Day Whatever it is now

I've become so terribly lazy about this and haven't published a post in the past few weeks.  My reasoning is that nothing exceptionally exciting has happened recently, and I felt that I was doing both of us a disservice by just typing the same thing over and over.  So, here's a recap of the moderately interesting things that have happened since I last posted.

1. Summer rain season begins: Okazaki, the town I've been living in for the past 9 weeks, has so far been the hardest hit city in all of Japan.  News reports indicated that authorities ordered all 380,000 residents of the city to leave their homes in the wake of flooding, though that order was later lifted.  As of now the official death toll stands at 1, though there are a few missing and injured.  I, however, am in very little danger, as my residence is high up on a hill, far away from the lowlands where most of the damage is occurring.  The trains were out for part of yesterday, but that didn't stop me from going to the arcade, partly just to make sure that everything was still in working order and not destroyed by the flood waters.

2. O-bon: I followed a friend to Tokyo (as more of a thing to do with somebody than to visit Tokyo again).  Sure, I ended up in the same places as before, namely Akihabara, but that's where he wanted to go, to purchase an electronic dictionary and an iPod touch.  I, on the other hand, purchased mainly subway tickets and admission to parks and such.  And took A LOT of pictures.  Some turned out quite nice, I'd suggest checking out my facebook if you have the chance.  On a related note, when my time here ends, I'll be going through my pictures, weeding out all of the mediocre ones (probably like 1500 of them), and making a best of (series of) album(s).  I again stayed at the capsule hotel, and quite enjoyed it, though I can't say that I'm particularly addicted to them.

The following day I made my favorite trip, to Hiroshima and Miyajima, one of the Three Views of Japan.  The weather wasn't all that great for the Saturday I was there, but Miyajima was still beautiful as anything I've ever seen.  So beautiful that I felt the need to climb yet another mountain, only a week after ascending Fuji.  I didn't get back to the shrine early enough, so it was closed, but I still got enough pictures to make it seem worthwhile.  Then, the following day, I went to Peace Park, home to the remains of the Hiroshima Industrial Promotional Hall, or better known to the rest of the world, the A-bomb dome.  It was more of a sobering and educational experience than I had originally thought it would be, and to me, felt more like Japan should feel than Tokyo did.  If I have the chance, I'll probably go back once more, possibly when I meet my friends starting the KCJS program later in the year.

3. Karaoke: I really don't need to say much about this, except that it's one of the many things I'll really miss when going back home.  Sure, there's a place on the North side of Chicago, but it just won't have that Japanese... feeling about it.

4. Graduations: SILAC is quickly dwindling in numbers as the summer season draws to a close.  At the end of this upcoming week, the remaining members of SILAC SA (from the beginning of the summer) ("the best class" according to pretty much every sensei), including Daryl, Jie, Keon Ung, and me, will be leaving Yamasa.  Other graduating students include Ben who showed up here 5 weeks ago, and I'm sure several others who have to get back for school and other studies.

5. Miscellaneous: thinking about what to sell to make my trip easier home; purchasing a few souvenirs for people; having learned how to make some truly tasty meals; cleaning out the most disgusting rice cooker ever due to some lazy guy who left several weeks ago and didn't do a thing about it (I noticed it, and cleaned it with a friend); discovered a whole new level of power with the iPod touch, which almost makes having a notebook computer obsolete, except for the whole keyboard thing; finally, realized that I can't get fresh strawberries anywhere.

I hope this is sufficient for anybody who used to read this, and that I didn't leave out too many details.  I can't say that I'll write one of these again until next Saturday when I'm leaving, but if something interesting happens, I'll keep you informed.

Mt. Fuji

I probably purchased far too many things for the trip, as I'm just going to give some of them to the house and get rid of others.  For instance, we were told to bring 4 rolls of toilet paper, of which I used none, and several plastic bags for trash, of which I also used none; my gloves were ripped on the first trip up when I fell, and now require stitching or to be exchanged, if they'll do that.  But, I did manage to get a "complete" walking stick, at least of the Fujinomiya trail: I purchased the stick at the summit for 1500 yen, paid for a clay stamp at the summit for another 300 yen, and then had to (well, really, wanted to) get 7 more stamps at 200 yen each, bringing the total price of this "collector's item" of sorts to 3200 yen, or roughly $32.  It did prevent me from falling several times on the trip down though, which proved it to be a good purchase.

The trip began Friday afternoon at 3 p.m., 18 of us plus Declan (who was yet again "selected" (more appropriately "forced") to climb the mountain with us.  Several times leading up to the trip he tried to get it canceled, and now I can see why, as climbing that mountain 9 times is no easy task.  We started from station 5, which is 2400 meters above sea level, and had to proceed to 3776 meters, or the summit of the mountain.  The trip is divided up into several segments, separated by "stations", which are numbered 5 (the beginning of the Fujinomiya trail, the one we climbed), 6, 7, 7,5, 8, 9, 9.5, and 10/summit.  The reason for the ".5" stations is that some of the huts or stations were originally too far apart, and this makes climbing more bearable.  The entire thing did take about 7 hours to make the ascent, though, and we arrived at about 3 a.m. at the summit of the volcano (which has been dormant for 300 years).   We even had to leave behind one of our members at station 7.5 (3010 meters up) because he was getting sick from the altitude.  This surprised all of us, because he's probably the most fit person to have gone on the trip, but altitude sickness is serious and affects everyone in different ways.  I was able to "force" my way to the top, carrying somebody else's backpack, along with mine, and my large water bottle.

