008 - Atashi wa kunochi desu. (I am Ms. Ninja).

Before all of you fall dead on the spot at certain pictures of mine, let me try and go through most of my Kyoto weekend.

Still in chronological narration, so if you want an explanation for said certain pictures, skip to bottomish part of this blog.

Lots of things happened on Friday-Saturday. Basically we rode to Kyoto by Shinkansen and then we joined a bus tour to three different temples. The first was, I think, the Heian shrine, which consisted of alot of orange architecture. Nothing really sparked my interest here, and most of what I wanted to take a picture of was actually considered as fragile and must not be photographed. Sadness.

Then we went to Sanjusangedo (my Japanese to English spelling sucks, but I dont think youd appreciate Hiragana) a temple that houses arond a thousand Buddhas. You try and look for one that looks like you and the custom is to pray to that Buddha. But I couldnt find any that had my shape of eyes (AHAHAHAHAH!) so I just went around sampling the different kinds of incense.

Then we went to Kiyomizudera. Effing awesome view over there. I loved the architecture and this whole `lets climb up a thousand steps so we can drink from the mystic fountain of wealth, intelligence and longevity` aspect. No kidding, I climbed the steps, and was no worse for wear when I finally reached the fountain. The water fell from top of the mountain or something like that and was split into three streams. One held longevity, the other intelligence, and the last wealth. I picked intelligence of course. I need lots of it. Anyway, it was the sweetest water I ever tasted. It was so good, that my plan of looking cute for my picture was totally abolished when I realized exactly how thirsty I was. Bah. Cuteness doesnt work for me. Never did.

Then we finished the tour, did some shopping along this famous shopping road, where I had the worst/best ice cream of my life...

Okay that didnt make sense. The Ice Cream. It was recommended by the teacher I was with during the time, and it consisted of regular soft serve vanilla plus this very exotic topping. Imagine small spherical bits of hot cheetos. Now multiply said spiciness by three, then sprinkle that over the ice cream.

It was this never ending cycle of torture and relief. Pain and pleasure. The most ridiculous paradox I have encountered in this universe. Seriously, everytime I tasted the topping I scooped up another spoonful of the vanilla, experience some sort of relief from the burn in my throat and then my tongue would hit another one of those hellspawned things and my pain would start over.

Needless to say, I became very thankful about the great number of vending machines that Japan seems to be so fond of (I see vending machines for EVERYTHING. One sold ties.) We hit the Gion district where Memoirs of A Geisha was based. That district was soo cool. Lots of ancient architecture plus geisha/maikos walked the street. They really are impressive in those kimonos, I look at their faces and nothing really strikes me, but I love how they move. Theyre fast walkers. They dont stop for pictures, so people have to act like the paparazzi to take pictures of them and my guy classmates had a very hard time running after them trying to catch up to their geta-clad feet. It was a funny sight.

Then for dinner we wondered around until we hit a Mos burger. Best. Burger Place. Ever.

It beats all Whattaburger in Russelville. And that says alot. Its sooo good. And they have melon soda, which is the best kind of pop in my world.

Sunday was similar. Went to various temples. Got somewhat lost. I took several pictures of this water basin that had this awesome conglomerate of Kanji characters that reads Only Satisfaction Do I Know. All four characters shared a square that lies in the middle of the basin. Very profound, I thought.

Then Came Sunday Afternoon. And thats when it all just kind of blurred on me.
(Not really. Luckily for the human population, I have a good memory when it comes to something fun.)

I went with my aunt`s friends. I might have mentioned that my aunt lived in Japan when she was younger and trained computer programming in a different language. She became good friends with this couple who were so good to host me for two days. They picked me up and we drove for an hour into the mountains towards my home (nope, didnt take the Shinkansen back to Nagoya). We stayed at this Japanese style inn where EVERYTHING WAS AMAZING. Food was great.

Enter dinner description: I had to seat two seats away from my aunt`s friends because there was so much food. I had two ceramic pots that cooked my food in front of me. One had rice and spice/root toppings. The other pot contained beef and root veggies. Then I had pickled dishes all around me. I had this big wooden bowl of sashimi. Great soup. Oh did I mention half of my food was cooking in front of me while I was finishing up my sashimi. Yup. I had to crack open an egg, beat it, and pour it over the cooking beef, halfway through my maguro (tuna sashimi). Amazing experience. Felt like a Korean hot pot restaurant back in the Philippines, when we cooked Samgyupsal. Everything tasted stellar.

After we ate, we went into our tatami rooms (I roomed with the wife while the husband took the other one, theyre so nice to me, I think they figured Id feel a little awkward if I were alone in my tatami room) and showed me pictures from a long time ago. Thats when I figured that apparently, when I was five years old, they visited my home. They were actually at my aunts wedding, where I was a flower girl princess thing and apparently they were very taken by me. Minus my really pretty and large eyes, they really liked my hospitability when I was eight. In fact, they always thought that Filipino hospitality was alot like Japanese (which means, we shall let ourselves starve to feed our guest kind of thing-- this is true, but slightly exaggerated). And at five, I spoke fluent English while my cousins didnt. My cousins were afraid of this couple, and I apparently had my longwinded personality at eight years old or something.

