"Make my sense..." (gotta love Engrish in music...)
Well, I'm now three days into living in Japan, and I'm amazed at how much I've already learned and experienced. You definitely have to take something like this one day at a time. But, it's all been absolutely great, minus the near sickness, jet lag, and heat in downtown yesterday. Other than that, it's been freakin' awesome. Here's some highlights and some pictures taken just hours ago from the time this post is made!
Asuka had an interview today with a company, so I hungout with her cool as hell brother, Taiki. We went to a mall, the aptly named "Plenty Mall" (Engrish anyone?) and had lunch there. I've officially eaten at a Japanese McDonald's now. And it's the exact same stuff you get in America, except Japanese people know better than to eat fast food every day. Actually, they have a few odds and ends that American branches don't have, like a Teriyaki burger (which I haven't tried YET) and the smallest size of drink you can get is half the size of a small one in America!!! It's crazy! After that, we bought some fireworks (and we buy more later, which leads up to me, Asuka, and Taiki's evening after dinner) and then went over to a local bowling alley, Seishin Bowl Plaza. He whipped me pretty good the first game 131-76, but I turned the tables in the second game with four strikes and whipped him 85-129. Great fun! I will say this...after a little bit, you REALLY start to notice that you're the only American in a crowd when you interact with the people like this. You mainly notice the stares you get...and you get a lot of them. Believe me. It gets a little unnerving after a little while. I know they're not being rude, it's that I stick out, and they just look. But...1/2 to 3/4 of the people I pass I wind up making eye contact with cause they're staring as I walk by. That may be an slight exaggeration, but I'd say it's close. Again I stress, they are NOT being rude. The Japanese are the absolute least rude people on the face of the planet, they HAVE to be. There's no way they're not. They're so NICE, not just to me, but EVERYONE else. They go out of their way to help someone. It's incredible. We could all learn a lesson, I think. Anyways, back to the story...After Taiki teaching me how to play drums (in Japanese??) and some guitar, video games, Jenga after Asuka returned, and dinner, we set out for more fireworks. We went to a local discount store and bought a huge pack. Man, fireworks are cheap here! We came back, went to this little park that's right beside their house, and shot fireworks for a long time. Here's where the pictures come in...
Me and Taiki
Random fireworks!
Taiki pondering the mysteries of the flame...or maybe not.
Asuka!!
Well, that's my day! It's 2:30 in the morning now, so I'm gonna go take a bath. No, seriously, I am. Speaking of which, Japanese baths are AWESOME. Before or after you wash off and all that, you sit in this big, hot tub and just soak. And soak. And soak. Holy crap it's awesome. Anyways, that's all I got for now! Laterz!
Rock and roll!
Asuka had an interview today with a company, so I hungout with her cool as hell brother, Taiki. We went to a mall, the aptly named "Plenty Mall" (Engrish anyone?) and had lunch there. I've officially eaten at a Japanese McDonald's now. And it's the exact same stuff you get in America, except Japanese people know better than to eat fast food every day. Actually, they have a few odds and ends that American branches don't have, like a Teriyaki burger (which I haven't tried YET) and the smallest size of drink you can get is half the size of a small one in America!!! It's crazy! After that, we bought some fireworks (and we buy more later, which leads up to me, Asuka, and Taiki's evening after dinner) and then went over to a local bowling alley, Seishin Bowl Plaza. He whipped me pretty good the first game 131-76, but I turned the tables in the second game with four strikes and whipped him 85-129. Great fun! I will say this...after a little bit, you REALLY start to notice that you're the only American in a crowd when you interact with the people like this. You mainly notice the stares you get...and you get a lot of them. Believe me. It gets a little unnerving after a little while. I know they're not being rude, it's that I stick out, and they just look. But...1/2 to 3/4 of the people I pass I wind up making eye contact with cause they're staring as I walk by. That may be an slight exaggeration, but I'd say it's close. Again I stress, they are NOT being rude. The Japanese are the absolute least rude people on the face of the planet, they HAVE to be. There's no way they're not. They're so NICE, not just to me, but EVERYONE else. They go out of their way to help someone. It's incredible. We could all learn a lesson, I think. Anyways, back to the story...After Taiki teaching me how to play drums (in Japanese??) and some guitar, video games, Jenga after Asuka returned, and dinner, we set out for more fireworks. We went to a local discount store and bought a huge pack. Man, fireworks are cheap here! We came back, went to this little park that's right beside their house, and shot fireworks for a long time. Here's where the pictures come in...
Me and Taiki
Random fireworks!
Taiki pondering the mysteries of the flame...or maybe not.
Asuka!!
Well, that's my day! It's 2:30 in the morning now, so I'm gonna go take a bath. No, seriously, I am. Speaking of which, Japanese baths are AWESOME. Before or after you wash off and all that, you sit in this big, hot tub and just soak. And soak. And soak. Holy crap it's awesome. Anyways, that's all I got for now! Laterz!
Rock and roll!