The sun was due to come up soon, and it was absolutely breathtaking to watch the sun come up from the mountaintop.  First, the sky was layered yellow, blue, and red, some of it reflections from Tokyo; second the sky turned a bright crimson as if it were about to all burst loose at once; third, that crimson became a brilliant yellow as the sun finally appeared (and began to warm us all up).  The summit is 3776 meters above sea level, and it gets pretty cold at night (and the air is thin/lacking in oxygen), so I had to keep walking around for about an hour so I didn't lose feeling in my extremities.  After that, it was time to head down, or at least get ready to do so.

I purchased the aforementioned stick with a few other fellow climbers/classmates, but was the only one to actually get all of the stamps, as some of them didn't notice the stamp shop at certain stations.  It felt overall worth it, like I managed to accomplish many things on this trip.  Sure, I did fall twice and have slight injuries on each of my arms (left arm on Friday evening, just a small cut/scrape; right arm on Saturday morning, scraped up elbow and bruise on the arm), but that's what comes from climbing that monstrosity of a mountain.

But who can neglect what happened during the second to last leg of our descent?  Nobody, not even the crazy people who decided to start and continue climbing during the HAIL STORM.  Yes, we had a hail storm that lasted probably about 30 minutes, which made the second to last leg of the trip seem much longer than it should have been.  I had been able to see the stopping point/station for about an hour, but the trail just continued to wind and wind, seeming like it would never take us there.  The last leg was just misty with a bit of rain; I got my last stamp done at the base/station 5, and now have a walking stick from Mt. Fuji with 9 stamps on it (one from the summit, one that comes pre-burned into the stick, one from station 9.5, one from station 9, one from station 8, one from station 7.5, one from station 7, one from station 6, and the aforementioned one at the base).  Besides that, it looks cool.

In so few words, I'll conclude this post with a Japanese proverb (or a re-wording of it) and my thoughts on it.

-A wise man will climb Mt. Fuji one time.  A fool will climb it again.

I think, at least for now, I'll remain the wise man.

Day 45

Well, at least one of those "last day" paragraphs in my last post was a lie, as I still have Naruse sensei.  I really hoped that this was over, because I'd rather have a sensei who at least respects that we're trying to learn their language and will not be perfect at speaking at all times.  If this happens for the last term, I'll really don't know what I'll do - go insane, or just find a way to show her that she's not quite doing it correctly.

This will be a very short post, because I'm not doing anything else after classes today except for Mt. Fuji, for which there will be a separate post.

Day 44

Last day of Term B.  Remember Alvaro who I mentioned earlier (at least I think I did)?  That rude, arrogant, and annoying fellow from the first day?  Well, he never showed up after that, which neither surprises nor bothers me at all.  I think he was just surprised and offended at the other people in the class who are just as good or better than him, and he couldn't take it.

Last day with Naruse sensei.  I was completely wrong about her, as she ended up being pretty nice in the end (except for the fact that she told the other professors that we are all "useless").  I feel that I learned a good deal from her, and will cherish having her as a professor, knowing that it can only get easier from here.

Last day with many of the students in the class.  SILAC SH was the finish line for 3 students in our class, 2 of whom gave impressive speeches (one of whom was unable to give a speech because she had private lessons, even after graduation!).  That doesn't mean that my next class will be small though, because for the next two terms, well my last two terms, classes will change completely, in terms of students, senseis, and subject matter studied each time.

Last day before climbing Mt. Fuji.  I had to spend a fair amount of money on supplies, but at least I'll be able to use all of these at a later date.  At least I didn't have to buy any more clothing, as I brought it all.  The only nonrenewable items I had to purchase were some candy, pain reliever (w/o aspirin, I don't understand why but it's probably some really important reason), and just toiletries.

Last day I'll be beginning all of my paragraphs with the words "last day".

Day 43

Oops.  I clearly set my alarm for 7:30, 7:35, 7:45, and 8:00; I promptly disregarded all four of them, woke up at 8:30, got a shower/shave in, and then arrived at class just in time for the day to begin.  One more day of this term left, then either starting the next level, or doing more of Minna no Nihongo II (which is actually my plan).

I was going to eat lunch with friends at Kitsutsuki ("Woodpecker"), but there weren't any tables left; I did eat from the restaurant anyways, but it was my standard issue bento (which I have recently found out does not differ too much from the set meal at the restaurant, save for the lack of miso soup.  The bento is 150 yen less, but you don't get a drink or soup, and the portions are somewhat smaller.

After classes, a meeting with Declan about the Mt. Fuji trip.  That man seems to be doing anything to get the trip canceled.  He was down talking the climb for the first few minutes, and maintained that air for the rest of the talk.  It's probably because he's been forced to do it so many times, but he just is unnaturally angry (and irrationally so) about many things in general.

On a completely unrelated note, except for a few wind parts and annotations, I completed the first movement of my concerto tonight, and it tops out at roughly 10 minutes.  Many concertos are only slightly longer than that, but I'm not going to laze out at this time - expected running time for the entire piece is right now at 30 minutes.  I've got plenty of work ahead of me - finishing part 1, writing parts 2 and 3 (which I already know how they will go) and deciding how to write part 4.  That will all come in time.

Day 42

This is getting repetitive.  Finally I got up early, like 7:30 early.  Unexpectedly, I went back to sleep for another 27 minutes or so.  No problems, as I had a shower, breakfast, some time to read articles from the BBC, and just sit there before I went to class.

So, it appears that we aren't going to have a quiz or test at all during this term.  Reason being, there's no place to move up, only to move down, and they can determine that from our homework and participation in class.  Today, we began "informal talk", or essentially the opposite of "keigo"/"formal talk."  The real challenge was knowing when to drop certain words, and switching back and forth between both speaking styles when answering questions from classmates and the sensei.