Half embarassed and half pleased, I just said thank you over and over and over (compliments dont cease in this culture I think) again.

THEN WE WENT TO THE FIREFLIES!!! Second only to the beach sunset I experienced last week, this beautiful, magical, wonderful, rare experience, was heartbreaking. As in, it was so beautiful, I wanted to cry from being so moved in a very happy way. But I didnt. I wouldnt be able to see them if I had, and it was raining lightly. But if you see dark pictures in my album with a few green dots around it, ignore them for they absolutely do not do them justice. We walked around with our umbrellas at this river looking at the lights, and I was so frustrated about not being able to take pictures of the sight, that I quit completely after the tenth try and just enjoyed the soft pulsing lights.

I am definitely coming back to Japan. Godwilling.

Finally, we had to leave. And I experienced my first public bath. Um okay. This is weird for me to talk about but I think its okay. I mean, now Im actually used to it.

Boys are separate from girls. Just let me get that across. NO BOYS AROUND.

Okay, so I went into the baths, and I had to completely strip. No towel, no swim suit. One other lady was there, but she left when I finally came out of the rest room after my silly pep talk of `its okay theyre all girls, I dont care about all this, its just culture, we all have the same reproductive system... I hope` and blah. But the wife was there already, scrubbing herself clean at the showers near the hot spring. I mustered all courage and went to the shower beside her and mutely did as I was instructed of how hard, how long, and how much to scrub. Im pretty sure I was bright red all over by the time I went into the springs. But at least I know everyone cleans themself well before entering the springs. Its bad manners to even have your hair down, because loose hair gets loose, you know.

After five minutes, I was loose. I dont know how you feel when you drink alcohol, but Ive always been under the impression people just tend to loosen up and start talking alot. And thats kind of what happened. The wife and I kind of counted minutes of who can stand to be in the water longest, and then surfaced when we needed to get some cold air. It was raining lightly, so it was refreshing to be in and out. She said, it was even better if it snowed, or if it was morning and the cherry blossoms bloomed. I really am coming back.

We finished up, dressed and got ready for bed, made our futons, had some tea with the husband and went to sleep. In the morning, we explored the hotel grounds and was delighted by the beauty and the majesty of fog-ringed mountain tops. Ive always counted the sea as my favorite vacation spot, but I think that place might have stolen my heart.

Anyways, to the good part.


THIS PART EXPLAINS NINJA.

When I was given the choice to pick where I wanted to go with them, I immediately said `Ninja house.` Some of you might know, I love Rurouni Kenshin (and that is the understatement of the year). I thought, you know if I knew more about the Oniwaban Ninja group, Ill be so much closer to becoming and ancient Samurai with a reverse blade sword. And I was right.

I went around the Ninja village with so much enthusiasm, that I was the only person taking pictures of the traps, swining doors, hidden passages, and falling booby trap ceilings when we joined a tour of a typical Ninja house. No kidding, in the Edo period, these people are so much more ingenious about war and espionage than the western culture ever was. I mean, lets go back to UP2 and recollect what John Stewart said about motors. The Americans came up with the long and expensive way and the Japanese sanded off half of the copper insulation of a piece wire and basically got the same thing. Really, the way they think. No wonder they spend so much time studying. Its to make booby traps that are super awesome!

But yeah, I think I might have been a little too obvious about being a tourist because the lady who ran the place came up to my aunt (again, the first time around we came in to her shop and my aunt introduced me as a student of the language and blah) and said `This is a secret, but she may dress up in ninja robes and participate in the `training` for a ninja license.`

Okay really. Ive been getting so many things for free since I came to this country, Im seriously doubting if I can even stand to leave this place in five days. Gah.

But yeah. I became Ninja. IM NOT KIDDING SEE PICTURES. I went through obstacle course (with kids of 7-13 years of age plus my aunt who wanted me to be as comfortable as I can I think). And since it was a gift, there was no way I can refuse the offer. I mean, that is assuming I didnt want to do it.

I did.

In my deepest darkest of heart-secrets, I did.

A picture is worth a thousand words, so you can look at a sample of what I had to go through. I also learned how to throw a shuriken (metal star to incapacitate enemies). Thank God, I hadck climbed and bouldered before.

I think I made the tour guide fall in love with me, but as usual was too shy to even try out my newly attained vocabulary. Stupid boys. Just because I wanted to be Ninja, it doesnt make me intimidating. Its this whole being a chemical engineer researcher thing that kills my game.

After getting my license (which I will frame near my graduation diploma for sure) we drove three hours to find this awesome and cheap kaitenzushi restaurant. I replenished my energy on approximately ten plates of sushi, had this amazing pudding fish soup that tasted exactly like balot (btw, the couple loved all Filipino food including Balot, so were like kindred spirits since we like the same cultural food! and they love me for my 8 year old self wahaha). Sushi included several kinds of tuna, salmon, squid, octopus, fish egg, crab... Let me summarize. It was alot. After the obstacle course and three hours of driving, I was horridly famished.

Life was amazing. Went to a mall. Got more souvenirs. Then we went to a tonkatsu restaurant which is, to the couples opinion, the best of its kind. Oh and this couple have traveled all over the world (Philippines, Australia, Sri Lanka, Malaysia (yes malaysian would love them too, but theyre mine bleh), Indonesia, Spain, Paris, Czech, Sweden (maybe), okay all these countries I cant remember right now), so they know good food.

