You know you're in Japan when...
... a buck for a little can of tea or pop is considered cheap. Or 17000円 for a used PS2 looks like a steal. They're not kidding when they say that Tokyo is the most expensive city in the world to live in. And you know why it's also one of the most populated? It's totally worth it. Quite a small price to get into heaven, if you think about it.
June 25th
Mitsuda house
Today, we got to go to the Anime Museum that I forwent in favor of the tea ceremony. We stopped at a Japanese spaghetti shop on the way for lunch... it really is a different experience when you eat it with chopsticks, but it was delicious all the same. Ryan was there with me, Mayumi, and Take at the museum. It was pretty cool... they had a little history area, showing the different eras of anime. There's the prehistoric times of Astro Boy and Lupin III, the BC 70s and early 80s of numerous mecha anime which no one cares about (Before Cordell), the New Testament of anime with stuff like Totoro and Evangelion, and the modern era of GitS2 and TVtokyo fodder like Bleach and Naruto.
They had animator's desks set up, so you could see what they looked like. I think those were real proofs on the desks, too. They had a room full of posters, and computers set up with a guide to putting together your own Astro Boy. They had an anime library with a bunch of DVD players set up, so people could come in and watch stuff communally. They had a big screening room, but it wasn't being used when we were there. They had a an old multi-ton cel camera, the thing looked like a freaking oil rig it was so big. They even had a little studio where you could make your own animation. You got a clipboard and paper, and you could clip the previous frame of your animation underneath so it would be consistent. I made a little 14 frame animation, but when we finally put it together, I had drawn too small on the paper for it to be very visible. Oh well.
After that, we visited a big temple across the street. It had an alter kind of place where you could put in five yen and pray for a wish. I put in 50 yen, and prayed that my money would last until I got home. I also met the guard lions (I think they were lions), あ(A) is on the left facing out, and ん (N) is on the right. Explains the kana on the gates of konoha, I'd been wondering about that for a while.
After we got home, we got to go out for sushi for dinner! It was just like one of those boat sushi restaurants in the US, only twice as big, and not full of barbaric americans trying to figure out how to eat the stuff. They had tea powder at the table, and a little spigot for hot water. They had more vegetarian stuff on the rounds then I thought they would... this eggplant wasabi stuff kinda like tomago sushi, a toasted slice of corn off the cob squirted with butter and on rice thing, and a kind of creamed corn sushi. All this plus a couple basic sushis like the cucumber stuff, something similar to the cucumber stuff that I wasn't exactly sure what it was, and the ever-yummy inari.
After we got home, we watched something on TV that involved these guys scuba diving in the Philippines. They collected some namako (sea slugs), and observed with stereotypical japanese "whooah!"s as the namako spouted holes and drained body fluids and guts like punctured water balloons. The namako then dried up and dissolved in their hands like corn starch and water. Julia would have barfed.
Nighty night.
June 26th
Mitsuda house
Instead of doing class today, everyone got to go to Harajuku for practical japanese speaking and a little shopping. I took a bunch of photos on the trip, I wonder if any of them turned out ok.
The store we went to was a toy store called "Kiddy Land". We had a kind of japanese scavenger hunt, looking for things in the store and recording kanji. After finishing that, we got some time to shop for ourselves. The prices were pretty high, so I ended up just getting a couple of Naruto gashapon. That was fun... there was a particular one I wanted (hinata), and another one that went with it (neji). I bought one and got Naruto... then Jennifer got Neji, so I traded her... then I got one more, and it was Hinata! It was really exiting, like beating a one armed bandit, you had to be there.
After that, we went back to LABO and finished. I couldn't come home until six because no one was home, so I went shopping with Kage and Victoria for an hour or so. I bought a little tatami mat and a cool fan with a slipcase. Then we took the train home together.