Yesterday, I started getting some exercise, mostly in the form of push-ups and sit-ups/crunches, but today I decided to take it a step further: an intense hour long bike ride (my legs will probably be feeling really good tomorrow) and the exercises to come after I'm done typing this.  It probably won't do anything immediately, but I just want to either get in shape or stay in the shape I'm in.

With about 2 hours worth of work tomorrow (or a bit more), I'll finally be finished with the first movement of my concerto; it tops out at just over 10 minutes.  So what do I do when I'm finished with that?  Well, two things: 1) probably some gloating, but more importantly, 2) start working on movement 2.  At least mvt. 2 is only going to be about 5 minutes long, as is mvt. 3.  Wish me luck!

Day 41

Today starts "the second half" of many things: most pertinent to the time being, Term B; of secondary importance, my time here at Yamasa; thirdly, and of somewhat heavy importance, though not necessarily to the present, my 7 straight academic quarters.  I can only say that it's time to keep doing what I'm doing, maybe do a little bit more, and just be prepared for "SD"ing and classes next year.

Classes went as expected, except that my sensei always seems to call on me when I'm going to get something incorrect.  It's probably something she does on purpose, and if it is, she's doing a great job to belittle us.  Sure, education rests on fixing errors and learning new concepts, but if you know that you're going to get something incorrect and be laughed at for it, you really lose the will to even participate anymore.  At least this term ends Friday, and I'll hopefully be out of her class for good.

For the first time, I managed to make a sub-par dinner: it was far too salty.  I guess that I'll just refrain from using either extra salt or soy sauce next time.  The real problem was that it was excellent at the beginning, and then a bit unbearable at the end.  Here are the ingredients to make it correctly if you're interested:

-one skinned and diced tomato

-two diced onion stalks

-160 grams of ground beef

-2 cloves of garlic, diced

-2 tsp. extra virgin olive oil

-salt to taste

-a pinch of the following: basil, oregano, roast onion, paprika

Cook all of this down and then spread/pour it on top of a bed of noodles.  Tasty, if you make it correctly.

Day 40

Sunday, or another day that I can get up at 11:00 and not feel too bad about it.  Besides the fact that I went to the fireworks on bike and didn't do to much exercise besides that, I was still pretty tired, even with 9+ hours of sleep.  Maybe last year is finally catching up to me.  I just hope that I can fix this and settle into a good sleep schedule, at least for next year.

So what did I do today?  Again, very little, because I really didn't have to.  I didn't go back to the arcade, partly to save money, partly because I wasn't interested, and partly because I didn't have the energy to do so.  580 yen for free play is inviting, but if you can't take advantage of the time, then why pay to play?  Also, it's good that I didn't go, as the homework took a bit longer than I had thought it would.

Dinner: more stew, which is why the only place I had to go today was Seiyu to get more vegetables, and fruit, cereal, bread, and jam for other meals.  As always, it was tasty, and I had enough left over for one more meal.

Pictures are still not uploaded, as facebook is rather finicky about that (still), so I guess you'll just have to wait until later.

Day 39

As I expected, I was too tired to do anything this morning.  Even though I woke up just fine at 9:30, I wanted to sleep some more.  Like 3 hours more.  So I did, and then just moved around a bit, failed at laundry until I went back to the laundromat, paid at a convenience store with the equivalent of a $100 bill and didn't even receive any strange looks, was able to finish some of my homework, make another omelette, and then make it down to the fireworks.

The Okazaki fireworks are the loudest in Japan, and that's fairly evident if you attend them.  I showed up late due to finishing up some stuff back here, but still probably lost some of my hearing and won't get it back.  My pictures taken were few and far between, because we were behind trees most of the time we were walking around.  I did, however, have an exceptionally tasty strawberry icy drink and a chocolate churro, which was enough to hold me over for the rest of the day.

As pictures are often stronger than words (1000x, if I believe correctly), I'll leave the rest of today up to them.  That, and a video or two.  This is really just a lame attempt at clouding the fact that I didn't do much today.  So, look for more excitement tomorrow.

Day 38

Friday has come at last, and not a moment too soon.  I finally got up reasonably early, but not early enough to make breakfast, nor did I care to make a lunch.  Only 3 classes, and the vending machine sells orange juice and iced coffee, one small drink for each break.  So, I was fine getting through class and getting home.

Just before I was going to make lunch, however, the cleaning people showed up for their monthly cleaning.  A bit ridiculous that they only clean once per month, but we are expected to keep this place clean ourselves, I guess.  It's reasonable, but just that.  They were nice enough to let me make my lunch, which consisted of a hash brown, toast with strawberry jelly, and a combination of 3 eggs, onions, cheese, and some sausages.  Not quite an omelette, but close enough.  They were also nice enough to clean my dishes for me, which I didn't even ask them to do (nor would I really know how to) (just kidding, I do), and then I was off to go exploring of a sort.

Or just go back to the Cibico.  I showed up at the right time for "free time", or 580 yen for as much as you want to drink (soft drinks) and play (games of any sort).  I tried out Para Para Paradise and probably looked like a fool, because that game is all based on hand waving; also, DDR Solo, of which the cabinet only had like 10 songs.  Weak.  After more rhythm based songs, I was getting blisters, so I decided that it was time to leave.  Maybe find a quiet place to go do homework.

