One of the books from Japan I picked up on a whim. While searching the stacks of BookOff for Slayers Novels, I ended up circling the whole second floor once, twice. Once I had gleefully filled my basket with narrow one hundred yen volumes of Slayers, an unknown title caught my eye. I couldn't read most of it, just the 'musume ARIA', and the image ( Read more... )

I woke up, flailed into some clothes, and then detoured directly into the kitchen for cereal of goodness. Bowl in hand I blearily walked on the well-worn circuit from my kitchen to the giant sliding doors that look out on the garden and stared at a strangely shaped box sitting on our porch, and headed for the giant blue chair that completes the ( Read more... )

Yesterday, for the last time, the Dorm Girls ate at the Amazing Thai Place in Kichi. There's a history between those of us from The Japanese College living here and that place. First discovered by two of our fellows, the latter of the two shocked the cooks with her tolerance for spicy foods. The girl's known to devour food several times hotter then ( Read more... )

I enjoy the early part of spring when the days shift towards blue and the window can be left open for a cool breeze. Not freezing, or raining, or humid. Just a cool breeze. Enough to cause cold toes. (I enjoy being cold. I'm strange.) Japan's spring seems to be fairly mild, though delayed. When down in Osaka, looking at Ume blossoms, our volunteer ( Read more... )

The truck that comes around every now and then to bring oil to some of the houses where I live likes to stop in front of my window, haunting music playing through the street. Usually it's a creepy kind of music, that sounds like it belongs in a twisted Stephen King horror movie. This is not helped by the fact my room is on the distant end of the ( Read more... )

I am far behind on my adventures here in the land of the rising sun, though I find that name very ironic from the depths of dark, dark winter. One of those things you don't think about, being half-way around the world, is the timing of the day; there is no daylight savings here in Tokyo, so the gloom comes early. Three o'clock kind of early. It ( Read more... )

Today I stayed inside and rolled around on my bed, due to the unfortunate and timely attack of international microbes. It's been a little rainy--threatening, more then raining--all week here, with sudden showers making appearances after the sun's gone down and the air temperature hits that sweet point of cold that calls it down in a rush. Rain ( Read more... )

I'm tired and my feet hurt, but I am yet still triumphant ( Read more... )

After all that happened today, when I finally got back to my lovely, quiet, cool room where I don't have to walk, nor stand, anymore I fired up the daily Mainichi (...which is kinda like saying the daily daily, since mainichi means every day in addition to being a newspaper). I've been checking it off and on all summer, to get a feel of current ( Read more... )

Today was the first real free day that we've had since we've gotten here, in that there were no urgent errands to run or trips planned. The only agreement was that some of us wanted to gather some supplies for the day since on Sundays the dorm doesn't serve breakfast or dinner. I have continued, as in the fashion these past few days, the horrible ( Read more... )