It's kind of a unique experience, walking through public in japan. I'm always wearing a neon orange or tie-die t-shirt, my yellow hat, and sometimes a yellow Volvic the size of a golf ball is hanging off my ear. I also tend to be openly exited or happy about something at any given time, especially when I'm with friends. This, coupled with the fact that I'm not exactly short, tan, or hairless, means I kind of stand out in a crowd. Drab grey and monotone colors seem to be in fashion or something as well, here.
I can look at anyone on the street, and see them immediately focus on something else, with that "mustn't... stare... and... laugh..." kind of look. Sometimes I can get in a smile and nod before they can look away, and then they usually smile and nod back. I can also reliably trigger a gaggle of excited whispers whenever I do that to a random group of schoolgirls (they're not a myth, they're everywhere). It's really great, in a whole kind of being in the center of attention way. In the US, I was special, just like everyone else. Here, I'm actually an individual, it's awesome. I've already gotten used to it... it's going to be way more of a culture shock going home than it was coming here.
I don't know what any of that meant, but I'd say this entry is sufficiently padded.
June 27th
Mitsuda house
Today was fairly productive... We had a crash course in common verbs. We got to play a kind of game involving about 50 or so cards depicting various actions. We spread them out on the table between the group, and sensei called out a verb, and the first person to find it got to keep it. I lost pretty badly, but only cause I was playing martyr and researching the verb for everyone else on the fly. At least I learned a lot.
At lunch, I went out to the noodle shop across the street I'd been meaning to visit. The system was kinda interesting... They had a vending machine in the front, and you bought your ticket from that and gave it directly to the cook. They didn't offer just the noodles by themselves, so I got it with a Croquette rice bowl. Turned out that particular croquette was a fish one, but I still got to eat the rice, and the udon was really good.
After lunch, we got to do a few more verb games, one of them being charades. That was fun, it was kind of interesting when everyone knew exactly what they meant, but no one could say it in japanese. After we got out, I went straight to the train station with Victoria (stopping at Odakyu for some Naruto cards), and took the first train out. Mayumi wanted me back by 5, though I never figured out why... I think she just wanted a chance to leave me with Take and Hide so she could go for a walk.
Apparently the tuesday LABO party was cancelled this week for some reason, so I didn't get to see Nana. Oh well. There wasn't a Bleach, either, another stupid special is coming up.
June 28th
Mitsuda house
I got to school today, and the teacher opened some hidden classroom through a dank corridor... made me think of hogwarts or something. After normal classes, we had a Calligraphy master come and teach us how to correctly write our favorite kanji. I chose 碁,"go" (as in, igo). Turns out that making the strokes is quite an art, there are lots of little twists and stuff you have to do. You can't mess up anywhere in a 15 stroke kanji, cause you don't erase ink. I went through five or so tries, but I finally got one that the teacher complimented me on. I was pretty proud of that.
Kage is working on a picture of Hinata for me, it looks really awesome so far. I can't wait to see it when it's finished.
After school, Victoria, Kage, and I stopped at Ikebukuro to look for an anime store. We didn't find the one we came for, but we found a few other stores, and a few movie theaters I'm going to have to come back to. The first store had a few cool things, but it seemed mostly just Shojo and Yaoi, not really my tastes. The second place was a normal bookstore with a manga floor... They had Azumanga Daioh 1, 3, and 4, but not 2, so I just ended up getting the first one. They also had the last two Spiral books, so now I have the whole series... I think Take's already read them all, he goes through them faster than Clayton. I also got what I thought was a new issue of Famitsu, but it turned out to be the same one I already had. Why can't they just put accurate dates on the things instead of dating them three weeks ahead or whatever? Sheesh. I guess Bryce or Tim is going to get a nice present tomorrow.
When I got back to Hasuda, I went with Mayumi to pick up Take and Hide from their Labo group. We kinda got trapped there for like an hour due to a thunderstorm, so I got to to some activities with them. They have this huge library of "american" nursery rhymes that they sing, but almost none of them I know. A few ring a bell for the tune, but not the words... there was one that I could swear was lifted from "Magical Treavor", but was about a wall or something. I also read them some books (The Hungary Caterpillar and it's sequel, some cricket book) which went over well. Tatsuke brought out some Dual Master cards, and we played with those a bit. Dual Masters seemed to be a very refined form of MTG, with some very interesting fixes. In fact, I believe it's developed by the same R&D team that does Magic. If only the flavor premise wasn't so YGO level crappy.