Ha, good luck with that.  The street festivals were in full swing by the time I walked out the door.  A short bike ride put me in the perfect place to get some nice pictures and a pretty good video, both of which I'll be uploading shortly.  I remembered that some of my friends were coming by and would be near the train station at 5 or a little bit after, so I went there and of course ran into and surprised them.  We watched the street festival, saw some live action Power Rangers (which was a bit too much like the TV show for my liking, but maintained the cheesiness factor), and had some really good beef.

So, I was of course tired after that, with an hour or so of DDR and then some fairly intense bike rides to get there and back, so I probably won't do a whole lot tomorrow morning.  Check my next post to see if I do.

Day 37

Thursday posed little in terms of changes to my daily routine.  Classes went splendidly well, my views of my senseis were not changed, and the day itself progressed without change, of course until after classes.

I told Vojtech that I was thinking of trying to find the Cibico, a large department store in downtown Okazaki, with an arcade called "U.S. Land" on the 4th floor.  The forecast told of rain, so I took my umbrella, backpack with bike registration and passport safely tucked inside, and a spare pair of clothes just in case I got too wet early on and needed to change into something more comfortable.

The trip was unexpectedly difficult, because at first I had absolutely no more than a basic clue as to where the Cibico was.  I knew that it was near Okazaki Castle, because I saw that from the train a few weeks back.  So I used my basic intuition and found the highest up and most easily accessible location, the top of the parking garage at the local train station.  It was around where I had thought, but still impossible to exactly pinpoint.  So I got on my bike and started looking for more easily accessible high-up locations.

The best place I found was a bridge, which gave me pretty much the exact location of the Cibico, only a block or two from where I was staring at it.  The final leg of the journey was only about a minute or two, and no sooner did I see the building was I on the 4th floor staring at a DDR 4th mix cabinet.

Yes, a 4th mix cabinet, probably about 5 years old by now.  I was both surprised at the fact that these still existed (and in how good of a condition the pads were in) and also surprised at the lack of features of early DDR mixes.  Nevertheless, I spent an entire 350 yen getting my card so I could come back later, and that was pretty much it for roughly 30 minutes of DDR.

The trip back was easy, as I've now gone that way 3 or 4 times, and have the feeling that I'll be going back that way sometime soon.  I also noticed plenty of set up happening for the festival that will be happening over the weekend, and realized that I probably won't get to sit at the area with the good view.  Oh well, at least I'll be able to go.

More on the festival tomorrow, when it actually happens.

Day 36

I realize that the recap of classes is becoming quite stale, so I won't go into that much detail from this point forward.  Rather, I'll bring up interesting details and instead tell you about what I did following class.  On the note of important details for class, we were, for the first time, told that we are "bad at this" by our sensei.  I know that she's called the Shinkansen sensei due to the speed that she likes to move at, but I've also noticed that she is also probably the rudest teacher I've had both here and at university altogether.  I think next week is my last week with her, so let's just hope that I have Honda sensei again and am able to enjoy class.

On a semi-related note, the Institute is run by the Hattori foundation, and one of my new senseis has the surname of Hattori.  My initial opinion of her is that she's not all that great of a teacher, in that the first two sessions with her involved limited interaction between us and her - we simply wrote up questions to ask the other senseis, and then proceeded to interview them for the remainder of the first period.  The most feedback we would get from her would be little more than "make sure to keep your sentences balanced" (use the correct level of speech throughout).  The second period of both days was also just listening exercises, with the only interaction being "which one is correct?" "a" "yes."  Call me skeptical, but this may be an act of nepotism in one of the highest regarded language schools in all of Japan.

And now, the important details.  A newer student to Yamasa, Gareth, who's also teaching in the JET program, decided to organize a trip to Brazilia Pizza, a small diner of sorts that serves basically anything you want on a pizza, even hot dogs and potato sticks.  It's right over by Aeon Mall, and if any of you are ever over here, I'd suggest going there at least once.  All in all there were 7 of us and two very large pizzas, which needless to say were completely consumed within 20 minutes of their delivery to us.  We then went to the arcade and played some House of the Dead, and following that, returned to our respective residences and slept for classes the following morning.

The festival begins the day after tomorrow, so I'll be talking about that soon enough.  Until then, "oyasumi nasai".

Day 35

I awoke with what I thought would be plenty of time to make breakfast, but I must have taken far too long in the shower, because even making lunch caused me to be no more than 2 minutes early for class.  But hey, I had my lunch and was still early.

So, what about today?  More keigo, of course.  Actually, today we focused almost completely on three different ways to make a polite verb.  Some verbs have their own polite forms, and others borrow from either the potential or the passive forms.  There are a few exceptions, but that's just best left in the classroom.

The afternoon was a drastic change, as we pretty much dropped learning more keigo and put it to use - the students in the class paired up, went to the senseis' office and each interviewed one of them.  Following that, we presented our questions and answers, some which seemed rather personal, and others which received funny responses.  5th period was a discussion on the differences between two different verbs for "I don't know".

This afternoon, finally, finally, finally I got back to composing my concerto.  So far, the first movement is half complete, and I have ideas for the next two.  I can see me finishing at least half of this (what I will be referring to as my) "magnum opus" by the time I go home, and hopefully have it completely done by the end of third year.  That being said, I still have an obligation to the pep band, an in a way myself, to arrange "Don't Stop Believing".

All in all, a productive and enjoyable day.  I'll inform you if anything interesting happens tomorrow in my next post.

Day 34

5th Monday that I've been here.  It really doesn't feel like that long, but from what I've learned and remembered, I can see that I have completed almost half of my 7 straight academic quarters.  At least this is somewhat of a break from the rush at UC, though I could use some of that now and again.