AND I FREAKING LOVE THEM FOR IT!!! I cant believe Im not staying longer in this country! They offered to bring me to disneyland and universal studios several times!! ARRRGH.


And right before we went home we went to this viewpoint and took several pictures of the oil tanks. They love scifi. Theyre like, me, basically.

They spent an hour talking to my host family about me, my host fathers research, and the ninja thing. Im so happy I can listen to Japanese, even if I couldnt add to a conversation.

Much love here in Japan.

Love = sushi = fireflies = ninja

Much love indeed.

007 - Culture classes and the Tokugawa Museum!

Im going to try and go in chronological order so do keep in mind that the pictures are in reverse.
But basically, in the span of a week, I learned Japanese like I never learned before.

Ive always enjoyed our culture sessions in class but this past week was just jam packed of everything I consider great in the culture. We started out with writing our favorite Kanji on Shodo calligraphy. Being a naturally vain person, I chose my name in Kanji, which is the complex character that reads `hana.` It means flower, but the character itself is not very often used alone, and is always paired with other characters so its meaning can also be `essence` or `resplendant.` Vain aren`t I? But I finally finished my submitted version, and despite my 4th stroke being a little short, it had great balance and I was so proud of my ultimate product. Writing kanji with just a pen is hard, but with an ink brush is near impossible. Technique includes holding the darn thing 90 degrees to the surface, 45 degrees angled tip. Im not kidding. It was a little painful at first, but after the first few hundred papers, I was able to get the first three strokes perfectly. The last few strokes came almost automatically for me. I had actually tried doing it again after I submitted my hard-paper version, and it turned out to be better and as close as I could possibly get to perfection. Alas, I had already used up my cardboard, so I couldnt resubmit. But it was okay.

And then we had manga classes. IT WAS AWESOME! There is also so much more involved in manga than just plain drawing. They have several writing and crafting instruments including screen tones and feather brushes. Its a very exact art. The best way, I learned, is to just use a computer, but my instructor said that this (hand drawn and crafted) way is learned by every Japanese student in middle school. Thats why they have such great mangakas here, theyre discovered at an early age. It was great. I loved that class, and felt a little sad that sis was not with me, cause she would have totally turned into goo in utter gushing love for the subject. But shes still a minor and she wouldnt have fitted in my suitcase (PS on the ghibli ticket, uh excuse me? who has a credit card? who has an ebay account? who can actually buy stuff online. yeah, thats what I thought. :D be nice or Im not giving you your awesome present when I get back).

Then we attended a very beautifully arranged koto concert. I was very much impressed with the skill and dexterity of the musicians hands, I took videos of most of the concert. You shall have to wait for me to come home to listen to a great rendition of My Neighbor Totoro`s Sampo. It was the best version Ive heard yet.

That day ended with Karaoke. Oh yessssss. It was sooo much fun. I was so into it (being a filipino and owning my own very asiany karaoke set) that I was standing on the benches singing Backstreet Boys I Want It That Way with a friend, complete with choreography. Oh yessss. You know I would. People I went with were awesome, it was like we were of one mind. We sang songs I wanted to sing, because we were so in vibe with each others` minds.

Heres a sample list of what we sang.

I Want It That Way - BSB
Moonlight Densetsu - Sailormoon Opening
Im A Barbie Girl - Aqua (I have this on video with me as Barbie and one of the guys as Ken. It is a win, and will be used for blackmail many times hahahaha)
Spice up Your Life- Spice Girls

Theres more Japanese songs in there, but mostly from Anime OP/EDs. And of course we ended up paying for more than we had anticipated because we are tourists and apparently we didnt know the difference between 30 minutes and an hour and a half. Bah. I had so much fun.

The next day we went to the Tokugawa Museum. Spent the first 30 minutes listening to history, then me and a couple of other friends skipped the actual museum and spent the whole hour and a half in the most beautiful garden I have seen. Im not kidding. Theyve got irises bigger than my face. See pictures.

And theyve got Koi bigger than my thighs. And thats saying something...

Actually Im sorta happy with my muscle build-up. When I get back to fayetteville Im going to work my butt off. Literally hahahah. Shouldnt be too hard since there`s no REAL rice in Arkansas. Pbbbt.

So the koi were dubbed bubbly shuckleuckums or something of the sort and we played around and took pictures in the garden. There are more pictures with my friends camera because my camera eats up batteries like chocolates. So Im going to have to buy some more tomorrow...

WHEN I GO AND TOURISTICIZE KYOTO!!! Ahahahahah! I cannot wait. Its basically THE city that was not bombed by the Americans in the war and so all of the history was kept intact. I heard its very beautiful there and they have tea ceremonies with food that counts as the highest kind of art. Im way way way way excited about this and can only hope that my budget will accomodate my excitement, heh.

I dont need to buy anymore souvenirs but I obviously will.

Ha, thanks for the comment spam, but obviously, the people I wanted to be affected by my accusation are either too busy or being mean. So whatever.

Im in Japan, and theyre not.

