minutes you talk the other. Today was just an introduction, but I spent the entire time talking with 2 different people. The first one was not too keen on speaking English as soon as he found out that I could communicate in Japanese. Whenever I tried to revert to English, he would say a few sentences and then immediately revert back to Japanese. I got lots of speaking and listening practice but I can’t say that he did... My other partner was really fluent in English. I felt like he could understand everything I was saying at full speed, which is pretty impressive given that he has never studied abroad. We spoke in half-half, reverting as needed. It was a good experience, but talking for 3 hours puts a strain on me. I don’t know why, but I was starting to lose attention near the end. In any case, I think it will be a good way to at least kill some time when I have it.

After that I met up with Nick and crew to talk about our Anthropology Movie. It seems that Nick is taking control of the group by giving out orders and coming up with a plan of attack on Shimokitazawa. We got everything nailed down and should be good to go.

Finally before heading home I went to Igo. The guys were happy to see me. The first game I played with a four stone handicap and managed to win with a little advice from my opponent. The second game I played with a new member who I gave a 2 stone handicap to. He would have won but made a couple crucial mistakes protecting his stones. I told him not to worry because I was making those same mistakes a few weeks back. I do feel like I am getting better at the game. I have more common sense that tells me good moves from bad moves, and I’m not losing as many stones.

May 11 - My Day of Relaxation

I finally got to sleep in today! I woke up real late to a plethora of emails on my phone. After replying to all of them I ate breakfast and hopped on my computer. I spent the morning catching up on some homework and lazying around. I ended up going out at 8pm to meet Mike in Shinjuku. We ate soba for dinner and headed to Baba. Once there we played pool for an hour, caught up on things, and went home.

May 10 - Bye Bye!

Dragged the other suitcase to the hotel

Took parents to the airport

Ate at Subway for lunch

Saw them off then went home

Steve wanted to hang out, but I was too tired and the weather was cold and rainy

Put my puzzle depicting Mt. Fuji together

Practiced solving my rubix cube

Went to sleep early

May 9 - Odaiba

Last full day for my parents in Japan

I took them to Odaiba in the morning

We arrived around 11am

The monorail was cool

We walked around the area

Took pictures of the Statue of Liberty

Ate at a Chinese buffet

I bought some stuff at the Toys-R-Us

Checked out Muscle Park and Joypolis

Walked to the Japan Future Science Museum

By this time it was 4:30 and the museum closed at 5

Found a waterfall fountain

Walked to the Ferris wheel

Found an arcade

I played House of the Dead 3 with a shotgun

I also played a really cool jet game where the seat moved

Found the Toyoto showroom

I did the driving simulator of Gran Turismo 4

Mom and I took a ride in the cars that drove themselves; I want one

We looked at all the other cars

Looked at the ferris wheel and nearby arcade

Zepp Tokyo is also there

Walked back to the dock area

Decided to see the movie Cloverfield

Ate at the food area in the mall waiting for the movie to start

By the time we finished we were too late to see the movie

I gave the girl working at the Ishi-yaki place my number

We decided to go home

We all drank in the hotel room

I returned on almost the last train

May 8 - School Trip

I hauled one suitcase to the hotel room

We went to Fukugawa where we met with my Japanese class (I was late as always)

We got a tour of the Edo Museum

For lunch we went to Indian curry in Baba

I gave my parents a tour of the campus

We went to Asakusa

I ended up buying a yukata for the coming summer months (500 yen!!)

We visited the temple and wandered around

Returned to Baba and had soba for dinner

I drank with dad a bit and stayed the night again

This time we pushed the beds together and I slept in the middle

May 7 - Loose Ends

Finally were able to exchange money

I exchanged $1000 and gave $300 to both mom and dad

For lunch I took them to all-you-can-eat Okonomiyaki in Harajuku

We went shopping for some loose ends

I bought stuff in Akihabara

After returning I went with dad to the game center in Big Box

We played a token game for a couple of hours

After losing I caught the last train home

I spent almost 2 hours cleaning up my entire room

I got 2 suitcases packed with stuff I don’t need (ex: winter clothes, fall semester papers, souveniers)

May 6 - Kamakura

Decided to go to Kamakura

Hopped on the train in the morning and arrived before noon

Went first to the main temple place

Walked up a giant hill to Kencho Temple

Ate lunch at an ice cream place

Took the train back to Kamakura station and a bus to the Daibutsu

Got our pictures in front including a couple with the Bryan Times

On our way to the Hasedera Temple I bought a hat

From Hasedera Temple we saw the sea and many wind-surfers

Went back to the station and went home

I bought different types of beer and sake for my parents to try

I stayed with my parents by sleeping on the floor

May 5 - So Tired...

