Answering questions

I have some extra time today, so I thought I'd belatedly answer some questions that have been posted so far...

1. Were there channels on the plane that just played anime all day?
Unfortunately, no...There were specific movies or tv shows that you could watch, but the choice was not that great.

2. How long was the flight?
Approx. 14 hours. I slept most of the way, though, so it wasn't so bad :)

3. How's the view from the balcony (of your room)?
Not that exciting unfortunately. My room faces directly at a wall (which has a window of the boy's public bathroom--barely anyone uses it though). I guess that's good in a way. I don't have to worry about people peeking in to my room as I change. If you actually step out onto the balcony, you can see the entryway to come into the building and the street out in front of the dorm.

4. What is a bidet?
Ummm it's like a sink used to clean yourself. They have them in Europe a lot separate from the toilet. I suppose they're useful especially if you come back to the beach covered in sand, but I don't know if people actually do use them...

5. Does Shibuya 109 have windows?
I don't think so. Just clothes, clothes, food, acessories, and more clothes. The famous Shibuya 109 is all for girls, but there is a Shibuya 109 mens close by as well.

6. Is the gyoza in Japan the same as the United States?
Well, I'm no gourmet taster but I think they're pretty much the same. Japanese gyoza is usually fried, but I prefer the boiled type. It has a lighter and smushier taste.

7. What happens when the light changes at the Shibuya cross roads?
After everyone crosses, the streets are filled with passing cars. It's like every regular street--just lots of people wanting to cross at a time.

Finally, I wanted to thank everyone who encourages me and pushes me forward! It really means a lot!

I made my own lunches all this week♪ I bought a lunch box at the 100yen store and have been making salads. This one is cabbage, cucumbers, pepper, and green onions. So that it doesn't get soggy, I used the salad dressing available free in the cafeteria :)

What I've been missing lately, is hugs...I often don't think about it, but when I'm so close to another human being especially on the train, I can't help but want to hug someone. Maybe I'm weird...Well, since there's no one to hug here, I splurged and bought a friend--Pooh-san!

Hugging him makes me feel so fluffy and warm inside~

Not so very good day

I think my bad luck started this morning when I cut myself with my pocket knife as I was cutting off the plastic wrapping on my water bottle.

Then I wasn't able to talk very well in Japanese class, or to Seung-san--even though I got up the nerve to go over and talk to him T_T And then, to top it all off, we're walking and I trip and fall flat on my face. Yup, that goes up on my most embarrassing moment ever. Though, now when I think about it, it makes me laugh. Yup, that was dumb.

I passed on okonomiyaki dinner because I'm sleepy, I really don't have an appetite for anything at the moment, and I need to work on homework...

Although, when I wrote on my facebook wall in frustration that life sucks, two of my friends commented asking if I was okay. It's nice to know that I'm not alone...but...

Hah...not so very good day.

Akiba Kyun☆

Good evening~

I apologize for the immaturity of my last entry. I will shape up from now on.

Anyways, yesterday was Saturday and I stayed in my room the whole time working on something or other: my project for art class, the manga I'm submitting to the manga club, and of course japanese work.
This is my art project, a scrap journal of our trip to Art-Link:

Today, I went to Akihabara (nicknamed Akiba) with Stephanie, Tsubasa, and Tsubasa's friend Sae.

 Akihabara is well known as the main place to get electronics and manga/anime related stuff. It did have a lot of that and it's probably the only place that you will see so many girls dressed like maids, so many men dressed like female anime characters on the street, and mario, luigi, and princess peach speed down the road in carts (true facts) but it wasn't quite as I imagined it.

The first thing we did was go to a maid cafe. It was the first time for Stephanie, me, and Tsubasa. It probably wasn't the best maid cafe, but our waitress was really nice and a really good artist!

 My strawberry cake.

 Sae's omelette rice. Goku (from Dragon Ball) illustration.

 Stephanie's chocolate cake.

 Tsubasa's omelette rice. Lee (from Naruto) illustration.

Tsubasa and Stephanie ordered milk tea, so in order to mix it in well, they had to copy the maid saying a charm: Mazu mazu (mix mix), Nyan nyan (meow meow), Kyun Kyun (squee squee), Gao Gao (roar roar), PiKAchu!
For the omelettes, we all had to make hearts with our hands and say "Kyun kyun! Oishiku na~re! (Squee squee! Become yummy!)" It was a little embarrassing but fun! Tsubasa especially got super into it. He's hilarious.
Afterwards, Sae had to go to her part time job so it was just me and Stephanie with Tsubasa. Tsubasa is super nice to hang out with us...