As malaysian would say, cue sinister laugh.

006 - Tokyo at night

So I promised to write this post before this weekend, which is when I go to Kyoto.

I have so much to say, my fingers are having a hard time maneuvering around this Japanese Keyboard. AAAA!!!

Okay I`ll just start writing.

Teh ride over
Was freakin awesome. Bullet train is the way of the future. No smoke, and its fast. I mean, I traveled halfway through the country in an hour and 40 minutes. AAAAND. I love magnets.

Tokyo station
Was freakin awesome.

Harajuku and Omotesando
Omotesando street has this New-York feel to it. My friends and I basically were drooling over the Fendi and Gucci stores (or maybe it was just me) and at the utter cuteness at all the displays. Thats one thing that is probably unique in Japan. They make things cute. Forget dignified and respectable, stick em in ruffles and pretty colors and youve basically got the culture in a nut-shell.

My host mom told me before we left that this street was a good street to walk by. But not when you want to shop, so we made this small bunny track towards Harajuku, a subset of the Cho (kind of like district) we were in, and looked at smaller shops with uphill architecture.

It was kind of great, we found this cute little store that sold novelty items, and they were all so cute. I took several pictures (because mostly I cant buy them all... in fact I didnt buy anything because if I bought one cute thing, I wanted to buy one more to sort of accent one cute thing. One cute thing is uncute, which I found out the hard way. You need to buy a dozen cute things to really get your moneys worth. But I dont have that kind of money, so I just didnt buy anything... Im now uber sad talking about this) inside the shop. They had porcelain kittens, dogs, wooden cups, chopsticks, little koi, sushi models, hand made scenery thingies... all in beautiful colors! Gah I cant believe I didnt buy anything!

Anyways we went on walking through Harajuku. A friend of mine commented on how the street was basically a photographers dream place because it had so many angles and interesting things to look at. The English signs made our day, basically.

Then we all got hungry and split up. Guess what I ate.

SUSHI!!!! ALKJLKEJRIOAIELJHRLK!!!!!!!!!!!! Kaitenzushi of the more expensive kind. I got (and yes I do remember what I ate until now) two plates of Hokkigai (each plate consists of two sushi pieces unless otherwise noted, fish miso soup, one plate of salmon, one plate of octopus sushi, one plate of chuootoro (second to the best kind of tuna, they ran out of the best kind), one trisushi plate that had salmon, tuna, and some other fish I didnt ask the name for, one yellowtail a bite from a friends spinach/seaweed salad which I would have gotten had I not been conscious of the total amount I already had to pay (not to mention the total amount of sushi I had already eaten at that time). Be jealous.

Oh but I do want to remain friends with you, if youre feeling offended by now. I just like gushing about the most awesome kind of food that youre just missing out on, you know.

Okay okay, thats the end of that section.

Asakusa
Was also freakin awesome. This is where I blew most of my money. Guess on what. GHIBLI MERCHANDISE!!! They had a Miazaki store that made my life complete. There was also this awesome shrine, but I didnt go to it. I spent most of my time shopping at the street vendor shops IN FRONT of the shrine. I think I went in and perused about a hundred shops scouring for good souvenirs (see I can be a good friend too).

When we all got tired, we went to this shaded shopping area and started to shop some more, momentarily stopping to get a drink and be given a gross show of PDA by an American couple, boldly sucking each others faces at this quaint little Japanese coffee shop. I dont think I hated anyone so much before in my entire life (except for that one retard in high school, who just popped into my head right now at 11:37 pm since Im talking about `hatred`). The least you could do in a foreign country is respect the culture. Okay vent over on that.

I own several keychains right now.

Akihibara
WAS SUPER INTERESTING. We went here on the suggestion of a friend who had seen a lot of anime-ish things here. Something about girls dressed up as maids and waiting on you hand and foot (I exaggerate, but they do have kinky things like this here, I very sadly did not get to experience this). Best I can say in this PG-13-rated blog is that its interesting. See picture of a building sign (lime green sign) that informs of the products sold on every floor. Also, take a good look at the anime figure supporting it. Okay now stop, cause its gross and just to add to the detail, my friend notes that the anime figure`s panties can be seen through her shorts.

Okay quitting that. Im just saying, Akihibara is a must see ONCE place.

See building with kinky lingerie displayed on three floors.

OH BUT I TRULY ENJOYED THE LOVELY BOOKSTORE (once you get past the uhhh risque things). Bought the first 5 of the Rurouni Kenshin series. In Japanese. No english. My project for the summer is to translate all five, and start collecting *coughmylovercough* Kenshin stories in full Japanese. See picture of bookshelf aisle that mostly has red and pink covers. Note that its all girls. Im proud of myself for having avoided this aisle. I only fangirled in the shonen section. Haha.

And thats all we really looked at in Akihibara, the place where you would want to go if you REALLY like anime.

OUR HOTEL
Was AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAMMMMMMMMMMMAAAAAAAAAZZZZZZZZZZZIIIIIIIINNNNNNGGGGGG!!!
I got to stay in a TOP NOTCH hotel for 200 bucks. Our friend who booked the tickets through this deal her mom found at the travel agency said that such deals are often found in Japan. The deals value in American dollars (bullet train roundtrip + awesome hotel) should be around 500 bucks, but I only paid 200. See MANY MANY pictures of hotel. I took so many pictures of the beds and camera, I had to pick ones that were not blurry, because I was so excited about where we were and my hands couldnt hold still.