Today I am really tired. I woke up bright and early at the normal time (for school anyway) and hopped on a train out to that hostel. When I got there my mom and dad were all packed up and ready to go. We grabbed the 2 suitcases and headed over to the Sunroute at Takadanobaba. Today was the last night at the hostel.

dropped off luggage, Bank still closed

took Tozai to Otemachi

Imperial palace grounds / gardens

Walked south to Hibiya park.

Found hibiya shopping arcade / dad bought kimono / I got belt and shoes

went to ueno

big history museum

my feet were killing me / sat down a lot

it started to rain a little

walked around ueno

had rotating sushi and tako-yaki for dinner

back to baba and checked into hotel

I stayed and watched tv for a couple hours b/f going home to sleep

May 4 - Big City = Lots of Walking

Instead of spending lots of money today on trains, I decided that we could make a nice Yamanote walk from Shinjuku all the way down to Shibuya. We started off by taking the underground tunnels from Shinjuku station all the way to the Shinjuku Metropolitan Government Building. When we got there it was open thankfully. My parents had no idea what to expect. When we stepped into the elevator and I said we were going to the 45th floor, they just stared at me with jaws open. The view from the top was pretty cool although a little cloudy. The building did not have anyone working because of the holiday, but there were a ton of tourists eyeing the city. We went to both the North and South towers as they have different views of the city.

From the top of the building I pointed to where we were going to walk to the rest of the day. “You see that big green area? We are gonna walk through that!” We stopped by a convenience store for sandwiches before heading off. The walk was rather nice. I led us in the general direction if Meiji Jingu and finally ran into a road that I had traversed earlier with Sheung Sheung. We entered the back way and ended up at the temple. It was really cool because there was a wedding going on. This meant that a lot of people were wearing the traditional Japanese style clothes. I forced my mom and dad to make a donation and pray so I could get their pictures. I also made my dad do the omikuji, but he did the English one and got a poem instead of a fortune. Lame.

We walked out of the temple and to Harajuku. Deciding against seeing Yoyogi park, we instead checked out all the girls cosplaying on Takeshita-dori. Honestly, it was the first time I had ever seen it. The clothes were very gothic and very out there. I figure it is mostly high school girls who are tired of wearing the uniform all the time so they buy crazy clothes and flaunt them on the weekends. Takeshita-dori was packed with people, not that it is a bad thing. The parents kind of get to see rush hour. We once again just looked at all the stuff and did not buy anything.

From there we went down Meiji-dori to Shibuya. Once there I took them to the station and visited the Hachiko. After that we passed 109 and went towards the NHK building. We got a little distracted with a flower festival right outside of the building and ended up not being able to enter. It apparently closes at 5:30. At the festival I got some dango which I made my parents try. They did not like it too much. The mochi was too chewy for them.

Back at the station it was starting to get dark. I decided to take them to Kudanshita one because there is some cool stuff there and two because the Toei-Shinjuku train goes there. We walked some more and eventually went home. I plan on going back there first thing in the morning when it is daylight and the imperial palace is open.

May 3rd - First Outing

I woke up early after obviously not getting enough sleep and got to the hostel at about 10 in the morning. I know this seems late for a vacation, but you have to realize that it takes an hour to get ready at home and then another hour to commute. Anyways, as soon as I stepped on the train I received an email to bring another umbrella. Apparently one of the ones I carried all day yesterday had a hole in it. Well nothing I could do after I got on the train. When I got to the hostel I immediately got yelled at to take my shoes off. It is normally not a problem, but then again, this particular hostel does not have a Genkan (place to take off your shoes.) It just has a couple shoe racks. I got my parents and we left.

The first stop was Takadanobaba to exchange money. Sadly, I forgot that banks are closed Saturdays, Sundays, and national holidays. That means Monday and Tuesday are out too... Among the three of us we had about 35,000 yen to last us 4 days.

Today it was supposed to rain all day, therefore I decided it would be best to go to some museums. I took them to the Edo-Tokyo Museum located in Ryogoku. They loved it. The museum displays mostly exhibits from the Edo period of Japan; that is, the period when Japan was isolated from the rest of the world. It was a 300 year long peace in which the Japanese culture was allowed to develop. The museum has a bunch of different models of what the town used to look like, an intensive history of the great Kanto Fire, various samurai armor, book publishing stuff, and life size model houses of the Edo era. We must have spent a good 2 hours checking out all the stuff they had. I got to be the resident translator for the Japanese-only exhibits. It was painfully difficult trying to decipher what the description said when only knowing half the kanji. History uses lots of difficult ones!