So, classes.  Naruse "Shinkansen" sensei lived up to her name, as we started the three hour period with a vocab test right away, and the pace didn't let up until lunch, which even then we were kept after to receive our homework.  The second half of the day was somewhat easier, probably because I now had eaten a large meal for the day, and the sensei decided to go somewhat easy on us.

What we're learning is "keigo", or polite speaking.  This includes verbs, name suffixes, and polite nouns.  The real trouble is remembering to change your entire sentence into the correct form, as it may change several times during a dialogue or conversation.  As the Japanese say, "ganbatte!"

Afterwards, I went home, did homework, and then decided that I should get a little bit more shopping done, specifically in the vegetable section of Seiyu, which turned out to be a pretty good idea.  I even found large onions for 37 yen.  Fairly cheap.  All in all, I purchased some more Pocky because I had just run out, and a bunch of bananas; for my stew, I bought some more olive oil, some beef, celery, a few potatoes, a few carrots, and the aforementioned large onion.

In the pot, I combined a chopped clove of garlic, a skinned and sliced tomato, a diced stalk of celery, a skinned and sliced potato, a diced half of an onion, some soy sauce, 160 grams of beef cut into small pieces, a bit of olive oil, some salt, some roasted dried onion, some paprika, and some basil.  I added 3 cups of water to assist with the cooking.  Then, I turned the heat on high and just let it sit, stirring occasionally.  The result?  An incredibly tasty stew that left me enough for at least 2, maybe 3 meals.  The cost?  About $14 total, so comes out to at most, $7 per meal.  With only $4 for lunch, and very little for breakfast, I'm eating rather cheaply here.

Sorry, no pictures - I'm reserving that feature for the weekend.  Stay tuned.

Day 32, 33

Saturday and Sunday were days of both sleeping late and obtaining food/cleaning supplies for the Villa.  The kitchen had been an absolute mess, and I was somewhat surprised and relieved to find help in cleaning it up.  Thanks to Bastian and the new guy for helping with the cleaning.

Supplies I had to buy:

-sponges

-dish soap

-broom and dustpan

-shelf liners

-paper towel

-trash bags

I also got a new pan for myself, one that can stand up to the acidity of tomatoes.  Far too many pans from Daiso have fallen to sauce for pasta, and I didn't feel like throwing any more away.  $8 well spent.

First of all, in the kitchen, the table was an absolute mess.  Only about half of it could have been used at any time due to the amount of crap just heaped up on it.  So, I used the shelf liners on the two shelving units that we have, and did some loose organization and throwing away of old stuff.  It looks much nicer now, and livable.  Plus, we can now fully utilize the table; that is, of course, until somebody comes by and messes it up again.

Second, I swept most of the place.  The only places I didn't touch were the bathrooms and rooms that weren't mine.  I cleaned up a fair amount of dust, and have already received a comment or two about how it looks.  Again, I can only hope that the other people in the residence keep their end of the deal (I'm talking to the people who didn't help this weekend) and either use the broom or at least inform us who did clean if the place is becoming messy.

Third, the stove area was cleaned today.  Before the cleaning, I don't think it had received any soapy water for several weeks, maybe even months, and now it looks good as freshly purchased after a garage sale.  The cooking quality didn't increase, but at least it feels better cooking on a clean stove.  Plus, the area around it cleaned up nicely.

Fourth, I have a major problem with the student affairs office.  One of our residents walked in and asked who came in to clean the place.  He was informed that we have a guy who comes in once per month, gives the place a quick once over, and then leaves the rest up to us.  I think the phrase was something like "It's your responsibility (don't get us involved)."  If so, why are we paying so much to live here?  I do distinctly remember seeing a few websites for Yamasa under a ". biz" domain name, so that may be an indication there.  As with the University of Chicago, the education is the best in the country, but the administration leaves much to be desired.

Only one photo taken this weekend, and I'll share it with you.  No caption, though, because it's pretty much self explanatory.

Day 31

New class, new people, more karaoke.  What more can be said about Friday at the end of a module?  Not a whole lot, except for the minor details about each one of those points.

First, the new class.  Term B of SILAC is already much more intense than the first term, as we started learning new material right away and were almost being tested as we went.  most students call our professor the "Shinkansen Sensei" due to the speed that her class moves at, and that you need to stay either with or ahead of her.  I think it's not that bad, but it may become more intense and surprise me later on.  Let's just see how it goes.

Second, new people in the class.  To start out, I already met a "that guy", and was offended by him at least two or three times during class.  Most of it was mumbled comments from him that I could clearly make out, such as "wow, 'you're' real advanced (in a completely sarcastic tone)", and something like "I'd never say something like that."  I really don't care about what he says, because he's a guy who wears black nail polish, which invalidates all of his comments and arguments, and makes me realize that his attempted put downs are only really an attempt to make him not be considered an outsider.  Then to my other side is a guy from Australia named Gareth, who has apparently attended Yamasa before.  He lives in Japan, and wants to be able to speak the language.  I've noticed plenty of students at Yamasa who have lived in Japan for an extended amount of time, and I ask myself, "why is it that you're only starting to learn the language now?"  Most of the other students are Taiwanese, and are pretty good at speaking the language.

Third, more karaoke.  Sunday is Vojtech's birthday, so he invited some of his friends for another round at Cote d'Azur.  There were in total roughly 12 people in our room, and we stayed for about 5 1/2 hours, longer than before.  If I keep on doing this, I may just end up spending 24 hours at karaoke one day.  Plenty of songs were sung, I was thoroughly impressed by the Korean guy who sounded like he could have been professional, and everyone had a rockin' good time.