I had a life changing shower in that hotel. It was great. And you know I know my showers.

Im sorry for those of you who will live in hostels next year so that you could travel the country. This is me rubbing it in very very hard. But dont worry, half of my pocket money was spent thinking of you. (Chaa not really, youd be lucky if I actually give you your souvenir, make sure you visit me so you can pick it up. haha jk.)

Fuji TEREBI
Was so wonderful, all of it is still very vivid in my mind. Tokyo is made of lights at nighttime. This I realized while I took the monorail (also called skyrail) to this place. Took so many pictures of the city and was just slightly sad that my camera wasnt the heavier pricier and more professional kind, like that of a friend from college. I RODE THE FERRIS WHEEL to see the city better. By the way theres this viewpoint thats popular with the tourists where theres this mock statue of Lady Liberty so that the view looks like New York (find Lady Liberty in pictures), which I thought was really clever. It really looked like the Brooklyn bridge.

Then we had Soba. It was amazing too, and my anorexic friend found her salvation in it.

Fuji Terebi is made of lights. Pretty lights. Lights that make my soul very happy.... hmmmmmm ;D

---EnD---

Yeah that was all in one day. We started at 7 in the morning, rode the train to Tokyo, and went back around 11 ish in the evening to our hotel. I felt very accomplished after single-handedly owning this whole being a tourist thing.

But I would like to take this time to say, Im definitely coming back to Japan. Maybe, Godwilling, Ill be able to take my family here after I graduate and before grad school. I have to see this place again, in its entirety I hope.

ANNND (some of you will feel my pain on this) I DIDNT GET TO VISIT THE GHIBLI MUSEUM! The process includes reserving tickets, which I tried one week before my intended visiting date AND IT WAS ALREADY ALL OUT. Crazy thing was, I tried to buy it on auction too (which someone was selling for some crazy nonsense reason. If I had a ticket, I would never ever sell it!!!) and I WAS BEAT BY ONE YEN!!

One yen is one cent in dollars.


I WAS BEAT BY ONE YEN. I WAS ONE CENT AWAY FROM PLAYING ON THE CAT BUS IN THE GHIBLI MUSEUM. Me is hyperventilating right now.

Okay Im calm. I need to finish typing this up.

So yeah, I had to promise myself Id come back, otherwise I would have cried for a very long time. I only had one bad day about this, so no harm done. Just one quiz that I made a B on. I can take that.


After Tokyo, I stayed over at this Christian couple`s house for a night. They took me to church, and walked with me by the beach to adore the amazing sunset. It was beautiful, and I had one of the greatest epiphanies of my life on that beach. But that is irrelevant, maybe even misplaced, to the purposes of this blog. I will tell you later about this epiphany of mine, since it really deserves a face-to-face conversation. Putting it on blogspot cheapens it for me. And Id like you to truly get what Im saying.

Okay end post. Oh good flickr is done uploading all 200 something photos. Sugoi.

BTW EDIT: props to the bee-eff of my malaysian, since he comments (and to sis for that one small comment of hers). I cant believe I call you guys my friends. I really should just keep those keychains.... (Me is only half sarcastic, but also half sad as well. Me take so much time off to write blogs, send post cards, and budget money for key chains and nobody seems to read this)...

005 - Earthquakes and sushi

NOT THE TOKYO TRIP ENTRY.

No. That will happen later. Im actually going to be reporting on my trip to Nagoya-jo (Nagoya castle, excuse my spelling in Japanese if wrong. Its 0:59 here and Im supposed to be sleeping but I cannot pass up this opportunity of decent internet connection!)

That day (Wednesday I think) started out late, I had been up the night before working on my research proposal (yes, Im sorry to say they exist even when Im in Japan and on summer vacation). But basically my host mother calls out to me while I was getting ready for clothes and tells me that a level one earthquake just passed through our house and was asking if I was alright (it was on TV and she claims she felt it). I basically missed out on my first earthquake in Japan because I was too busy picking out my slightly over-abused clothes.

On that note, I would just like to vent on the fashion sense of the people here.
Why does everyone have to dress up... Every. Single. Day.

End vent. I actually really like the clothes here. Im just afraid of buying them because thats not good for my bank account. And Im also afraid of wearing clothes from here. I might get stoned in Arkansas or something.

Ruffles + Me = something extra weird

But other than the slightly shocking fashion sense here, I really enjoy Nagoya and all its historical sites. I mean, this entry is about Nagoya castle...

It was great. I liked the souvenir shop on the very top level of the castle. They had dear in the moat and I liked the history that came with it. Youre not really interested in me gushing about that period in time, so here Ill just tell you it was great and I bought and sent postcards.

By the way, I barely wrote anything in the post cards. I was late for class and so I scribbled some random trash on them so I dont feel like Im wasting post money. I dont really mean anything I say on the post-card, so if its slightly disturbing, just dont tell anybody.

I love you anyways and Im sending another batch soon, featuring a marketplace I visited in Tokyo.