After the museum we wandered around the Ryogoku area in search of food. Since my mother did not want to eat any noodles, we had a slightly more difficult time finding something cheap and quick. Once crossing the train tracks we ran into the Ryogoku festival. Talk about being by chance. There was a performance of Taiko drummers playing. The food being served there was all the soup that sumo wrestlers eat. I have heard it is pretty bad but have not tried any myself. I would much rather go to an authentic restaurant than eat some from a street vendor though... There is just something about street vendors that strike me as non-authentic. Anyway, we passed on the festival food and kept walking, eventually ending up at a box lunch place. I got a real box lunch while my parents both got snacks. They really don’t eat much anymore...

While eating I thought about what to do next and decided that Akihabara was close and convenient. We hopped on a train and arrived in no time. My dad was instantly blown away by everything. It was his first real experience to the “bigger” areas of Tokyo. The tall buildings, lights, and signs, along with the millions of people made it quite an experience. We walked down the main street window shopping. Upon reaching the end, I took them down the back alleys to see the more black-market related shops. The shops with various computer parts, wires, and electronics all thrown into a cardboard box marked 100 yen is a sight to see. There are always people digging through them. I wanted to buy some gifts for people back home, but as we were short on cash, I refrained. I did tell my parents that I wanted to come back again before they left. I think the last day they spend in Tokyo will be a shopping day.

Next we went to Nihon-bashi. I had no idea what was in that area, but the Nihon bridge that my parents saw at the museum earlier today and the terminus is there. We grabbed ice cream at a local convenience store and walked around the area. It was pretty boring for me, but they enjoyed it. We saw the bridge, the terminus where the 5 main roads in Japan start from, and some really expensive shops.

Finally it was getting dark so we decided it would be best to head back home. After finding a train station I took them back to Shinjuku and out for Gyoza at my favorite restaurant. Mom could not eat all of hers so I ended up eating a grand total of 18 gyoza. Dad got a half yakisoba and ramen set instead of gyoza which he said was good. I personally have never eaten anything else at that place before. I mean, come on! There is a giant gyoza statue out front! Why would I think of eating anything else? Instead of walking home, we went to kabuki-cho for a little bit. Then we hopped a train back.

May 2 - They Finally Arrive!

Well I do not know if I am allowed to post this on my blog or not, but I will be keeping a journal in word for the time being. Hopefully at some later date in the future I can upload all of this.

Friday was just a normal day at class. When I left the house my father handed me two extra umbrellas for my parents when they arrived. Thanks tosan. Now I get to carry three umbrellas all day. Japanese class was boring as usual and of course my teacher asked about my three umbrellas. My next class was cancelled because of Golden Week, but the professor failed to inform anybody. Steve and I showed up per usual, but when the prof was a no-show, we quickly left. It was lame because I had a couple of hours to kill before heading up to the airport. I accompanied Steve on some errands which eventually led us to a pool parlor near Baba station. Steve is as terrible at pool as I am. As so, it we spent the entire hour playing only two games (with Shueng Shueng we got in four.) It was 3pm when we went our different ways. My parents were scheduled to arrive at 4:20 (heh)

I should have just gone to the airport right then.

Instead I figured that it would be good to figure out where the hostel was that my parents were staying at. I had the address and knew it was a single station away from Shinjuku on the Toei-Shinjuku line. Since I can get to Shinjuku for free, I decided to walk it. Bad idea. It took me over an hour to figure out which direction it was and then walk all the way there. It was much further than I had anticipated. I did find the place however, and got on the train to the airport. By this time it was 4pm. Now I knew that it would take an hour to get to the airport meaning I would be late. Oops. So I got to the airport around 5, went to the arrivals, and saw nothing familiar. “Well this can’t be right,” I thought. I walked around a bit and finally realized that I was in the domestic flight area. Where is the international flights? After finally asking someone, I found out that international flights are in Airport Terminal 1. I was in Airport Terminal 2. Really? It is about a 5 minute train ride between them. I took the free shuttle and finally made it there at 5:30.