Watched Naruto after dinner. They ended the current filler arc, but it looks like they've got more in store for us judging by the preview. Muchly Bedtime.
June 29th
Mitsuda house
We had a new teacher in class today. I'm not sure why, but she seemed to strike an unagreeable chord with some of the kids, namely Eric. Seemed to work out ok, though.
During lunch, me, Victoria, Kage, and Bryce wandered Nishi-Shinjuku looking for a place to eat. Ryan tagged along some of the way, too. We found lots of places that cost a little too much, including a Denny's that had prices threefold of what they are in the states. We ended up just getting sandwiches from a convenience store, but the walk was nice. After we got back, Emma managed to dump a thing of milk all over her lap and the floor. All in good humor, but I'm glad to not be the only klutz around.
We wrote up some basic interview questions in japanese, then invaded the LABO work floor to interview a poor unsuspecting japanese LABO worker. Mine went pretty smoothly, but I didn't ask terribly confusing questions. Tim asked a girl to elope with him... she said "no" in english, and proceeded to look very busy on her computer.
Kage finished the drawing of Hinata, it looks really awesome. I wish I could draw that well... she can draw well beyond a professional level, even quickly and while paying attention in class. I wish I was that talented, at something at least...
On the way home, some of us stopped by Odakyu for a while. I bought a deck of Bleach cards and what I thought was a Naruto card box. Turns out it's the world's smallest display binder... you know how there are standard ones that display 9 cards a page? Then there are the ones that have 4 cards a page. This one has... 1 card a page, for 60 leaves. Pretty cool.
The train ride home was nice... I took the same line as Victoria and Kage, and we even got on early enough to get seats. I made the transfer at Omiya with less then 10 seconds to spare, the closest I've run for any train I've ridden so far. Hope I don't get closer then that. Bed now.
June 25th
Mitsuda house
Today, we got to go to the Anime Museum that I forwent in favor of the tea ceremony. We stopped at a Japanese spaghetti shop on the way for lunch... it really is a different experience when you eat it with chopsticks, but it was delicious all the same. Ryan was there with me, Mayumi, and Take at the museum. It was pretty cool... they had a little history area, showing the different eras of anime. There's the prehistoric times of Astro Boy and Lupin III, the BC 70s and early 80s of numerous mecha anime which no one cares about (Before Cordell), the New Testament of anime with stuff like Totoro and Evangelion, and the modern era of GitS2 and TVtokyo fodder like Bleach and Naruto.
They had animator's desks set up, so you could see what they looked like. I think those were real proofs on the desks, too. They had a room full of posters, and computers set up with a guide to putting together your own Astro Boy. They had an anime library with a bunch of DVD players set up, so people could come in and watch stuff communally. They had a big screening room, but it wasn't being used when we were there. They had a an old multi-ton cel camera, the thing looked like a freaking oil rig it was so big. They even had a little studio where you could make your own animation. You got a clipboard and paper, and you could clip the previous frame of your animation underneath so it would be consistent. I made a little 14 frame animation, but when we finally put it together, I had drawn too small on the paper for it to be very visible. Oh well.
After that, we visited a big temple across the street. It had an alter kind of place where you could put in five yen and pray for a wish. I put in 50 yen, and prayed that my money would last until I got home. I also met the guard lions (I think they were lions), あ(A) is on the left facing out, and ん (N) is on the right. Explains the kana on the gates of konoha, I'd been wondering about that for a while.
