In the Narita International Airport

After checking out of the dorm and loading onto the bus at 12, I was worried that we might be cutting it a little close time-wise, since my flight is at 4 PM, and it takes about 2 hours to drive from Waseda to Narita (since downtown Tokyo is in a constant state of rush hour). The drive, however only took about 1 hour, 45 minutes and I didn't have to wait in any lines at all to check in or to get through security. I wasn't expecting the massive international airport to be the least crowded place I've visited so far in Japan.

I did end up paying an extra $50 since one of my checked bags was too heavy. I didn't want to stress out about what to keep and what to dump on the spot, so I said screw it and paid for the convenience. (and to keep my pillow)

So I still have a half an hour to kill until my flight boards, even after getting on this 100 yen for 10 minutes terminal to check my Facebook and E-mail and write this blog post.

Glad to be coming home, but I still have a long journey ahead of me...

Last day in Tokyo

After the going away lunch, a group of us went to karaoke this afternoon for a couple hours. It was fun, though I imagine it's more fun with alcohol involved (even on our last day, 2 PM is just a bit too early). For dinner we went to an excellent ramen place and got one last delicious meal of Japanese ramen and gyoza.

After that, we decided to have a little party in Kevin and Ethan's dorm room, so I ended up buying this small bottle of sake because it's name was 男山 which literally means "Man Mountain." It wasn't very good (I'm not that big on sake) but it was totally worth it for the bottle.

We also spent a section of the evening trying to find ways to spend Alan's big bag of coins that he had accumulated throughout the program. I'm pretty sure the Wendy's and that convenience store kind of hate us now...

Tomorrow the plan is to get up (having packed entirely the night before, ie right now), go to the bakery and grab some stuff for breakfast and lunch, check out of the dorm at 11, leave on the bus at 12, leave on my plane at 4, land in Moline at 8:30 (I told Mom and Dad 8, but it's actually 8:30!), arrive home around 10, shower, and sleep on a real mattress in my own room.

I'm gonna miss Japan, and I'm especially going to miss all the people I've met here, but I'm getting really anxious to be home.

PICS HERE

Turning into a slacker

So I totally went to class today, took the quiz at the beginning, then left. The rest of the class period was going to be devoted to giving presentations about our "self-study" (at the beginning of the program, we wrote down what we wanted to practice on our own and checked our progress every week or so) which I had not prepared for at all (by conscious choice). If I did do it, my only choices would have been to either lie or embarrass myself (I only did the minimum amount of studying outside of class), and since I've done well enough in the class until now, I decided to cash in on that goodwill on the last day.

In other news, I decided since I've been in Japan for 6 weeks and only really had sushi once, I should go and eat real Japanese sushi one last time. I went with a few people to a nice little place by the station and it was really tasty. Afterwards, having eaten a healthy meal of fish, rice, and salad, we decided to balance things out by getting dessert at Mister Donut, an excellent Japanese donut chain.

While eating our yummy, unhealthy donuts, we discussed what our third meal should be if we wanted to continue our downward spiral into heart disease and diabetes. We decided the ultimate evening of starting healthy and ending dead was as follows:

1. Sushi

2. Donuts

3. The "Tamago Double-Mac" at McDonalds (a limited time sandwich in Japan with two patties and an egg, which me and Jane still want to try)

4. Lying in the gutter eating Pixy Stix.

Later in the evening, I tried this Final Fantasy licensed energy drink that I picked up in Akihabara before. I assume it was an energy drink, at least that would explain at least partially why it was so terrible. The can was cool, though (FFVI FTW!)

PICS HERE

Ninja no minasan to isshou!

So for the going away party tomorrow all the classes are doing some sort of presentation such as a speech, but we are really able to do whatever we choose.

My class is totally doing the Pythagoras Switch Algorithm March.

Epic win.

Namjatown!

Went with Kevin, Vincent, and Tasha to this theme park in Ikebukuro called Namja Town this evening. Our main intention there was to visit the haunted house portion, which was fun (the best part, though, was when we were long out of the scary part and Kevin was startled by some people getting massages in another part of the park). While the first floor was a variety of cool looking games and stuff (most of which we didn't try, since our Japanese was insufficient for solving mysteries and capturing ghosts) the second floor was a huge maze of ice cream and crepe restaurants and stands.

In one of the restaurants we saw that they served the largest float we'd ever seen, so we all threw down and shared a giant melon soda float. About halfway through drinking it (each taking turns drinking from our respective straws in clockwise order) we realized that if Tasha hadn't been there, this would have been about the gayest thing we'd ever done. The thought of (if the girl hadn't been there) the three of us guys sharing a float, then realizing halfway through how queer we looked was just too funny.

Following that, we wandered around for a bit, then I got some gelato shaped like Rock Lee's face from the anime Naruto. It was pretty awesome, and pretty tasty, too.

Pics from Shibuya yesterday and Namja Town today (being uploaded as I post)

Just finished packing up the majority of my stuff

Space wasn't a problem at all (There will be no need to dump my socks, though I'll be leaving my pillow I bought here and maybe my towel behind). My only worry now is that my checked baggage will be too heavy, so I'm trying to balance everything between by checked and carry on luggage as best as possible.

Having eaten at Anna Miller's this afternoon (tasty, though the pie was sub-par), that concludes my list of things to do in Japan. All that's left is a little last-minute shopping tomorrow, and I'm ready to go home.

Fight-Ohh... OH!

Went and saw Gokusen: The Movie (based on the drama of the same name) tonight. It was just as cheesy, silly, and wonderful as I hoped.

The plot followed the same pattern as pretty much every episode in the series, so it was pretty easy to follow. I've only seen the first season, and that was a long time ago, so I didn't fully appreciate all the old characters being brought back, though.