But also, I went to my first kaitenzushi restaurant. You know, the ones that go round and round and you just pick up your plates. It was WONDERFUL. AND CHEAP. AND PLENTIFUL. AND FRESH.

AND OH MY GOSH I WENT TO ONE HERE IN TOKYO THIS MORNING AND HAD OOTORO AND HOKKIGAI.

But no, this entry is for the Nagoya thing I had on Wednesday. Um... looking at pictures right now... Oh yeah, I made many friends, but theyre all Americans. Its hard to make friends with the Japanese right now because theyre still trying to get over the fact that were from a different country... I sometimes feel like Im from the zoo. They just... LOOK at us.

And not to mention the Japanese girls here are head over heels over the boys in our program, while the Japanese boys have nothing to say to us American girls. (I mean not just me, even the pretty girls in our program, who would usually be hit on in any other country, dont seem to be gaining much appeal here.) Or maybe its just this culture thats just really passive.

Ah well, boys are dense no matter the skin color.

Okay Im tired. See pictures for awesomeness. Ill gush about Tokyo on another day.

BTW, just wanted to express my feelings on the pressure on alcohol. Im completely legal here and Ive been offered by my host parents (and host grand parents, theyre all so nice to me) to drink. And somehow we got to talking about my principles and my beliefs... This culture really doesnt have much room for religion. And also let me say, Ive never experienced this kind of pressure from people who are older than me. Its not really pressure (NOTICE TO PARENTS WHO ARE READING THIS FOR SURE) it was more like `You are the first American I have heard to ever say no to legal beer/sake, what are you doing in Japan when the legal age here is 20?` Let me tell you that it was both gratifying and unnerving to have such conversations with people I can consider wiser than I.

And its not like I havent drunk alcohol ever, I just dont think its necessary for any social event. If I want to be outgoing, I can do that on my own. I have a problem with it interfering with my mental facilities. Im already scatterbrained, no need to get more confused.

I dont begrudge anybody who drinks, I think its normal as long as youre not stupid and get drunk and become a burden to everyone else.

And I hate the taste.

Okay vent over.

I need to sleep. And figure out how Im going to go home, go back to the station with a new set of clothes so I can sleep over at someones beachhouse tomorrow in less than 3 hours.

I miss cars.

004 - BUNGAKU!!! (CULTURE!!!)

So, after an hour`s worth of train riding, walking, and getting lost. I finally ended up in this basement-internet-cafe that is really... freakin` awesome. Well okay, its not that awesome. Its actually smelly and probably for middle aged men who wanted to smoke and look at porn at the same time after a hard day`s work (eheh, I`m not kidding. I`m never going to come here on weekdays). It seems to be the only thing open on a Sunday morning. Yes. A Sunday. I`m not at church. I emailed around, but unfortunately, all replies of a good family friend went to my spam. Sadness. Maybe next Sunday. But that means you won`t hear from me unless I come here on a weekday. Which is not happening.

So. I have a lot to talk about. I shall make short distinct sections and if you want me to talk about it more... well you can ask me. If you ever see me again that is, since half of you are bound for the other side of the world once I do get back.

Friday: Atsuta Shrine and Osukannon

This past Friday, we had one of our culture classes wherein we visited this shrine where the grass-mowing sword was hidden (I bet it sounds cooler in Japanese, bleh). Everyday is like a festival there, where they have street vendors. Yes. I HAD THE BIGGEST SQUID OF MY LIFE THERE. (Never mind the culture, they have SEAFOOD!!!) But yes, I bowed and washed my hands, though I didn`t quite make a wish at the shrine itself. I mostly got lost because I followed the group who usually got lost and made trouble for everybody else. But hey, that`s only once!

See pictures, kay? They should be dated for June 5th.

But yeah, I couldn`t take pictures of me eating the squid because I couldn`t be bothered.

This is also where I picke up the nickname kame onna, which I think translates crudely into `turtle girl.` If not, well, keep in mind it was given to me by a bunch of foreigners trying to desperately look like Japanese. So far, I`m the only one who is moderately successful along with this Vietnamese guy. Who by the way, ate all my fries.

Oh yeah, before we went on tour, we had lunch. I WENT TO MCDONALDS. But before you judge me to harshly let me tell you that its cheap and it is not the same thing.

I had an EBI Burger. Shrimp patty. It was Awesome. And the fries were newly made. I also had soft-served ice cream, which I had been wanting since that morning since I was walking around with just my yellow coat on. Most of you know my infamous yellow coat, it makes me look like a caution sign, yes?

Anyway, that morning I was stinkin wet on the train so I had to let my hair down and dry on the poor cushioned seats. It was interesting though, no one even looked at me on the way to school. I suppose they were just trying to be polite.

But back to turtle girl. The rain got all my homework wet, so I tucked my bag underneath my coat, and voila!, I was a turtle.

Everybody still following this convolute train of thought? Good.

Then we went to this place where they sold new clothes cheap and second-hand clothes even cheaper and toys. I bought toys. The clothes were not cheap enough for me, but were so Asian cute, I think I might try and get lost, end up there, and waste all my left over money there at the end of my trip.