After we got home, we got to go out for sushi for dinner! It was just like one of those boat sushi restaurants in the US, only twice as big, and not full of barbaric americans trying to figure out how to eat the stuff. They had tea powder at the table, and a little spigot for hot water. They had more vegetarian stuff on the rounds then I thought they would... this eggplant wasabi stuff kinda like tomago sushi, a toasted slice of corn off the cob squirted with butter and on rice thing, and a kind of creamed corn sushi. All this plus a couple basic sushis like the cucumber stuff, something similar to the cucumber stuff that I wasn't exactly sure what it was, and the ever-yummy inari.
After we got home, we watched something on TV that involved these guys scuba diving in the Philippines. They collected some namako (sea slugs), and observed with stereotypical japanese "whooah!"s as the namako spouted holes and drained body fluids and guts like punctured water balloons. The namako then dried up and dissolved in their hands like corn starch and water. Julia would have barfed.
Nighty night.
June 26th
Mitsuda house
Instead of doing class today, everyone got to go to Harajuku for practical japanese speaking and a little shopping. I took a bunch of photos on the trip, I wonder if any of them turned out ok.
The store we went to was a toy store called "Kiddy Land". We had a kind of japanese scavenger hunt, looking for things in the store and recording kanji. After finishing that, we got some time to shop for ourselves. The prices were pretty high, so I ended up just getting a couple of Naruto gashapon. That was fun... there was a particular one I wanted (hinata), and another one that went with it (neji). I bought one and got Naruto... then Jennifer got Neji, so I traded her... then I got one more, and it was Hinata! It was really exiting, like beating a one armed bandit, you had to be there.
After that, we went back to LABO and finished. I couldn't come home until six because no one was home, so I went shopping with Kage and Victoria for an hour or so. I bought a little tatami mat and a cool fan with a slipcase. Then we took the train home together.
It's kind of a unique experience, walking through public in japan. I'm always wearing a neon orange or tie-die t-shirt, my yellow hat, and sometimes a yellow Volvic the size of a golf ball is hanging off my ear. I also tend to be openly exited or happy about something at any given time, especially when I'm with friends. This, coupled with the fact that I'm not exactly short, tan, or hairless, means I kind of stand out in a crowd. Drab grey and monotone colors seem to be in fashion or something as well, here.
I can look at anyone on the street, and see them immediately focus on something else, with that "mustn't... stare... and... laugh..." kind of look. Sometimes I can get in a smile and nod before they can look away, and then they usually smile and nod back. I can also reliably trigger a gaggle of excited whispers whenever I do that to a random group of schoolgirls (they're not a myth, they're everywhere). It's really great, in a whole kind of being in the center of attention way. In the US, I was special, just like everyone else. Here, I'm actually an individual, it's awesome. I've already gotten used to it... it's going to be way more of a culture shock going home than it was coming here.
I don't know what any of that meant, but I'd say this entry is sufficiently padded.
June 27th
Mitsuda house
Today was fairly productive... We had a crash course in common verbs. We got to play a kind of game involving about 50 or so cards depicting various actions. We spread them out on the table between the group, and sensei called out a verb, and the first person to find it got to keep it. I lost pretty badly, but only cause I was playing martyr and researching the verb for everyone else on the fly. At least I learned a lot.
At lunch, I went out to the noodle shop across the street I'd been meaning to visit. The system was kinda interesting... They had a vending machine in the front, and you bought your ticket from that and gave it directly to the cook. They didn't offer just the noodles by themselves, so I got it with a Croquette rice bowl. Turned out that particular croquette was a fish one, but I still got to eat the rice, and the udon was really good.
After lunch, we got to do a few more verb games, one of them being charades. That was fun, it was kind of interesting when everyone knew exactly what they meant, but no one could say it in japanese. After we got out, I went straight to the train station with Victoria (stopping at Odakyu for some Naruto cards), and took the first train out. Mayumi wanted me back by 5, though I never figured out why... I think she just wanted a chance to leave me with Take and Hide so she could go for a walk.
Apparently the tuesday LABO party was cancelled this week for some reason, so I didn't get to see Nana. Oh well. There wasn't a Bleach, either, another stupid special is coming up.