Definitely worth the 1200¥ ticket and the 650¥ popcorn and coke.

Tomorrow we're going to Anna Miller's (for reals this time) for lunch, then this haunted house themed restaurant in Ikebukuro that we heard about for dinner. That evening I plan to pack, and then devote Wednesday to any final shopping I have to/want to do.

Now it's homework time~

I'll find that restaurant if it's the last thing I do...

Went to the East Imperial Gardens and the Edo Museum this afternoon. The gardens were nice, basically just a big park. The museum was really good, giving an entire history (with most things in english) of the city of Edo (which became Tokyo).

The plan for the evening was to eat at an Anna Miller's, a restaurant chain that's been on my list of things to do from the beginning, but evidently the one where we went had shut down fairly recently, so instead we went to Freshness Burger, probably the last Japanese fast food place I still had to try. I looked on their official website tonight, and I'm pretty sure I found a REAL Anna Miller's in Shinagawa, a few stops to the south. I'm gonna get me some "American Style" pie damn it!

Man, I really don't want to go to class this week...minimum effort...minimum effort...

PICS HERE (being uploaded as I post this)

I have taken 1110 pictures in Japan

That's a lot.

Curry filled Doughnut and Flat Mountain Dew

Today most of my regular crew was going down to Yokohama to visit the ramen museum and other things, so I, having already visited the ramen museum, decided to go off on my own and finish my souvenir shopping. After visiting the huge markets in Ueno and Asakusa, I went back home, finished some homework, and took stock of all the silly things I've bought and plan to take home.

I should be in pretty good shape for luggage space (thanks to Mary and her amazing luggage) surprisingly enough. I guess we'll see this coming week when I pack everything up for real.

This evening I went with my friend Liz to a (beginner friendly) swing dance farther away from the center of the city. There were some cool people there and it was a lot of fun. It seemed like about half of the people there were actually Japanese, and the rest were foreigners from a variety of places. I felt a little intimidated, though, since some of the people there were pretty incredible, and I'm way out of practice anyway. (I feel like there was a time where I actually had a decent repertoire of moves, but that might not actually be true...) There were a number of beginners there also, so I didn't feel too bad.

Now I'm chilling in my room eating curry bread for the first time. I feel like I had to try it since Carrie and Jane have this crazy obsession with curry and curry bread, so I had to see what all the fuss was about. It's actually pretty good, even the cheap convenience store stuff. I think I'm really gonna miss Japanese bread when I come home.

Sugar Rush

Went to Akihabara (for likely the last time) after class on Friday. My tasks were to find Virtual Pro Wrestling 2 for Mathan, and a set of cosplay dog ears for Jazmyn. I didn't manage to find any dog ears (lots of cat ears, though), but it was worth it for the experience of hopping between weird cosplay stores asking for "inu no mimi". I also looked in a number of used game stores for Mathan's game with no success and was about to give up when I found a well-hidden copy of the first Virtual Pro Wrestling. Taking it as a sign, I vowed to continue my search and found a copy of VPR2 (with box and booklet!) in the next store I searched.

That evening I went with a group back to Shibuya to eat at the all-you-can-eat dessert buffet "Sweets Paradise". In addition to their wide selection of cakes and sweets they serve some pasta, so after eating a plate of spaghetti, I went back and ate 2 plates of dessert and a bowl of ice cream. It was a good night.

Then we came home and watched "Run Fatboy, Run" on Ethan's computer. Pretty good movie.

Unfortunately I forgot my camera, so pics will not be posted :(

Mori Art Museum and Shibuya

Went to the Mori Art Museum and Shibuya today. The Mori Art Museum is a surprisingly cool modern art museum at the top of a skyscraper. There was also an observation floor with another amazing view of the city. The artist who's works were being displayed was all about taking objects (often extremely valuable ones) and stripping away their usefulness (to find the material's true essence... or something). It was interesting, but I think if you can afford to buy a ming vase and paint Coca Cola on it, you should find more productive ways to spend your money.

After that, we took hopped over to Shibuya to look around. Shibuya is a huge shopping district with (probably) the largest, busiest intersection in Tokyo. When that walk light turns green and you see that huge wall of people coming towards you, it's a pretty crazy experience.

PICS HERE

Plans for the coming days:

Friday: Akihabara(?) and Outsider Shot Bar (?)

Saturday: Imperial Palace, Edo Museum (?), Anna Miller's, and Swing Dancing (?)

Sunday: Pack my stuff up and see if I have space to bring anything more back.

Monday or Tuesday: Gokusen the Movie

Wednesday: Karaoke

Stock Exchange and Tokyo Tower

Went to (you guessed it) the Tokyo Stock Exchange and Tokyo Tower today. The stock exchange wasn't very interesting since our tour was all in Japanese. At the end of the tour, though, they showed an "informative video" where a little fairy character (who looked exactly like Pit from Kid Icarus) informed a ditzy Japanese teenager of the wonders of capitalism. It was pretty great.

Afterwards, we finally went to Tokyo Tower, which was pretty neat. Tokyo is really big, if you didn't already know.

On the way home we stopped by a little festival at a shrine. There wasn't much going on, but it was still interesting.

PICS HERE

I believe tomorrow there's talk of going to Shibuya after class. I also think Tasha and I are going to see Gokusen: The Movie in the theater at some point. I probably won't have much idea what's going on, but as long as I get to see Yankumi kick some ass and then deliver a heartfelt speech, I'll be happy.

Grandma Betty

My grandmother passed away this morning at the age of 90. She went quietly and peacefully, surrounded by family and friends, of which she had many. She was one of the greatest and most accomplished people I've ever known.

Goodbye grandma. You knew exactly how much we all loved you.

Mmmmm, melon cream bread...