But really, otaku culture is incredible...In Akihabara, the girl idol group AKB48 is unbelievably popular and their merchandise is everywhere. Here's the line for the AKB Cafe and Merchandise store:

Also, this American guy said something interesting the other day. He was born in New York and he thinks Japan is really similar, but New York is 100 times dirtier. After all, in New York, rats are everyday friends. Tokyo, on the other hand, is super clean in comparison. No rats. Also, Tokyo has a very controlled society. For example, the government knows all about the yakuza--where they're active etc., the government simply keeps an eye on them and allows them to act as they will without getting too rowdy. Perhaps that is why there is less crime in Japan. The American guy said, yeah America has freedom, but in exchange for freedom, we get crime and dirty streets. It makes you think that freedom may not be such a great thing?

Attempting to be social

Good morning.

Yesterday was Friday and I had class. After class, I went to Hiyoshi campus and read manga in the manga club. One of the guys in charge wants me to submit manga or an illustration for the monthly magazine so I think I will. The Korean exchange student I met last time invited me to play the board game they were playing, but unfortunately I had to leave right then to go to the conversation club kick off party.

The party was fine. We had to fill out a introduction sheet by asking people around the room so I was able to speak a little with lots of people. Actually, in my 7 level class, we're pretty much learning how to be social. At the beginning of class on Wednesday, the teacher set up a scenario where she and I meet on a train and I had to keep talking. But if I'm bad at talking to people in English, how am I going to be any better in Japanese? So we are being taught conversation techniques that can come in handy even when I go back to the United States...So using some of that, I was able to talk a little bit more than usual.

Then, I came home with Stephanie and we hung out in the 3rd floor kitchen and I talked a lot with this guy named Juan. He's from El Salvador so we spoke Spanish together. It had been a while since I had spoken so much Spanish...so it was practice! He's really nice. Plus, he's friends with Aoi Oppa~ who came later! And Aoi Oppa got hungry so I tagged along with Juan, this Brazilian guy, and Aoi Oppa on a midnight adventure to McDonalds.

Aoi Oppa got the big mac (which is actually tiny compared to America...) and Juan got an apple pie.

It was fun! I got to speak a lot of Japanese with Aoi Oppa and just speaking with him was really fun. Of course Juan and Mateus spoke Japanese with us too. Today was probably the most I've spoken Japanese in a while...Many Japanese people are antisocial, I think. Or rather, they are afraid/too proud to speak to foreign people. Aoi Oppa said that he tries to say hi to Japanese in the dorm and he's often ignored. Even though he's Asian, Japanese can tell that he's foreign? Perhaps because we were all foreigners, it was easier to talk. To commemorate our night out, I said k let's take a picture.

Juan, me, and Aoi Oppa (aka Soon-san).

And so ends my very busy, trying-to-be-social day.

Good night.

Trying to catch up...

Hello! Long time see! I've just been so busy lately...

Today I'll just talk about my expedition on Monday to Tokyo Tower.

Tokyo Tower is like Paris's Eiffel Tower--a huge tower and a landmark of the city. It's visible from my campus so it just takes a few minutes to walk there. Here are some pictures up close:

Tokyo Tower is the world's tallest self-supporting tower (333m tall) and it's even taller than the Eiffel Tower (320m). Here's some more information about it that I found on the main Tokyo Tower site:

Ironically, in class that day we were talking about how Japanese love 'omiyage' or souvenirs. And then, I went to Tokyo Tower and saw with my own eyes how much this was true. The first floor of Tokyo Tower was ALL souvenirs. There were SO many--Hello Kitty phone straps, Stitch keychains, Tshirts...And not all of them were even Tokyo Tower related. Japanese people especially like food souvenires and there were so many pastries that were so cute or pretty--bottles of mineral water in the shape of the tower or baumkuchen apple pie.

On the second floor, there was a miniature town model. I think it was the area over which Tokyo tower was built. It was so intricately done though that it looked as if it were a real town that could come to life.

Nearby, there was a miniature version of Tokyo Tower that lit up. It was pretty.

There was also a game center, several restaurants, a wax museum, a haunted house, and a house of mirrors. It was like a theme park. I didn't actually go up into the tower itself...It kinda felt sad going by myself. Plus, my friend from art class Eriko told me today that it's probably the prettiest if you go up it at night. That way, you'd see all of Tokyo lit up like Christmas!

On my way back to the station, I ran into some pretty interesting things.

1. A building covered in plants. It was called the Green Building. Perhaps an attempt to create an enviornmentally friendly building?