I ran into my mom and dad almost right away. The first things I heard out of their mouths were “there he is! I knew you would come before midnight!” Yeah. Sorry about being so late. They were each carrying two huge luggage bags that were half empty. I get to send some of my stuff home with them. Anyway, we went down to the subways and started our journey to Tokyo.

We talked on the way home. It was a mindnumbingly long 2 hour ride back to Tokyo. It pretty much sucks if you just got off a 13 hour plane ride. Then we had to drag the 4 luggage cases up and down a couple of flights of stairs in Shinjuku. The path to the hostel involved taking the Toei-Shinjuku line which apparently doesn’t believe in escalators for all of their steps. I ended up carrying my mom’s heavy bag and she held mine. We made it to the hostel rather easily. It had to have been around 9pm by the time we got checked in and everything situated.

The hostel is a lot like a capsule hotel. Check in is on the bottom. The showers are in the basement. There are also computers with internet on the first floor. Then there are 4 floors of capsules, each with 24 or so. The only problem is that the room is much louder than the capsule hotel I stayed at. There must not have been all the sound-absorbing equipment. Other than that, it is a really cheap place to stay.

I'm Back!

It has been a while hasn't it? First of all I would like to thank Vaso for finally figuring out how to use Dvorak with the Japanese IME in Windows. Now I can stop using QWERTY forever!!! With just a simple registry hack, you too can enjoy the wonders of it...

So anyway, today I woke up really early considering I didn't have any classes. My host mother and father were very surprised to see me stumble into the kitchen at 8 in the morn. I ate breakfast, grabbed my bag, and headed off to school. Besides a brief visit on Thursday, it was the first time I had gone to school since the 2nd of May! I had Ayumi sign put my name down on the attendance sheet in my anthro class. I just hope that none of my other classes took attendance! Also, Tuesday was a holiday and Thursday my Japanese class had an outing which I attended, meaning that I only missed the Friday class.

Anywho, I spent all morning in the SILS library with a book for my anthropology class. By this Wednesday we are supposed to have read 3 books about anthropology that the professor selected. This one was just a bunch of stories about how people went on with their research. Some of the stories were interesting, but most of them were not. Furthermore, I couldn't piece together how this was supposed to help us. I find it really strange that an Anthropologist (or Ethnologist) spends years doing research on a particular topic and finally writing a dissertation or book about it. I feel like that takes a ton of work, but I also feel like there is bound to be a lot of down time. Especially in that field of work, you need to have good connections to get interviews, as well as find time for all of them. I do not think I would be able to pull something like that off for a career. I need something less people based...

I was originally going to meet Kyle for lunch to loan him the Heisig.cbds book file for his DS. We met... Along with 8 other students! Among the crowd were Mike, Vaso, Steve, Michael, David, Daniel, John, and even Mieon. We all bought bento and ate in the 22 lounge. It was cool to see them again.

After lunch I got together with John and we worked on our matsuri presentation for Thursday. We spent 2 hours in the computer lab and whipped up a powerpoint and a short script.

Then I headed back to the library. I spent the rest of the day reading the 2nd book which dealt with how to do "visual" research. It gave tons of advice about taking pictures and video footage along with first hand experiences. This was a much better read than the previous book. Finally, I got the last book (which was about Tokyo architecture) and checked it out because it was already 6pm. I wanted to go to Igo club and play a few games, but I figured I should read the book instead... So I went home.

More Books

I went to Japanese class this morning and had a grand time. After that I ate lunch with Kyle, Steve, and John at the local tempura place behind the Coop. We then proceeded to separate and go our different ways. I went to the Igo club room and ended up playing some good 'ol Smash Bros, Mario Tennis, and Mario Kart. Once 5th period rolled around, everyone had to get to class, so I walked back to Baba with Marika (one of the members) and proceeded to the bookoff. This time I took my time looking around because there were not very many people there. I ended up stumbling upon one called "Tokyo Eighties" that Brenden had let me borrow way back when. I also found Tenchi Muyo and Samurai Champloo in the "large" comic book section. Also, Yu Yu Hakusho was finally in! I snatched up 3 of the volumes I was missing for 100 yen a piece!

So I have yet to complete the collection of a series. I am one book away from completing Yu Yu Hakusho and Death Note. I am 2 books away from completing Maison Ikoku (the first and last in the series ironically,) and Hellsing. Everything else I am slowly working on one volume at a time. Before I go home, I will find all of Ranma 1/2, Bremen, Hikaru no Go, and probably a few others. Now I just need to figure out how to ship everything home!

And yes, I am reading the stuff that I buy. I am currently working on Ranma everyday on the train.