Went to Ebisu today and visited the Sapporo beer museum and the Tokyo Museum of Photography. At the end of the (very short) beer museum you could, naturally, buy beer, so a few people got some sample sets. I tried all four and the tastes ranged from "really gross" to "less gross, but still far from good."

The exhibit we saw at the Museum of Photography, well... it delivered what it promised. A lot of really good photographs. I'm not that into photography, though, so it was hard to be too excited about it.

Afterward, we stopped at a bakery and I got this amazing melon bread with cantaloupe-flavored cream inside. It was easily the best part of the trip.

PICS HERE

8/10/09

After throwing together a "first draft" for my "project" that was below the minimum length, poorly written, and just substandard overall in the early afternoon, I hopped down to Shinjuku and picked up some concert tickets for my friend Vanessa who is studying abroad here next semester. (it's really hard for foreigners to get tickets since you generally can't use non-Japanese credit cards, which is why I had to track down a real ticket counter).

Having accomplished two tasks exactly as planned, I decided to treat myself to yet another trip to Akihabara. (it's amazing how easy it is for me to spend time there just looking around) This time I mostly just checked out the arcades. I tried a few games, and after mostly failing I was feeling a little low when I stumbled on a neglected Ice Climbers cabinet. After proving to myself that I can get past the 3rd level in something (and breaking the top 10 scores! (though, I think they reset them fairly often)) I bought an incredible pita from this kebab/pita stand outside the station. I'm proooobably gonna have to get another one at some point.

I think I'm about done with arcades here, though. 100 yen is just too much for every game, especially for old ones which are the only games I'm at all competent at.

On the way home, I stopped by a drug store since my allergies have been bothering me (it always happens at this time of year, even on the other side of the planet, I guess). After some difficult communication (or lack thereof) the clerk gave me some all-purpose decongestant pills. I really wanted some antihistamine, but this should help.

PICTURES HERE

Pics from Harajuku

HERE

(currently being uploaded as I post this)

Harajuku

Went to Harajuku today. We walked around for a bit before finding some kind of event being put on by Vitamin Water. Enticed by free beverages, we took an elevator to the top of the H&M building to find a large exhibit of anime figurines. After looking around for a few minutes we went down a set of stairs into the Vitamin Water portion of the event where they had set up sort of a club atmosphere, only the drinks were fortified with vitamin B rather than alcohol.

After that, we walked to the Meiji shrine, which had the amazing feeling of being in the middle of a forest despite being located in a park in the middle of Tokyo. Evidently it's a very popular place for weddings, despite being packed with tourists, so we saw a couple processions while we were there. Those Japanese weddings were the most solemn weddings I'd ever seen. Then again, everyone might have just been in a bad mood because it was so hot.

After taking pictures at the shrine (and buying a good-luck charm for "victory"!) we left and walked around this nearby park. It was probably the most surreal place I've ever been. It's just a big park where people go to do... just about anything. By the entrance we passed by these groups of grown men dressed up like greasers from the 50s dancing around to old music. I'd never seen so many pompadours in my life... actually I don't think I'd ever seen one before that in real life.

As we walked along the sidewalk we saw the most random assortment of things possible. Jugglers, dancers, picnickers, Japanese musicians, foreign musicians, swordsmen, and a dog riding a skateboard to name a few.

Pictures to come.

Weird Feeling

Looks like I just experienced my first earthquake. Just a small one that shook our building for maybe a minute.

Misc. Pictures from the past few days

HERE

I apologize in advance

Seen in an arcade in Shinjuku.

Samurai maid cafe!

Went to Akihabara with Ethan and Kevin today. Between shopping, we decided the time had come to visit one of Akihabara's famous maid cafe's. (basically a maid cafe is an overpriced cafe, often with a cover charge, where the waitresses are all dressed up as maids and treat the customers extra politely) We decided to go to the weirdest sounding one we knew of, so we walked to Mononopu, a cafe where the waitresses wear a costume that is a combination of maid and samurai.

It was actually a little disappointing since it was so expensive, but the service wasn't that much different from any other restaurant in Japan (i.e. always friendly and polite). We even had to pay extra to get a picture with our waitress. It was worth it for the experience, though.

Later on, Kevin and I tried to make it down to the bay to watch the big fireworks show tonight, but we ended up running late and missing the whole thing. (except for the last few which we saw through a reflection in a tall building) After spending the entire afternoon shopping I was exhausted, so I just came home, picked up some supermarket sushi (which was marked down since it was getting late), and chilled in my room watching the Daily Show.

Tomorrow we're planning on checking out Shibuya and Harajuku, two big shopping/fashion districts.

It's the weekend!

Our big project before the end of the program is a 6-7 minute speech/presentation about pretty much whatever we want, so today I started writing my terrible speech on the differences between Japanese meals and American meals (namely the portion sizes and the kinds of food). I've probably got a good 2 minutes written, so I'm done for the day, which means it's the weekend!

So I've decided I'm not a big fan of my class.

The teachers are fine, and there's nothing wrong with the content, its just that it moves so fast I don't feel like I really absorb anything.

I do, however, like the activities where we converse with the Japanese students who volunteer in our class. After class today I had lunch with two Waseda students who had both studied abroad in England, so when they spoke English it was with a heavy (and awesome) British accent.

One was a bit older and studying for a PHD, but the other was still an undergraduate, so it was interesting to see how whenever the younger one spoke in Japanese to their senior it was always in polite form, but when they switched into English they spoke casually. When speaking to them in Japanese, I found I often slipped into short form when I probably shouldn't have. I should probably work on that before I come back home and have to always speak formally with the teachers.

Yay!

I FINALLY got my financial aid for this program! This means I won't be totally broke until probably next year some time rather than right after this summer!