Or I could buy everyone souvenirs. I guess I could be a good friend. Sigh sigh.

This was where the group of people who usually got lost, got lost for good. I had learned my lesson and stuck to the sensei like wet cornstarch (Keeps eggrolls rolled up, just in case you didn`t know). We waited for an hour at the train station, but the class had to leave them behind. One of the teachers were stuck waiting for them.

Id like to go over interesting pictures, but I haven`t gotten to the good part yet. So I guess maybe I can just explain said pictures later.

Saturday - Hamijama-machi

We, host mom and two host brothers, took the train in the morning for about an hour then my host father met us at the last train station. He seems to always be working, so I only see him early in the morning and late at night during the week, but today was first outing as a semi-family. My host brother, who was 6 years old, noted in Japanese that it was their first outing with me, and I almost had to choke myself from gushing KAWAII<3<3!!!! on him. He really wants to be like his dad, so he`s got this macho thing going. But he`s really nice to his little 6 month old brother. He`s only starting to warm up to me, but yesterday at the beach we played almost all afternoon (2 hours = 12 hours or 20 minutes depending on what you do on the beach really). We drove by car from the station for about an hour and finally got to this fishing village.

It was sooo cool. Everything was so cramped and narrow and New. So culture-filled, my camera got full (I also took a ten minute video that was so worth it, but that`s not the point) and the batteries died on me. Luckily I brought a change of lithiums, but unluckily I only had one SD card. Sad sad sad.

But I have great pictures. Host dad took many many pictures of me and host brother getting wet when we`re not really supposed to. Well, we hadn`t planned on it. Or I hadn`t planned on it. My host mom knew that it would happen with host brother, so he had a change of clothes. I didn`t. All I knew was that it was too cold to swim, so I didn`t bring much. Gah.

But before the beach, host father brought me to his old research facility where he showed me the specimen he worked on for about something years (dont remember). It was awesome. (I need more adjectives, really). I used to want to be a marine biologist, but that was short lived when I realized it would be hard to get a lot of money for it. Oh but, seeing all those creatures they studied!! They had fish tanks, clam tanks, mussel tanks, and a culture room. (PICTURES!!)

He studied a Japanese lobster. In larvae form, its body is completely clear and you could kind of see its insides. Its no larger than my smallest finger, but it grows to be a full grown lobster with a completely solid exoskeleton. Pretty awesome animal, spent thirty minutes trying to look for it in their aquarium. Was not disappointed, but the water was too dark to take pictures.

By the way, I got chosen by my host family because they liked my essay about writing and reading Japanese research papers. Just so you know. Total divine intervention, ne?

So after that we went to the beach and after that we went back to their friends` house so that we could dry up and have dinner. Oh I forgot to mention, when we arrived at the village, we went to their friends` house and had chirashizushi. It`s like a mix of raw fish some veggies and rice. Then for dinner we had this awesome sashimi of fish `bonito` (?). There was also chicken, and there was this chicken dish that was so good, I`m going to have to ask for it again. It`s kagare (I think). Hah! Look at me learning Japanese food! (If only I was as attentive in class, ne?)

The whole village was bustling with festive energy and it was great. There were street vendors everywhere! So after dinner, we went back outside at night and we watched the parade of marching/dancing Japanese people. Theyre all about the lobster.

After the parade we went back home. We just drove the car, and we got back after 1 and a half hours. I somewhat fell asleep on the way, but my host brothers basically cried for about twenty minutes and just went stone quiet when we got to the highway.

Demo, I still like kids. Even the ones that cry. I lived through three little monsters didn`t I?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I may be able to upload the parade on youtube. I`ll see if I can do that some other time. As you can see, you already have a lot to look at on my pictures anyway, right??

Ok, later. I really want to eat and I havent eaten since 9 this morning and its already 1:20. I wish my photos would hurry uploading!!!!

003 visa drama + packing

so, i'm about three days away from flying to los angeles and ten days away from attempting to fly to china. i've been doing last minute packing and preparations (yeah, right), and i'm really excited to go, even though i'm going to miss people and food and toilets with doors in america. mostly people. but also toilets with doors. and buffalo wings. i went to buffalo wild wings with clint for lunch today. and i got a snow cone after. get excited.

the only thing i'm waiting on now is my visa to get into and stay in china. travisa says it'll be done by the 12th, which is cutting it incredibly, uncomfortably close to my departure date, but who knows? i may get lucky and get it before then. i had it sent to their office earlier this week, and would have gotten it in sooner had it not been for the magical disappearing JW202 form. like, i wish i was kidding, but i'm not. quite literally, i had it one second, and it evaporated before my eyes. from my hands. into thin air. okay, not really, but out of an entire stack of papers, most of which were unimportant and completely dispensable, the only one that went missing was the only one i couldn't replace. STUPID. i got ciee to send another copy to me, which bless them, they managed to overnight to me, and well. my passport + important documents are in texas now, hopefully getting their processing on. meh meh.

and of course, with my luck, the chinese government decided to not allow the visa processing...process to be expedited, because of the swine flu. really? REALLY?