2. The Disney Channel building. Discovery of the Disney Channel Japan branch!? I wasn't sure if just anyone could go in so I peeked in the window from the outside and saw a giant Mickey Mouse, Pooh, and a life sized statue of Jack Sparrow omg

3. I think this is one of the things that epitomizes Japan: a small temple in the city. Modern mixed with traditional; a slice of traditional life nudged into the huge modern life. It looks like it doesn't fit in with the landscape but in a way, that's Japan.

And so tomorrow is Friday and another week comes to an end. What made me happiest today was probably...when I passed "Aoi Oppa" on the way home and we bowed and said hi to each other~~~ Omigosh Aoi Oppa is so cool~~ He's a Korean guy studying as an exchange student in Keio's regular program. He lives on my floor and I first saw him walking down my hallway and thought he was cool cuz he's tall and has nice hair...Then I met him in Stephanie's kitchen the other night and he's really nice and his Japanese speech is so polite that it makes me feel like I need to speak politely, too. His real name isn't Aoi Oppa but everyone calls him that apparently because he usually wears a blue ("aoi") sweater and "oppa" means big brother in Korean. Stephanie calls him that all the time, so the name stuck and I can't remember his real name...But anyways, that's the end of my silly rant...

Tomorrow, I get to meet my Japanese conversation partners from the Keio club I joined called Kosmic. Then, Sunday, I'm going to Akihabara with Stephanie and Tsubasa. I'm excited about trying out a maid cafe♪

My 3 day weekend

On Saturday, I went for ramen in Ginza with Azusa (Stephanie's friend), Stephanie, and Kaoru (Stephanie's host sister from a home stay in Japan some years before).

 My ramen. It was good--but actually I like Aika's mom's home made ramen the best still.

 Left: Azusa; Right: Kaoru-->They were so nice.

***

On Sunday, me, Stephanie and Azusa went to see a movie in Shibuya. My first movie theater experience in Japan! A difference I noticed was that you choose the seats as you pay for the ticket. It's not free seating like what I'm used to. The movie was called "Tsure ga utsu ni narimashite" ("Tsure gets depressed"). It was really sad...I couldn't help crying at some points. I could really feel the Japanese-ness to it, though like the super crowded train. I've experienced that too so I know how it feels. Luckily, the end was happy, though.
Afterwards, we went for tea and Stephanie, Azusa, and I had girl talk. Azusa is so nice. She invited us to come sleep at her house one day~Sounds like fun~
***
On Monday, I met Stephanie's boyfriend, Hiro, on Skype. He's cute in a dorky way and has a nice voice~ (later Stephanie was like 'Kenia, you have a voice fetish'...yeah probably...) Stephanie and I went to get groceries for the first time at OK Mart. It was soo cheap. As a result, Stephanie bought a lot and we had to lug it all home...which on the way we got lost. By the time we asked someone, we were 30min away from the station and had to take a bus. The neighborhood we walked through was really pretty though. So I took pictures:

Then, I had to get to my art field trip, which was at 1pm. I didn't get to the Nezu station until 2pm. The directions were not clear, my phone died, so I asked at a police box for directions. I didn't get to the meeting place until 3pm. I got enough pictures and materials for my art project, though, I think.

I have to work on other things now. Good byee

Comments and Observations

Today, I have been in Japan for approximately 1 month and 2 days. Time really goes by fast. I still feel so incompetant! I'm a slow learner, a slow grower, and a slow bloomer, so it's kind of frustrating in this situation where I want to learn and absorb everything so fast, but I'm trying my best.

Today, I thought I'd post some comments and observations about Japan that I've noticed/experienced so far.

1. "Nihongo, jouzu desu ne!"
Even though I've been here a month already, I'm still repeating the same answers over and over again. "Kenia desu." "Whea ahh you from?" "Washinton dee shee desu." "Ohh! Za capitaru! Kakkoi (cool)!" "Senmon ha nan desu ka? (What's your major?)" "Nihongo desu." "Heeh sou nanda~ (Huh, is that so) How rong you been in Japan?" "Etto...Ikkagetsu gurai (about one month)" The funniest part is when after all this they say, "Nihongo jouzu desu ne! (Your Japanese is so good!)" when I've barely said anything at all.