I didn't do anything afterwards, because I was carrying absolutely no money on me at the time.  So, I went back, had dinner, and started planning on how I would clean the kitchen over the weekend.  Details of that endeavor will be explained in the next post.  Until then, ciao.

Days 28, 29, 30

Not much of note happened during last week, so I'm not going to make a huge blog post about the period of Tuesday-Thursday, but there are a few events that I can recall for you.

First, we had our last test of SILAC SA.  I felt prepared for it, and was pretty sure that I had gotten at least a 90% on it.  How wrong was I when the test was returned with a grade of 89%.  About as close as I could have been, but yet still wrong.  What really killed me was determining between certain potential forms and whether or not they were the result of the subject's actions or outside phenomena.  Oh well, at least I finished off SA with a test grade of around 88%, homework of 100%, and a perfect attendance record.  Let's just hope I can keep that up.

Second, a few more students graduated from Yamasa.  There were a few who had been here for 10-12 weeks, and a few who had been here for only 4 (I think I may have even heard 2) weeks.  They all gave impressive speeches, received much applause, and kept us for about 45 minutes after class.  I don't think anyone was really edging to get out of there, but we all did have stuff to do.  Many pictures followed, and much enjoyment was had.

Third, I had a pretty relaxing week.  Not much more to say about that.  Expect more excitement from my Friday post.

Day 27

Ahh, Monday, how my brain loves you so and the rest of my body loathes you so.  I love it when I turn off an alarm and tell myself that I'll just sit in bed and count to some completely random and large number, instead fall asleep by the time I get to 9, and then wake up 15 minutes later, like it was planned.  I still got to class on time, as I had a bike, and was even there before most of the students.

Today in class was sort of odd, because we were learning a lot of stuff that I had previously learned, but I had forgotten some of the intricacies of it.  It's good that there are at least three or four of us in the class who have done this stuff many times before, so we can always help each other out when the sensei has a difficult time understanding why we have a problem.  Our main "inter-student" discussion was on transitive verbs and intransitive, how the Japanese actually use a different verb for each one.  Much easier to explain in English and then use in Japanese.

Lunch: I'll give you one guess, and you're almost definitely right, if you've been faithfully reading this.  If not, I'll probably tell you tomorrow that I either did or did not get it again.  Afternoon classes were again fine/easy as we were doing potential forms.  I managed to confuse the sensei by using a piece of vocab/grammar that we had not been taught yet, but she eventually got it and was pleasantly surprised that I used that form.  W00t.

The afternoon was much like any other: homework, relaxing, studying, dinner, and this time, playing some of The Legend of Zelda.  The controls are sort of unorthodox, but the graphics are absolutely fantastic.  All that from the purchase of a $40 set of memory cards, USB drives, memory chips, and other stuff (= no more purchasing of DS games as long as this thing holds out).

Dinner for once was different: grilled cheese and sausages, though not at the same time.  What are you, nuts, to think I'd do such a thing?  It was more filling than pasta and beef, took roughly the same amount of time, less dishes, and was less of a hassle to get done; equally tasty to.  At least I didn't burn the place down with some toast.  That'd be a no-no.

On that note, there are no pictures from today, and may not be until Wednesday or even Friday.  Look for more updates tomorrow, now that I'm back on track again.

Day 26

Oww, migraine.  I haven't had one of those in a while, so I didn't get up until noon again.  Probably for good reason, but even after that, it took two Excedrin, some orange juice, a shower, and some walking around to fully clear me up.

Before I was fully cleared up, I managed to purchase another bike.  This one is now fully registered, and comes with two locks: one on the back tire that locks the back wheel when you're away from the bike, and the standard one that goes through the spokes (or wherever you want it to) and a nearby locking area.  It's a nice bike too: almost the same as the last one, though missing the option for different speeds; has a bell, a light, working breaks, non-deformed basket, and comfortable seat.  All in all, a very good purchase for the price, $120 BRAND NEW.  Time to be all crazy about locking this thing up wherever I go from now on.

Lunch was my standard first meal of Sunday, a double cheeseburger, fries, and a coke at McDonald's.  Tasty and unhealthy as ever.  I can even feel the bubbles from the coke in my nose as I'm writing this.  Following lunch, I went to Jusco to either get shopping done or some "undercover work".  By that, I mean take some pictures of the Sanrio store for Lauren.  Taking pictures in a shopping mall is always sort of awkward, but I was covert enough for it, didn't alert anyone, and got a few mediocre pictures.

I then went shopping at Seiyu to get essentials, namely food.  And a pillowcase that's too small, so I'll have to return it later this week.  Pasta and beef again for dinner.  Man, that stuff's easy, but is getting repetitive.  I should try something different later this week.

Here's a picture of something interesting I saw in the supermarket, taken at a large gathering area of sorts.

This is in the middle of the Jusco department store of the Aeon "mall".  What you see here is a large gathering of people watching sumo wrestling on a fairly small television (for that number of people), but I guess the wrestlers are large enough anyways that even a 19'' TV would be fine.  Tickets to the event ranged from about $30 up to over $10,000 (I'm fairly certain).  Most of the event is ceremonial, but still a really big (pun most definitely intended) thing over here.

Day 25

So, I went to sleep at 3 a.m., after getting back from karaoke, and had an interesting "waking up" pattern.  The guy down the hall knocked at 7 a.m. to go to Nagoya.  He then told me that he was thinking of going a bit later.  So, I went back to sleep.  My alarm then got me up at 9 a.m.  I turned that off and went back to sleep again.  When I was feeling completely rested, I woke up at about 12:07 p.m., took a shower, and then was ready to at least get out of the residence.