June 28th
Mitsuda house
I got to school today, and the teacher opened some hidden classroom through a dank corridor... made me think of hogwarts or something. After normal classes, we had a Calligraphy master come and teach us how to correctly write our favorite kanji. I chose 碁,"go" (as in, igo). Turns out that making the strokes is quite an art, there are lots of little twists and stuff you have to do. You can't mess up anywhere in a 15 stroke kanji, cause you don't erase ink. I went through five or so tries, but I finally got one that the teacher complimented me on. I was pretty proud of that.
Kage is working on a picture of Hinata for me, it looks really awesome so far. I can't wait to see it when it's finished.
After school, Victoria, Kage, and I stopped at Ikebukuro to look for an anime store. We didn't find the one we came for, but we found a few other stores, and a few movie theaters I'm going to have to come back to. The first store had a few cool things, but it seemed mostly just Shojo and Yaoi, not really my tastes. The second place was a normal bookstore with a manga floor... They had Azumanga Daioh 1, 3, and 4, but not 2, so I just ended up getting the first one. They also had the last two Spiral books, so now I have the whole series... I think Take's already read them all, he goes through them faster than Clayton. I also got what I thought was a new issue of Famitsu, but it turned out to be the same one I already had. Why can't they just put accurate dates on the things instead of dating them three weeks ahead or whatever? Sheesh. I guess Bryce or Tim is going to get a nice present tomorrow.
When I got back to Hasuda, I went with Mayumi to pick up Take and Hide from their Labo group. We kinda got trapped there for like an hour due to a thunderstorm, so I got to to some activities with them. They have this huge library of "american" nursery rhymes that they sing, but almost none of them I know. A few ring a bell for the tune, but not the words... there was one that I could swear was lifted from "Magical Treavor", but was about a wall or something. I also read them some books (The Hungary Caterpillar and it's sequel, some cricket book) which went over well. Tatsuke brought out some Dual Master cards, and we played with those a bit. Dual Masters seemed to be a very refined form of MTG, with some very interesting fixes. In fact, I believe it's developed by the same R&D team that does Magic. If only the flavor premise wasn't so YGO level crappy.
Watched Naruto after dinner. They ended the current filler arc, but it looks like they've got more in store for us judging by the preview. Muchly Bedtime.
June 29th
Mitsuda house
We had a new teacher in class today. I'm not sure why, but she seemed to strike an unagreeable chord with some of the kids, namely Eric. Seemed to work out ok, though.
During lunch, me, Victoria, Kage, and Bryce wandered Nishi-Shinjuku looking for a place to eat. Ryan tagged along some of the way, too. We found lots of places that cost a little too much, including a Denny's that had prices threefold of what they are in the states. We ended up just getting sandwiches from a convenience store, but the walk was nice. After we got back, Emma managed to dump a thing of milk all over her lap and the floor. All in good humor, but I'm glad to not be the only klutz around.
We wrote up some basic interview questions in japanese, then invaded the LABO work floor to interview a poor unsuspecting japanese LABO worker. Mine went pretty smoothly, but I didn't ask terribly confusing questions. Tim asked a girl to elope with him... she said "no" in english, and proceeded to look very busy on her computer.
Kage finished the drawing of Hinata, it looks really awesome. I wish I could draw that well... she can draw well beyond a professional level, even quickly and while paying attention in class. I wish I was that talented, at something at least...
On the way home, some of us stopped by Odakyu for a while. I bought a deck of Bleach cards and what I thought was a Naruto card box. Turns out it's the world's smallest display binder... you know how there are standard ones that display 9 cards a page? Then there are the ones that have 4 cards a page. This one has... 1 card a page, for 60 leaves. Pretty cool.
The train ride home was nice... I took the same line as Victoria and Kage, and we even got on early enough to get seats. I made the transfer at Omiya with less then 10 seconds to spare, the closest I've run for any train I've ridden so far. Hope I don't get closer then that. Bed now.