Today was a welcome party for exchange students, so I had to gather some courage to talk to some people. Like I saw Kai-san from the orientation tour and talked to him a while. However, it's really difficult for me to continue a conversation unless the other person talks a lot and keeps the conversation going. Kumiko and Hiroko-san talk a lot so they save me. The other day talking with Yuuko, I was able to keep talking because she asked so many questions. Otherwise, it's hard to keep the conversation going on by myself. (Well, I guess that's true in any language.) I feel like I leave a very weak impression and it's difficult to meet new people by myself...Then, I go over to Stephanie and she just keeps going and going. I'm completely outmatched! She's been my main source of meeting new people, though.
***
2. Nihon hodo chian ga ii kuni wa nai [There's no safer country than Japan]
One of the first new phrases I learned in Japan was "chian ga ii" ("safe enviornment"). And appropriately so. Japan is one of the safest places I've ever been. One of the things that shocked me when I came here was that there are places to park bicycles outside of stores and such, but no one locks them up. The kick stand is down and that's it. The most there may be is a round lock on the back tire that keeps it from moving, but you can just as easily pick it up and put it in a car. The thing is, no one does. In America, it would be inconceivable to leave your bike unlocked on the street. It's as sure as gone. Then, in Spain there is a constant fear of pick pockets that doesn't even exist here. Even during my walk home from the station at night, although I am always alert, I do not feel any threat at all. There are always other people on the street anyways.

There is, however, a threat of being hit on ('nanpa' in Japanese) by overly friendly drunk guys on Shibuya streets...which happened last night. I was walking with Stephanie in Shibuya at 10pm (and it was still active and crowded) when this obviously drunk but happy young salary man comes up to us and says "HARO! WATS UP!" We respond to him in Japanese and he goes "OMG U SPEAK JAPANESE!" I tell him I'm from the US and he starts listing American people he knows, the only one that was distinguishable being Kobe Bryant. His friend was so drunk he was like "Wait what?! You guys are foreigners?!" Yes, obviously. They got kind of overly friendly, but in the end they apologized for being rowdy and left, telling us to enjoy Japan. It was a fun experience.
***
2. Skin Shippu
There is a stereotype that Japanese people don't touch. While this may be true for many, I've seen a lot of people (especially young people) holding hands and girls grabbing on to their boyfriend's sleeve or shirt/sweater hem(which is so cute). Oh, but kissing in public is not really done.

It's surprising, though, how they can be so against physical contact when the train is full of it. The train is always always crowded. Of course, mornings especially. You have not experienced crowded until you've come to Japan. Last week on my way to school, the train to Shibuya was so crowded that I was literally sandwiched between two business men and could not move. That is when sexual harrassment happens the most. I was spared that at least, but it's really quite uncomfortable to have strangers' bodies pressing up against yours. At one point I felt like I was supporting someone's whole weight on my back. Not fun. My shoulders hurt...Well, at least they weren't stinky...Maybe more than skin shippu, it's that Japanese people are good at 'gaman'--putting up with things. "It can't be helped, so I'll put up with it" is how Japanese probably think. "Since everyone else is putting up with it, I might as well, too." Group psychology?
***
3. My meals
I feel like I post so many pictures of food that it seems like all I'm doing here is eating! Even though that's not true...
Lately, I've been eating mostly in the school cafeteria. The South school building has a really pretty cafeteria. It's so chic looking and everything ranges from 100~500yen so it's reasonably priced.
Here are a few things I've tried:

Slightly spicy pollack roe pasta topped with lettuce leaves and nori (Mentaiko Pasta).

Salmon rice bowl with cabbage and mushrooms.

Also, since it got a bit colder last week, warm drinks have started to appear in vending machines. I studied about Coca-Cola Japan and their popular canned coffee "Georgia", so I decided to try one.

Emerald Mountain Blend. "A not too sweet, not too bitter miraculous balance" is the slogan, and it's true. It was actually pretty good and I don't even like coffee usually. Maybe it's just because it's Japanese...
***
4. ~Zenryoku Shonen, Shojo no Kimitachi E~

Ahhhhh! After waiting 4 hours in line this morning at Hiyoshi campus, I finally got a ticket to the Sukima Switch live!!! I think because I waited so long, it made getting the ticket in my hand such a more exciting experience. The live is next month near where I live. So exciting!
***
Now if you'll excuse me, I'm off to do my homework...This weekend is a three day weekend (Monday is 'Taiiku no hi' aka 'Sports day' so no school) and next week, I'm aiming for perfect scores on everything!

Paafecto

Yesterday, I had lots of fun at the conversation meeting that Hiroko-san introduced me to.

I wasn't paired with the same lady as last week, but instead this old man named Satou. Apparently, he went to Keio University, too (half a century ago, he said). I think he's the most interesting person that I've met since I came here.