Things I'm cut off from buying after visiting Akihabara and Nakano Broadway:

Manga

Figures

T-Shirts (unless something reeeealy catches my eye)

Games

---

At Nakano Broadway today (it's a big mall with a lot of Anime related stores) I went to a little arcade and tried out Street Fighter 4. I was doing really well against the computer, but then another player joined.

I can now cross "getting my butt kicked in Street Fighter" off my list of things to do while in Japan.

Japanese arcades are really cool, but each game costs 100 yen so it's really expensive.

Hima na toki!

So today was my first day of my afternoon workshop on "learning Japanese through Anime and Manga." It was more interesting than my workshops last week but I still felt like my time would be better spent either focusing on my regular language class or exploring Tokyo more. I decided, screw it, I can do better by just sitting in my room reading all the manga I've bought and learning at my own pace, so I dropped the class, which means I only have class from 9-12 every day.

I wasn't sure if it was the right choice, though. I mean, I am spending a lot of money to be here, I really should get my money's worth...

Then I used my newfound free time to visit Akihabara this afternoon. It was the right choice.

I only had time to visit 2 stores (since I spent about an hour in each...), one of which was "Super Potato" a huge 4 story store devoted solely to retro games. (Paul, you are going to fucking worship me when you see what I got you there...) The top floor was even a little arcade with old games. I played R-Type and died on the second level :(

Outside and inside the store they're constantly playing themes and songs from 8-bit games. It drew me in like a moth to a flame...

When I get rich, I am TOTALLY getting a cocktail-style Ice Climbers arcade machine.

Pics from the homestay weekend

Here

(they're a bit out of order, though)

While at the mall in Yokohama, we went to a T-Shirt store and Yoko wanted to get Fumio something so I helped her pick one out but decided I liked it too, so I bought one for myself. You'll notice we're wearing matching shirts in the pictures from today. :P Good times.

Also, there's another long post about this weekend a few posts below this.

So I'm looking at all the souvenirs I've bought so far,

and I think the Japanese economy might have just turned around.

Everything still fits in my suitcase, though. Starting with Akihabara this coming Saturday, I'll start being much more selective.

Pics from this weekend to come (there's a lot).

I just ate a ridiculous amount of home-made takoyaki

That's all for now.

Saturday and Sunday

After getting a surprisingly good sleep on my Japanese-style futon and eating breakfast with my host mother, we headed down to Yokohama to the Ramen Museum. On the way, we stopped at a Book-Off for a bit (naturally I bought just ONE MORE volume...), then continued on our way. It was about a 40 minute drive away, but the museum was pretty cool. Inside the building they had basically recreated a small section of 1950s Tokyo and filled it with different ramen restaurants. I would have liked to try more of the restaurants, but I tend to get full really fast...

I probably spent more than I should have at the gift-shop, but I couldn't help that Neko-Ramen is a total badass.

After that, we stopped at this huge mall where I once again spent too much money. We also got tasty crepes at the food court.

Once we were back home, she likes American music so I burned CDs with a variety of bands. (Death Cab for Cutie, Electric Six (for the hell of it), Franz Ferdinand, The Killers, Gnarls Barkley, The Handsome Furs, JET, MGMT, The Mother Hips, The Rapture, and The Shins)

During that, we drove and picked up Yoko's English-studying friend Yuuko. Since she had never been to Yoko's house before, she brought a gift (some really tasty sweet potatoes). It was interesting to see that aspect of Japanese culture from a different perspective.

It felt a little weird speaking English there, especially since I'm used to being the one struggling to understand the person I'm talking to, but it was a lot of fun. She was pretty good, but she still had a long way to go. I'm probably more able to have normal conversations in Japanese, than she is in English, but I think a lot of the problem was my American accent and her Japanese accent.

That night we made takoyaki (sort of a ball of lightly fried batter with octopus in the middle which my host father, Fumio, described (in English) as "Japanese junk food") which was a lot of fun. It turns out I'm pretty good at it. By about halfway through the meal I was satisfied, but we kept making more and they kept putting them on my plate. It was really good and lots of fun, so I kind of want to buy a takoyaki-maker and make them at home.

Today (Sunday), Fumio didn't have work, so the three of us drove to Asakusa to check out the huge shrine there, and then to Ueno to look around the huge market under the train tracks before dropping me off back at the dorm.

The homestay experience was very interesting and fun. I fell like if this entire program was a homestay my Japanese would improve way more than it is now, but it would also be a lot more difficult and stressful to not always be able to communicate effectively.

My family's relationship was very traditional, which I'm not used to at all. Yoko always had dinner ready for when Fumio came home and did all the cleaning in the house (which was ridiculously spotless). It was an interesting experience, even if I wasn't very comfortable with being waited on quite that much. They were very surprised to hear that my dad only works 7 or 8 hours a day and does all the cooking at home.

They are both great people and I'm really glad to have met them and plan to keep in contact by e-mail.

I learned a lot from the experience, but mostly I realized that I'm at sort of a turning point in my Japanese ability. Right now I'm able to have basic conversations by only occasionally having to look anything up in a dictionary (though I often have to ask for things to be rephrased or repeated), but anything beyond discussing light subjects like food or some differences between Japan and the US is incredibly difficult. Since that's the case, if I were to stop taking classes after this summer I'd probably never progress beyond this point, so I'm probably going to revise my plans for the coming semesters at Iowa and continue taking Japanese language classes (starting with 3rd year conversation next semester).

Also, I could never drive in Tokyo. If you thought driving in Chicago rush hour was crazy, you don't know nuthin'.

An Evening With the Tanabe's

This morning we all met up with our host families (or in most cases, one representative of our host families). My host mother, Yoko Tanabe, was there to meet me and after our quick self-introductions we set off on the fairly long journy to Machida. Despite the fact that she speaks almost no English, I found it very easy to communicate with her which was a huge relief. She was also very relieved that I can understand enough Japanese to have a light conversation, even if I often have to ask her to rephrase something or look up a word in my dictionary.

