Parties and Fun things

Since I haven't updated in a while, I have lots of pictures. Today's entry will just be a big upload of pictures and a description of them. Yay pictures!, right?

Last Sunday, me, Stephanie, Azusa, and Sugako went to karaoke in Shibuya. First, since Sugako was running late, Azusa, Stephanie, and I stopped at a cafe for tea.

I had a chai latte and a red bean paste bun.
This was the karaoke room. It was the coolest karaoke place I've been to! It looked so high class and when you started singing, the lights would dim so it felt like a real live, or something. (Sorry for the bad quality)

Stephanie and Azusa:

Me and Sugako (ew I look horrible...):

I thought this was hilarious....in a terrible way. These posters are all over Shibuya right now. The guy is Nino from the popular boy band Arashi.

It says "Shopping will become Japan's strength." I was just like wow...I mean, I know that governments try to push shopping in order to improve economy, but I've never seen a slogan like this so blatantly everywhere. It was like a subliminal message to the people on the street...scary.

This is a picture of a music van. In Shibuya, vans drive by all the time playing clips of new CDs like moving advertisements. They're one of the origins of Shibuya's constant noise. This is a van for Kiss-My-Ft2's new single for winter. The music video has them all on roller skates...again. Johnny's Entertainment is just a constant repitition these days. Plus a bunch of underaged girly looking guys...why?? Lately, a boy band debuted from Johnny's called Sexy Zone and the youngest is 11 years old. All of them look like babies, so the name Sexy Zone just doesn't suit them at all. Instead it's a bit disturbing...Kiss-My-Ft2 is ok though. The guy inn the black vest is my favorite. Tamamori-kun!
Anyways, this is where Sugako, Azusa, Stephanie, and I had dinner. Sushi~Sushi~

It was a sushi rotary bar and every plate with two sushi was 150 or 250 yen. Super cheap~ I had eel, too! Yumm. There were a lot of foreigners there and Stephanie voiced what I had been thinking: "Why are all the foreigners you see in Japan strange foreigners?" The foreigners that you see in Japan are so strange looking. They're the kind of people that you wouldn't usually see on the street if you went to their country. And yet they are in Japan giving Japanese people the wrong impression of people from America, Australia, etc...

Wow wow! One week till Christmas! I have all my Christmas presents done for my friends~ I thought keychains would be the easiest way to go, like I gave the scholars.
Keychains for the manga club members:

Nakamura-san, Niinuma-san, Tomo-chan, Kikuchi-san, Kei-san. I gave them theirs at the manga club Christmas party and they were very happy! Kei-san was like "Omg this is the only one in the world!" Kikuchi-san put his on his bag right away, so it seemed he liked his, too. I was very happy.
Keychains for my dorm mates:

Stepanie, Hyo Jeung, Seung-san, Juan, Mateus. I can give them theirs on Christmas day.
Keychains for my Level 7 classmates:

Chris (from England), Lisa (from Germany), Alberto (from Barcelona), In (from Malaysia), Laura (from Germany), Hinata (from Minnesota), Miharu (from England), Kathleen (from San Diego), Camelia (from Croatia). I'll give them theirs next Wednesday, which is the last day of class before winter break!

The following pictures are from the manga club Xmas party:

Strawberry short cake is a must for Xmas in Japan.

The three manga club girls: Kei-san, me, and Tomo-chan

Not every member was able to come. Niinuma-san had his part time job so he couldn't come. In the picture is (left to right): Kei-san, Kikuchi-san, me, forgot his name..., Nakamura-san, forgot his name..., Tomo-chan. Hey, but I know more names than before, right!
And I conclude with my New Year's card for my composition class. In class, we picked a name at random of one of our classmates and had to write them a New Year's card. I got Catie who's from Washington state.
New Year's cards or 'Nengajou' are super popular in Japan. You can buy them already made almost everywhere--post offices, stationary stores, department stores, etc. Although writing letters has become uncommon, EVERYONE writes New Year's cards. Even if you aren't in contact with someone for the entire year, if they're still alive and know your address, they'll send you a New Year's card. That's how important they are in Japanese society. There are set phrases that are found on all of them. You can see mine for an example!

(I drew a pretty illustration just for fun~)

1. Ok, first is the New Year greeting which can be found in the red box. It reads as "Gashou" which literally means celebration of the new year.

2. Then a phrase of thanks: "Kyuunen chuu wa osewa ni narimashita" (literally "I relied on you a lot last year")

3. A phrase or two talking about your current status ie job, children, school: "Saikin Keio daigaku no benkyou de taihen desu ga, issho ni ganbarimashou ne." ("Lately Keio's homework has been tough, but let's do our best")

4. A personal goal for the new year: "Kotoshi wa motto tsuyoku natte, nihongo wo pera pera hanasu you ni naritai desu." ("This year, I want to get stronger and be able to speak Japanese fluently.")

5. A farewell, hoping the best for the new year: "Honnen mo yoroshiku onegai itashimasu" ("I hope we can get along this year, too.")

6. Date: Heisei 24. 1. 1

And that is how to write a Japanese New Year's card! Now all of you have to write one to me for homework! Just kidding.