First of all, he was so nice. I asked him to listen to me read a speech I had to practice for Japanese class. When I was done, he said, "Perfect. Absolutely perfect." When I begged to differ, he was like, "I'm not kidding! That was no different than a native Japanese speaker!" His words gave me a bit of confidence in myself :)

Then, when I asked him what he was reading, it was apparently a book about the origin of words. For example, in Japanese, the United States of America is called 合衆国 (Gasshuukoku). The Japanese term uses the character for United (合) okay, but then instead of using the character for States (州) which is also pronounced as 'shuu', it uses the character (衆), which means the people. The book the old man was reading apparently explains why this is so. I thought that sounded really interesting, so I wrote down the name of the book so I can read it myself. The old man said he only reads these kinds of books.

After that, we had this whole discussion about language. How, although Japanese has a keigo (honorific language) system, English does not; how Spanish and Japanese have similar sounds and that's why I think I can reproduce Japanese sounds more easily; etc etc...Ahh he was such a nice, interesting person!

I've realized that guys around my age are very immature. Even the young salary men on the train have a strong immature air about them. I don't believe completely in generalizations, but a lot of Japanese people seem to be very immature and want to be forever young. There are so many people who dress in clothes that don't suit their age, in my opinion. In Shibuya especially. There are lots of moms with huge curly golden hair, long fake eyelashes, and short shorts. They don't look like moms at all, but because of their make up and the way they dress they probably look younger than they actually are. A lot of the girls are too dressed up and look really fake.

The guys are kind of as well, it's kind of gross to see them being dragged around by their girlfriends going shopping. When I pictured salary men before I came to Japan, I pictured a bunch of same clothed men marching to the same rhythm, because they were written about by Americans as a homogeneous group of ants. But in reality, they are so different. There are so many different kinds of suits and young salary men distinguish themselves through their hairstyles. As long as their hair is not dyed some crazy color, a lot of them are free to do what they want with their hair, it seems.

But anyways, that's something that I noticed recently.

Global Festa Japan

"The conductor said to me,
'Would you like a something to drink?'
The water that he offered to me was full of mud.
'I can't drink this water.'
The conductor looked at my slightly upset face
and inclined his head,
'This is water from your planet. It was drawn especially for you...'
'Do you like the place where you were born? My planet no longer exists.
I'm on a journey, riding the wind. Always going forward!' "

Yesterday, I went to a festival in Hibiya called Global Festa. A bunch of stalls were set up advertising the work of Japanese NGOs that work towards all sorts of causes--especially SE Asia and Africa.

 (Just because this is my country lol)

"Save this child. Save the future."

Nearby the festa, there was a really pretty Japanese style garden, so I took pictures.

The best part, though, was the free Undergraph concert! I had heard one song by them before, but the concert was AMAZING. Their songs are so good. Their lyrics are so moving. (The lyrics at the beginning of this entry are from their song 'The world is as blue/as inexperienced as I thought') Lives are really the best. After the live, I bought one of their cds of which the proceeds go to victims of the Touhoku earthquake.

Afterwards, me, Stephanie, Kit (girl from Hong Kong), Phoebe (girl from Taiwan), Kelly (4th generation Japanese from Hawaii), Yuuko (Keio first year girl I met at the Plurio sushi party), and Tsubasa (Keio fourth year guy Stephanie met at a drinking party) went to Tsukishima, which is famous for its monja. What is monja? Well, here are some pictures:

 We were split up into groups at dinner. This is the other table making their monja. The girl on the right is Kit. The guy on the left (the only guy in our group lol) is Tsubasa. It was my first time meeting him and he was really nice and really funny.

 My table was me, Kelly and Yuuko. This is Yuuko by the way.

 By the end of the night, I became a pro so that the batter I poured in the center stayed perfectly without spilling out of the ring of vegetables. My table ordered three types: Pork monja, salmon monja, and onion bacon curry monja.

This was the restaurant we went to but we could have gone to a number of them. The whole street was lined with monja restaurants.

After dinner, Kit bought some freshly baked melon bread and let us all try a bit. I've tried the ones from convenient stores and grocery stores, but this melon bread was amazing. The outside was so crispy and the inside was so fluffy!

For tea, we walked to Ginza. Stephanie said it was a 10min walk but it ended being like half an hour so we didn't arrive to Ginza until 11pm and almost everything was closed. We finally found an open cafe and I had a green tea cream drink with azuki. It was delicious.

Ginza is a huge city. It's kinda like Friendship Heights--full of stores like Gucci where you can't afford anything unless you're super rich--except the building are toweringly huge. Here are some pictures of the Ginza:

We took the last train back home at 12 and I didn't get home until 1am. It was really fun, though, and I got to talk a lot of Japanese. Good enough for me♪