After taking a subway and three(?) trains and walking through neighborhoods for about 20 minutes, we arrived at their house, a decent-sized (for Japan), two story, incredibly clean home. After dropping my things in my room and giving her my souvenirs from Iowa (special thanks to Mom and Judy, she loved them) we drove to a restaurant for conveyer-belt sushi. I felt a little bad since I didn't eat that much, but I wasn't terribly hungry and there's only so much raw fish and rice that my stomach can take...

After driving back home (which is kind of scary in Japan with it's narrow streets and hidden intersections) we chatted for a bit before walking down to a local festival by the station. The festival was pretty interesting. It was incredibly crowded and there we lots of nifty food stands, but not a whole lot else. It was pretty different than the old-fashioned festivals at shrines you always see in anime, since it was all just set up along a street. After getting some yakisoba, a sausage, and a chocolate covered banana, we were about to leave when we saw a jazz band from a local high school setting up on a stage and decided to watch. They were, as expected, incredibly good. My host mother had also seen Swing Girls so we were excited when they played some of the same songs from the movie.

After that, this badass taiko drum group played on the same stage. Epic shit. That's what I want to do when I grow up. Videos and pics to be posted.

Afterwards, Yoko's husband Fumio, who had just gotten back from work, met us there and we all walked home together. I'm pretty sure Fumio hit the bar before coming home, since he seemed a bit inebriated, but I guess that's normal for Japan, so whatever. After getting back, we all pretty much just ate dinner and then chatted all evening. My favorite part of the evening was when I tried teaching them how to say "McDonalds" in English, as opposed to the Japanese ma-ku-do-na-ru-do.

I still think my Japanese sucks, but its nice to know I can get by in these kinds of situations.

Tomorrow, we're planning on going to the Ramen Museum and meeting Yoko's friend who is studying to be an English teacher. Should be a good time.

I'm at my host family's house

My host mother is really nice. We went out for conveyer-belt sushi and now we're eating candy and listening to American 80s music.

Pics from okonomiyaki restaurant and Shinjuku at night

Here

Not really a balanced breakfast

but it works

This Week

So this week has kind of stunk, since I've had class Monday-Thursday from 9:00 to 6:00, which lift me with very little time for anything but going to class, eating, and studying/doing homework. I did go to the Yasukuni war memorial shrine on Wednesday though, which was pretty cool (though I was technically going there for a class)

The shrine and surrounding area are beautiful, but the best part in my opinion is the war museum next to it. I only had about 30 minutes to tour it before it closed, so I didn't get to see/read everything I wanted to, but it was really interesting to see Japan's perspective of all the wars it's been involved in.

I then wrote a short presentation on how to get there (thank you Nakama 2, chapter 6!). All the other people in the workshop who decided to go there were in the class above me and were talking about the museum or the shrine or even the controversy surrounding them, so I decided to do something lighter and simpler.

Today (Thursday, my last day of class this week), I went out with some peeps and tried okonomiyaki for the first time. It's sort of a big pancake with meat and vegetables and (in our case) noodles and it's quite tasty.

After that, Ethan 1, Carrie, and I took the train to Shinjuku to visit the top of the Metropolitan Government building. The view at night from up there is pretty incredible, lighted buildings as far as the eye can see. There was a lot of glare in the windows though, so we couldn't take very good pictures.

There was also a drinking fountain up there, which are almost impossible to find in Japan!

After that, we wandered around the east side of Shinjuku station for a while which we discovered was full of 2 things: Restaurants and shady strip clubs.

Tomorrow, I meet my host family and stay with them for 2 nights. I'm a little anxious, but it should be interesting. A lot of people were already contacted by their family by e-mail, but I wasn't, so all I know is that it's just a couple in the house (aged 43 and 33), they don't smoke, they don't have pets (which is too bad), and I'll have a western-style bedroom.

I'll be staying near Machida City which is about as far from Tokyo as you can get while still being considered part of Tokyo.

Pics from Yasukuni Jinja

Here

Sandwich

I bought a sandwich from the supermarket with noodles in it. It was tasty.

"You and you and mostly me and you..."

Went to the Yasukuni war memorial shrine today. I'd talk about it, but I'm too busy listening to the Dr. Horrible soundtrack when I should be doing homework.

Geemu

Walked to a couple used game stores tonight. Picked up Boktai 3 for Paul (you owe me $15) and decided that I'm never going to have a chance this good, so I went ahead and bought a used copy of Mother 3 (complete with box and booklets). One of the places was also having a sale on manga for 5 for 100¥ which I naturally couldn't resist.

I think at this point I'm pretty much done shopping for games and comics. All that's left is random anime goods and miscellaneous souvenirs.

In other news, having 8 hours of Japanese class in a day totally sucks. Fortunately we only have class 4 days this week, which means the week is half over already. Then my homestay starts Friday and goes until Sunday.

Pics from Sunday's trip to Odaiba (and a little Akiba)

Here

Pics from Saturday's trip to Ginza

Link

Gundam!

Today Kevin, Ethan 1, and I, along with one of my roommates from Hachioji, Alan, made the trip to the man-made island of Odaiba to see the full scale Gundam statue. Getting there involved 2 subways and a monorail, but thanks to Tokyo's amazingly user friendly metro system it was no problem at all. I thought the mobile suits in the Gundam series were a little bigger, but it was still really big and really cool (they were even playing music and sound effects from the series on loudspeakers in the area).

After wandering around Odaiba for a while and riding the huge ferris wheel there, Alan decided he needed to buy an external hard drive, so we ventured to the electronic (and geek) capitol of the world, Akihabara. We didn't stay there very long and just went into a couple electronics stores before getting what we needed and leaving. I'll be back, though...