Lunch at a new place called "Hana Shokudo", or "Flower Dining Place/Dining Room".  It's sort of a buffet, sort of not: you grab plates of whatever you want, get a bowl of rice, and then pay per plate at the end.  Rather effective if you ask me.  Plus, it was tasty.  The guy I was with then wanted ice cream, so we went to Seiyu.  On the way, we had a conversation about how safe Okazaki is, and why I shouldn't lock my bike.  Great idea.  We were inside the supermarket for a whole five minutes, and I came out and the bike had been stolen!  I guess it was for the best, because the people at Noriyama Bicycles don't know how to correctly sell a bike, and mine wasn't properly registered, so was therefore legally stolen property.  I'll just get a new one tomorrow and get it properly registered.

Angry though I was, it was time to go to Nagoya, the fourth largest city in Japan.  There's plenty to do, not enough time to do it all in one day (so I'll probably be taking at least one or two more trips out there), and the train ticket is only $6 to get there, $6 back.  Quite cheap, much much more so than the trip to Tokyo.  So, after a short train ride, we arrived at Nagoya, and my camera was drawn, ready to document the trip, and document I did.

First, we went to Sakae, home of the Nagoya TV Tower.  I, of course, paid to go up to the top and take pictures, and was strongly reminded of the Tokyo Tower, just a slight bit lower.  The pictures are on facebook, and you can draw strong connections between those from Nagoya and those from Tokyo.  I didn't want to stay up there for too long, so I descended, and we began to head south, looking for the nearest subway station.

The walk south was along a nice park and garden area, punctuated by fountains and parking lots.  Impressive though it was, it ended far too quickly and also had a few tramps at the end.  They tried to either speak to us or hassle us (I'd believe the former), but I was in a hurry to get something to drink.  We simply said "sorry, we're American and English, and only speak English" and were off, off to Osu-Kannon.

Osu-Kannon is the big shopping district in Nagoya, full of these things that look like malls, but are really just long enclosed streets, sort of like hallways, full of literally whatever you would want.  It's like Akihabara, but much more diverse, and thankfully so.  It was night by the time we got there, so not much was open, but at least we got a feeling for where it was.  Afterwards, no time to go to the docks, because Dave had to get back for a trip the following morning, but that can be left until next time.

And now I give you my favorite pic and text from the day.  Cheers.

A view of the buildings and park from atop the Nagoya TV Tower.  This, I would imagine, looks like some area of New York City.  It just strikes me that there would be such tall buildings, and then right next to them, a park area running along the length of the district.

Day 24

Ahh, Friday once again.  Time for shortened classes, laundry, and planning what to do over the weekend.  Or, at least, find a way to spend less money than I did last week in Tokyo O_o.  I could always take advantage of the R4 and never really have to purchase another game for my DS (just, of course, delete the rom when I'm done), but that's only a start.  I'm thinking too hard about this.

The middle of a module (2 week class period) always feels sort of weird, especially directly following a test.  You know that your performance on the test wasn't the most important thing in the world, but could determine whether or not you'll be forced to repeat this class.  I, as I sort of expected, am far from that boat and instead am doing quite well in class.  My average on the written portion is around a 93% and on the speaking is around an 86%.  I could be doing better, but some of this stuff just requires practice speaking to the senseis and learning what they want to hear.  Luckily we keep the same senseis throughout our time here, so that should eventually prove to be no problem.  But I'm just rambling again.

Lunch: as always, bento from Kitsutsuki.  Cheap, tasty, convenient.  I really can't see why people get food from anywhere else, as the bento at Kitsutsuki are even better than what they offer at the local supermarket.  Plus, I don't enjoy daily grocery shopping for just one meal.  I prefer to get it all done at once, so that way I don't have to continually go back and create more waste (in the form of paper or plastic bags).

Afternoon was your standard issue Friday afternoon for me; laundry, homework, lazing around.  Quite a bit less of that last one, though, as I met up with another group for karaoke at 8 p.m.  I sang my general list of songs, added a few such as Copacabana, and almost threw my voice out on some heavy and speed metal.  We finished at 2 a.m., which was much later than I had hoped.

Again, no pictures, but I'm going to Nagoya tomorrow.  I'll post pics in the next update.

Day 23

What?  My alarm didn't go off?  This is just getting ridiculous.  I did get up at 8:15 and be in class, after a good shower, but still want more time in the morning.  That'll be fixed, as tonight I probably won't be able to rest easily at all (being neurotic and all about my alarm being set).

For once, I didn't go to Kitsutsuki and get a bento for lunch.  That's because today was Jenny's last day in class.  She's been studying here for 7 weeks, and has gone from complete beginner to fairly competent speaker of Japanese.  Something to be admired.  Getting back on track, she suggested that we have a class "pot luck", where we all bring a dish for lunch.  Really only 3 of us made a dish (Jie made curry chicken, Gustavo made some tasty pancakes, and I made just a large bowl of pasta), and everyone else brought food from the local supermarket.  Oh well, it was good to have that before the test.

Today, that thing I ordered finally came, probably the only thing I'll buy here for fun: R4 for the Nintendo DS, with which you can download (for free) and play any game that anybody has converted to ROM form, which isn't even the correct term, more like WROM form.  It comes with a USB adaptor, a really tiny 2 GB memory card, an SD card adaptor, the DS card adaptor, a micro SD card adaptor, and a wrist strap, which I may begin to use.  So far, I've played a bit of the new Legend of Zelda, and my first impressions are that the graphics are absolutely astounding, but the control leaves quite a bit to be desired.