anyway. packing. yeah. so i've narrowed all my stuff down to an enormous suitcase and i plan on cutting it down further. i'm horrible when it comes to over packing. i fall into the female stereotype so perfectly, it's disgusting. i was talking to filipina the other day about it. according to weather.com (which is really just as good as asking the psychic on 6th street), the weather in china should stay in the 60s-80s the whole time i'm there, which means perfect weather. which means shorts and skirts and dresses and things like that. i absolutely detest having to choose which clothing i want to bring though. mostly because i'm not good at making decisions. anyone who knows me will attest to this. my bus driver will attest to this. i'm in that boat of people who are like, absolutely convinced they're going to need snow boots in the summer in a country near the equator. just the other day, i was talking to clint while staring at my boots, and our conversation was as follows:

stacy: babe, i'm thinking i'm gonna bring these boots to china. they are so cute.
clint: um, it's going to be like, 80 degrees in china the whole time you're there.
stacy: but baaabeeee, they. are. so. cute. please please please.
clint: no.
stacy: plllleeeeeaaaaassssseeeeeee.
clint: no.
stacy: I AM SO TORN.
clint. no you are not. the answer is no.
stacy: but but but. whhhhhhhyyyyy? :( :( :(
clint: no.

lather, rinse, repeat.

i hope packing happens soon. and my visa. ooh - note to self: traveler's checks and call bank of america.

i hope i get to china. :(

002 - Short stories from the land of the rising sun. Yours truly from filipina.

Okay, so I feel weird saying "filipina this and that" to identify myself as the writer of any entry. I think I'm going to stop doing that. I mean, you all know me. You know how I sound like, in almost every mood I've ever possessed. Just follow along, like good little rabbits okay? This is a compilation of everything interesting that's been happening. Some stories however, will never go public. Make sure to ask :)

The Story of the Stone Man

I heard this from two different people on the bus today. My classmates had disembarked from our bus and were making their way to the elevators in groups of 10 or 15 because the elevators in Japan are made for 15-17 people max. During the time one group was waiting for the elevator to come down again, a man came up to one of the boys and introduced himself.

It went something like this...

Man: (in a slurred voice) "Watashi wa Tahkeeeeeeeeeeeeehshiiiiiiii...."
Boy: "..."
Man shakes boy's hand and walks forward

It was only afterwards that we realized that this man was wondering the streets of Nagoya. Completely. Stoned.

We realized that this was only due to the fact that we would never, having learned a little about the Japanese culture, have expected that in broad daylight in the center of such a peaceful country (lowest crime-rate in the world) there would be such a man.

I think I'm using Japanese syntax again.

The Story of Yoko

Hey, so I saw one of the students I was a conversation partner with malaysian and ex-roomie today. It was effing awesome. I talked in English and she talked in Japanese and it was like old times! She gave me a one word greeting that was basically this: 「Wanna have fun?」

I just laughed and was like YESSSSSSSSSSSSSS!

And yes, I‘m using a Japanese keyboard. It's quite the pain. My apostrophes will be facing the other way, always from now on. And you will learn how to read square-quotes. Yes.

Actually, the only pain of it is typing in English. Typing in Japanese is a breeze because all the symbols are so easy to access.

The Story of Snow Man

Oh and I saw NaoYuki and a couple others too. It was interesting. I was going down the stairs, and I kind of stood in front of him and smiled really dorkily. He was like:

「あれ！」 -> Ahree! You?

I just nodded and went on to talk to him. He looked really surprised but I just went ahead and carried on a conversation in broken English and Japanese, asking for Yoko. His friends, I'm sure, were very jealous. Haha. He told me Yoko was on the third floor and before he let me go, he took couple of grains of rice from his rice ball. And handed it out to me.

「ジソ」present for roommate

It was the funniest thing ever. He didn't quite give me the grains, because at the last minute, he took his hand to his mouth and ate it. Grinning, he walked away. Crazy-ass buffoon.

He talked to me some through the day.

The Genki Japanese (Genki meaning energetic or hyper or perky, wherein this case its all of the above)

We couldn't find our lunch group, which consisted mostly of my past conversation partners in the U. Arkansas. So my friends told me we should just crash and have lunch in our next classroom, which at that time was being used by several Japanese students eating lunch. I was a little nervous, being unsure of how this was going to be taken by the students. Anything from, 「oh look americans!」 to 「westerners think they can go eat wherever they want...」 could easily be adopted. For the first few minutes there was some sort of tension when we sat down, both groups not knowing what to say to each other...

And then I heard:

(lyrics to my favorite Ghibli movie ever in English dub, which is not as good but it was still awesome)

「Country road, take me home, to the place, where I belong...」

And I did a double take and jumped up from my seat, and in eloquent Japanese I screamed

「Mimiwo sumaseba! Ghibli! Daisuki desu!!!!」 (Whisper of the heart! Ghibli!!! I LOVE THAT!!!)

And hence started the most awesome conversation of the day. Which was half japanese and half English. The Japanese students wanted to better their English, and we were willing to obliged on the condition that we Americans talked in Japanese. It was pretty great.

--Owari--

Okay so that's all for today. I feel bad not having posted this earlier, but it didn't come up to my usual standards of long-windedness. Hope you enjoyed.

Want a postcard? Message me thy address and it will come next week or something. (BTW, I haven't been able to send any yet so don't expect any).