(Pics to come)

Pics in and around the Waseda campus

Here

My first subway ride!

This morning (Saturday) was our Waseda orientation/campus tour. The campus is really big and beautiful, and there's even a lovely little park, all of which is pretty impressive considering we're in the middle of Tokyo. This afternoon/evening Kevin, Ethan 1 (the two guys I hang out with most, since we're all into geeky stuff), Liz, Carrie, and I took the subway for the first time down to Ginza which is a big shopping area full of department stores. The tokyo metro system looks really intimidating on a map, but when you're actually there and have your route planned out it's actually no problem at all (it also helps that everything is in both Japanese and English). Ginza was cool and shiny, but there wasn't much there that interested me beyond the pastry/sweet shops (they're all over Ginza, but I couldn't really justify buying anything. Maybe next time...) and the huge toy store we went to.

I'm pretty confident about the transit system now, which is good, since tomorrow Kevin, Ethan 1, and I are going to the Gundam statue in Odiaba, which requires 3 subway lines, then checking out Shinjuku station on the way home.

Should be a good way to end the weekend before starting my week of 7 hours of class every day.

Sweet

There's an awesome custom design T-Shirt store called Red Bros. like 2 blocks from the dorm. I plan to buy the whole store, but first, since they don't sell them pre-shrunk, I bought a medium and a large to wash and dry and see how they fit after that.

Between that and the Waseda University stuff I'm gonna buy, I'll be coming home with a fair bit more clothes than I left with.

We're entirely on our own for food here,

which means no more fish for breakfast!

mmmm, frosted flakes. Or コーン　フロスティrather.

Today (Friday)

Today, our first full day at Waseda, I walked with Ethan 1 (there are 2 Ethans) and Kevin to the 9 story Animate store in Ikebukuro. It was a bit of a hike (we probably should have taken the train or subway, but we got some exercise), but it was worth it. I didn't go crazy buying stuff like I could have, I just got a few little figures and some manga (I'm done with manga after this, I swear!). I held back on some things I wasn't sure about since I'll probably come back once again before I leave (and they'll have a lot of the same stuff in Akihabara). Afterwards we just poked around the area around the station, grabbed some dinner, then came home.

Tomorrow morning is our orientation, but I'm not sure what my plans are for that afternoon, I'll probably just see what everyone else is up to.

Sunday, though, Ethan 1, Kevin, and I are making the pilgrimage to the full scale Gundam statue in Odaiba. w00t!

Next weekend is the homestay, and the weekend after that: Akihabara.

It's a good day to be a nerd~

Pics from today

There's no outlet in the bathroom

So I'm using my webcam as a mirror when I shave with my electric razor.

Moving Day

Today (Thursday) was our last day at the Hachioji Seminar House, so we just had a morning class, then loaded onto buses for the Nishi-Waseda campus just north of Shinjuku.

Pics from the last few days at the Hachioji Seminar House

Yesterday the guys had to move out of our rooms and stay in a different dorm for the last night, since evidently there were some new students coming in that needed our rooms. The other dorm was even weirder than the last one and was just pretty ghetto overall. More than one night there would have sucked, but it wasn't so bad for a one time thing. That night we had a going away party that started with a dinner (much better than the regular food), then Keith, a songwriting major played a few Beatles songs with our awesome RA Takashi on vocals. We were skeptical that anything would be able to follow that, but next Liz, Jane, and Carrie, another 3 musically-talented students gave an extremely impressive performance. After that we moved into the (cockroach infested) auditorium for the after-party, for which Takashi provided some sake.

I would have partied a little harder, but I still had a little homework to do that night, so I left around 11 (which is my regular bedtime).

Pics from the party

Everyone is really excited to be at the new campus since people were getting really sick of having nowhere interesting to go (Hachioji and Kitano are only fun for so long).

After getting settled into my new room (and having a mighty struggle with my fitted sheets), my new roommate Daniel (it's 2 to a room here), my buddy Ethan, and I went out to explore the surrounding area and buy ethernet cords so we can get online. We went to a store called "Picasso" which is kind of a mini department store that sells everything from electronics to food to clothing for the cables, and grabbed dinner at Subway (Shut up. A tuna sub sounded good!). After getting back, I set to work reconciling all of my various maps of the area. It looks like we have very easy access to trains and subways so we can get just about anywhere in the city pretty easily (1 train direct to Akiba!).

Later I joined a group going out to celebrate Liz's (another classmate) birthday. We first split into two groups since some people wanted to go to a noodle restaurant and the rest of us had already eaten, so we wandered around the area for a bit before meeting back up with the rest of the group and going to the Hub, which is an English Pub-style chain of bars in Japan. We hung out there for a bit (I got a Malibu and Coke) before heading out again. We continued to wander when suddenly one of our companions, Cooper, suddenly sensed booze and led the way to this shady looking shot bar called "Outsider". At first it seemed like a cheap dive bar (there was only 1 other customer), but after looking around for a bit and getting our food and drinks, it turned out to be a really classy little place (despite the wierd late 80s lawyer movie that was playing on the TV). The drinks were a little pricy (between 700 and 1000 yen for a drink), but dollar for alcohol content, it was actually a better deal than the other bar. After looking at the menu I decided on the most Japanese thing available and ordered a Kamikaze (it was also a western style bar). I'd never had a strong cocktail like that before, but it was actually really good. I might have to come back (they also had good looking food for a little bar).

Much of this was written post-kamikaze, so forgive me if it's not perfectly readable.

This new dorm is an incredibly strong contrast to the last place we stayed. The seminar house had all these quirky concrete buildings with almost rustic interiors, while this place is eerily monochromatic and sterile (everything is painted white and we have to take off our shoes at the entrance). We also will not be provided with meals here (though there is a campus cafeteria we can buy food at), which should be interesting. There are lots of grocery stores (we have a kitchen on every floor) and restaurants around though, so I won't go hungry.

My room and tonight's antics

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And mom, Fuji-Chan is what I call the little Mt. Fuji-shaped bag I bought at (naturally) Mt. Fuji. Since the smallest paper bill here is 1000 yen, you end up with a lot of coins, so I bought Fuji-Chan to keep my coins all together.

Happy Birthday, Mom!

From Jay and Fuji-Chan (my coin bag)

Sorry Mom

I've decided that in order to maximize the amount of stuff I can bring back home, I'm going to abandon most of my socks at the end of these 6 weeks. I probably need new ones anyway :P

I think I'm gonna cut myself off from buying more manga, though. Too much more and I'll have to come up with some more creative solutions...

It seems so wasteful to make a new set of flashcards every day,

but it's the only way I know how to study vocabulary and kanji...

A glimpse of my true self

It is bad that I'm way more motivated to study Japanese now that I have a stack of manga and games that I can't read waiting for me?

Nerd-gasm

Went to Hachioji today with just a few other people to look at book stores, used clothing stores, and check out the arcades. The first place we went to, a chain of used book stores in Japan called "Book Off", completely blew me away. They had a absurdly huge manga selection, all between 100 and 500 yen. They also sold used games and CDs. Needless to say, I left the store slightly poorer. We then visited another smaller used book store, bought more cheap manga, then ate lunch at Mos Burger.

For fast food, Mos Burger is damn good. I got a teriyaki burger and a melon soda.

The used clothing stores we found were mostly closed since it was Sunday, so I'll have to come back for those. We spent a little time in an arcade (I played a nifty side-scrolling shooter with pretty graphics), but they're pretty expensive since the machines just take 100 yen coins.

After that we went to a store called Animate, which caters to one group alone: the geek. Manga, DVDs, misc. anime goods. I could have spent quite a bit longer in there, but I didn't want to spend too much or keep my companions waiting too long.

It took a lot of self-control not to just go crazy and buy everything I saw, but this is just the first week and I'll be going to Akihabara at some point...

Mt. Fuji Pics

Pics from today's (Saturday) trip to Mt. Fuji and Lake Kawaguchiko.

On the way up there was an awesome truck with a picture from Princess Mononoke on the back.

http://s25.photobucket.com/albums/c52/jayrulesall/Misc%20Hachioji%20and%20Kitano/Mt%20Fuji/

Misc. Pics

A few random pics from trips to Hachioji and/or Kitano. Epic Engrish included.

http://s25.photobucket.com/albums/c52/jayrulesall/Misc%20Hachioji%20and%20Kitano/

Mt. Fuji

Field trip to Fuji today was fun. All we did was take a bus up to the highest point you can drive (the 5th of 8 steps on the mountain) eat lunch, look around for a bit, then head down, but it was pretty cool and I got some sweet stuff at the souvenir shops (Souvenir Boxer Shorts!). Afterwards we drove down to lake Kawaguchiko which is at the foot of the mountain and took some sweet photos (which will be posted soon).

Tonight a group of people are going to Roppongi to go clubbing all night, but I'm just gonna hang around here, get a little work done, and take it easy overall. Tonight will be my first adventure in doing laundry in Japan so we'll see how that turns out... I picked the settings that looked the most medium, but I can't really tell...

Friday Night

Since the whole festival rumor turned out to be false, I went with another big group into Hachioji to wander around. Ended up going to a bar and getting some excellent (if not at all manly) drinks. Bars in Japan seem to have their own version of a service charge where everyone is given a small appetizer and charged an exorbitant price for it (i.e. 300 yen for a tiny bowl of vegetables). I'm not too bothered by it, though, since you don't have to give tips here.

There were 12 of us there (doing the cool traditional seating where you take off your shoes) and since we didn't want to ask them to split the bill, I volunteered to pay it off and just have everyone pay me back. It took a little while, but I'm pretty sure everyone payed me what they owed, and now I have an absurd amount of coins (the smallest bill here is 1000¥, and most people didn't spend that much)

I think I'm gonna go back on Sunday with just one or two other people and check out the arcades (It's true, Japanese people are CRAZY good at arcade games) and look for used clothing stores.

Today is our field trip to Mt. Fuji. Should be fun. Will take pictures.

Good Girly Drinks in Japan:

Cashisu Orange

Ume-Shu (Plum wine)

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Going to Mt. Fuji tomorrow. Good night.

T-G-I-F

Sooooo happy I don't have to spend my afternoon/evening doing homework tonight. Supposedly there's going to be a festival in Kitano, so I'm gonna get a group together and check it out tonight.

できた！

Finished my sakubun (Ron Paul would be proud), played with some sparklers, got yelled at by administrators for shooting loud fireworks that might bother the neighbors, hit a volleyball around with people in a circle, and succeeded in hitting the ball 10 times in a row as a team without it hitting the ground.

All in all a good night.

Irony

I'm writing a (terrible) essay about the wonders of capitalism while wearing my communist party shirt.

I guess we're shooting off some fireworks tonight, so that should be fun. Hopefully I'll have most of it written by then. I really need to quit posting on this blog and get to work...

Pics from Hachioji

Pictures from taking the bus to Hachioji Station:

http://s25.photobucket.com/albums/c52/jayrulesall/FIrst%20trip%20to%20Hachioji%20Station/

No time!

Got back my first essay (and got a new one assigned) today. We were supposed to write a story from our home country, so I told the one about the man with the hook hand. Unfortunately, I don't have time to look at it and try and make sense of the corrections.

Any time not spend doing new homework (or blogging) is going to be spent out exploring. There's actually a lot more around here than I originally thought. Kitano is less than a half hour walk and there's a lot of stores and stuff there around the station, and Hachioji is about half hour by bus and has an amazing downtown area (also by the station).

I really don't want to write this new essay. It's asking our opinions on international trade... ugh... how do you say "comparative advantage" in Japanese?...

Food

Uploaded a few pics of meals in the cafeteria here (just for you dad!). I'll probably be adding more periodically.

http://s25.photobucket.com/albums/c52/jayrulesall/Hachioji%20Cafeteria/

百円の店

Went to Kitano (the adjacent town) this evening:

100 yen stores are wayyy better than their $1 American equivalents.

Also bought a pillow (from a regular department store) because the ones provided for us are filled with these horrible, uncomfortable plastic beans.

Wanted:

Ideas for things to do with all these useless 1 yen coins.

パン屋！！

Went on a 7-11 run with a few people and stopped in a little local bakery on the way back. They were super nice and gave us free bread (in addition to what we bought).

It's pretty hot and humid here, but nothing we Iowa folks aren't used to.

Odd Feeling

After Ishikawa-sensei hammered the idea of always handing your papers in to your sensei by holding it with two hands and saying "onegai shimasu", it feels so unnatural to just casually hand in my homework with one hand to the teacher here, which is what everyone does.

This class is going to ruin my (already poor) handwriting

I'm planning on taking a bus to downtown Hachioji with some folks tonight, so I'm finishing my homework as fast as possible.

Class today was much better since it was a bit more structured and we had a different teacher who talked much slower and more simply.

Dinner time~~

(speaking of which, I think my body is having difficulty adjusting to the food here...)

Pics around the Hachioji campus

This is easily the weirdest place you can imagine taking classes. I kind of love it. Too bad there isn't much else around within walking distance.

http://s25.photobucket.com/albums/c52/jayrulesall/Hachioji%20Seminar%20House/

More pics

On the way to move into the Hachioji Seminar House, we stopped at this big outlet mall.

http://s25.photobucket.com/albums/c52/jayrulesall/Outlet%20Mall/

I miss the TAs back home

My teacher here talks wayyyyy too fast. It seems like the hardest part about these classes is going to be figuring out what in god's name is going on during the class itself. It's pretty frustrating, but it's just the first day, so I'm sure I'll get used to it eventually.

Also, never ask your teacher what どろか　means. They'll show you by suddenly yelling in your face.

Pics from the flight and first day:

http://s25.photobucket.com/albums/c52/jayrulesall/Flight%20to%20Japan%20and%20first%20day/

Saturday and Sunday

So once I touched down and made it through customs and immigration, I was directed onto a bus to take me to the Shinjuku Washington Hotel. While waiting for the bus, I met another Waseda student by the name of Jun (we were the only two from the program who arrived around that time, so there weren't any others with us). On the bus ride from Narita airport to Shinjuku (which took about 2 hours due to it being rush hour) I got a good look at the city of Tokyo. I was struck by how green the whole city is. There are bushes and trees everywhere. It's amazing how efficiently space is used here: any space that is not used for streets (which are quite narrow), sidewalks (also narrow), and buildings (tall and tightly packed) has something planted there.

That night, surprisingly energetic despite an incredibly long day of travel, I met some other students (including my roommate for the night, Jon, a History major pursuing a PHD in ancient Chinese history) and joined a group of them in search of a good ramen restaurant. We ended up meeting with Keith's (another member of the program who was with us) dad who is an American living in Shinjuku. He brought us to a great little ramen shop a short walk away. I can honestly say the miso ramen there was the best I'd ever had, of course all I'd had before was the instant crap...

Today was orientation day, so the program administrators gave us a presentation with an overview of what we'd be doing over the next 6 weeks. After that we loaded up on buses and, since we had the afternoon to kill, spend a few hours at a huge outlet mall. It was pretty much entirely clothing stores so it wasn't particularly interesting, but it was nice to wander around and get to know my classmates.

I did buy an effing amazing hat, though. I'll post a picture once I get the chance.

After arriving at the Hachioji Seminar House where we'll be spending the next 2 weeks, I joined up with a group of people and explored the campus. It's probably the weirdest place to take classes you can imagine. It's in the middle of a large, hilly, forested area, and all the buildings are oddly shaped concrete structures. We ended up walking down a small dirt trail for about 20 minutes until it suddenly opened into a residential neighborhood. All in all, its probably the best setting for a horror movie ever. Think surrealist soviet-era eastern europe with lots of trees and wildlife around.

I also bought an alcoholic drink from a vending machine and consumed it and no laws were broken.

This evening after the welcoming party (in the upside-down trapezoid building with the creepy eyeball) I wandered the area near campus to find that there really isn't much in the area besides a couple 7-11s. A little disappointing, especially since the train station is probably a 45 minute walk away, but I'm sure I'll have no trouble keeping busy.

Class starts tomorrow and I'm anxious to see how difficult its going to be. I still haven't really gotten into the groove of speaking japanese all the time, so I think it'll be useful in that, at least.

Alive

In the Shinjuku Washington Hotel. 26 hours without sleep. Will post again later.

I'm in the Moline airport:

It's early.

It was even earlier when I woke up.

Things to do as soon as possible after arriving:

1. Make friends with other people in the program. At the minimum I need 2: A Dave stand-in who's around my language ability or lower, but who would be willing do random crazy things with me (like a spur of the moment quest to find an Anna Miller's), and an Amanda or Vanessa level prodigy (preferably also with curly hair) who can find and understand directions to said restaurant.

2. Have my first legal drink. By which I mean my first drink <_<

3. Eat sushi fo rizzil.

4. Find a vending machine that sells the craziest shit possible and buy it.

5. Take pictures of frickin' everything.

Oh, and work on improving my Japanese, too, I guess...