Surprisingly little homework today, because tomorrow is Friday, so reduced class time (and also an entire hour devoted to feedback on the test).  It's stuff I've done before, but it's been so long and I've used it so little that this "review" has become more of an intense lesson.  You know, like when you've learned something and feel that you don't have to read it that closely the second time through?  Yeah, like that.

Tomorrow, after lunch, there's a session for learning how to properly wear a yukata, or summertime kimono.  I'll be attending that, and then probably get on planning the weekend.  Tomorrow evening will most likely consist of homework, laundry, possibly karaoke with another group, and hopefully composing some of my concerto that has lain dormant for the past few months.  As the Japanese say, "ganbatte!"

As I mentioned earlier, no pictures in my posts this week, except for maybe tomorrow after the yukata class.  Expect a mass of pictures on Sunday evening, most likely of Nagoya.  Until then, cheers mate.

Day 22

Nope, all of the pasta did nothing.  I guess it all sat in my stomach like a rock, so prevented me from getting up until 8:10, when I saw that people had commented on my photos like mad.  I had to read all of the comments before I did anything, which set me back a bit, but not too much that I didn't get a shower and the chance to make a good lunch, and get to class on time.

Today was the final day of Minna no Nihongo I, and some of the lessons just felt... odd.  Much more abstract thinking was involved than before, and to the point that we couldn't even do it (it was at the end of the 5th class period, when all of our brains are nearing sleep mode).  We surprisingly managed to get through it, though, and received strong comments from our new sensei, Tsunoda, who has just about too much energy for me.  I even was getting a bit annoyed, because she seemed to be making just constant "noise" at some point, but it ended up serving a purpose of some sort, and she made all of us laugh.  Good move by her.

So, what happens during the afternoon?  That's right, the same thing I've been doing for the past few days, trying to get all of my photos online.  By some work of grace, I managed to get them all up, however after about five tries.  All captioned; I even went back and added captions to an album I had forgotten about, something to do with Pep Band.  Oh yeah, I did some shopping at Daiso, because the spaghetti sauce from yesterday ate through the protective coating on my pan, and it started rusting.

Dinner again consisted of large amounts of pasta.  Maybe if I just keep putting that into my body, it will get some sort of hint and wake up at a reasonable time.  That's why the alarm is set for 8:00, because only then will I feel absolutely compelled to get up and shower/not lay back down.  Though, pasta was not the only thing, as I had some more beef, which was, as always, tasty tasty tasty.  The night concluded with making three pots of pasta for a class party tomorrow, because one of our fellow students is graduating from the program.  We're all sad to see her go, but it's somewhat confusing that she'd leave at the middle of a module.  It makes sense, as there are some 7 week courses, but she's going to miss the beginning of the new textbook.

For the third time, no pictures because I just haven't taken any.  I'll probably be going to Jusco tomorrow to walk around and take those pictures Lauren wanted, so you'll be getting a lot of Sanrio and it's most famous feline mascot.  Thank you for your time, and I will update again when something interesting happens.  Ciao.

Day 21

What?  I got up late again?  I should just set my alarm for 8:00 so I can get around that.  In fact, I'm doing that as I write this post.  I enjoy my morning shower, checking on who has commented on my photos, and not being in a rush getting to class.  Biking is a good way to get there, but still requires a level of caution, especially at this one parking lot on the way there with a blind corner and very steep grade.

Again, class wasn't the most exciting thing, but we did manage to make progress, welcome new students in, have them meet (for the first time, or in Japanese, hajimemashite) one of our senseis, and get rolling.  I frequented the vending machines during the breaks to get either cola or juice, just something to keep me going until lunch, which consisted of yet another bento from Kitsutsuki.  I only continue to go back because they are cheap (400 yen), tasty, and right there.

Second half of the day was a review of more things I had already studied, though had not fully retained.  So, I guess it was a good thing.  Everybody was as enthusiastic as always, which pleased the sensei, and continued to draw comments of praise from senseis and students all around.  They truly enjoy our SILAC SA class, and I can see why.

More of the same followed in the afternoon: anger at facebook because it just doesn't work, and then the impending homework.  But, I had a plan: I'll have large amounts of pasta, like two bowls, so I can have enough energy for tomorrow.  Let's see how that works.

Luckily, I did get a few albums up, finished homework, and then was left looking for something to do.  I decided to go out and get groceries at Seiyu.  It's good that I didn't make a list, because I would have walked out with much less essentials than I ended up with, which unfortunately did not include bread, of which I am currently out of.  It was rather cheap for snacks at Daiso and food at Seiyu, about $45 for the following: 1 kg of pasta, 1 jar of spaghetti sauce, 1 pack of salami/pepperoni, 2 small packets of string cheese, 215 grams of beef, a package of ground beef, a package of breakfast sausage, 1 packet of Hokkaido butter, a pint of milk (the right stuff this time!), 3 bulbs of garlic, 2 boxes of potato chips, 1 box of "Magic Flakes"/crackers, 2 smaller boxes of Ritz-like crackers, 4 bananas, 2 packages of ramen (4 blocks in each), 1 package of breadsticks, 4 packages of cookies (10 per package), and a large box of Pocky.  Effective shopping.

Dinner was the usual, tonight pasta, but I added some garlic to the sauce, and it was tastier than ever, as the original was lacking in said seasoning.  Blogging was notably absent today, except for finishing up documenting my Tokyo trip.  I can only hope that all of that pasta I ate will give me some ATP/energy.  Let's see tomorrow.  Until then, cheers.

Day 20

Back to classes, back to the regular routine.  At least, that was the plan, but my body was beginning to reel from the trip.  My legs hurt like no other, and it's great that I have a bike, so at least some of the pain is avoided.  Before that, there's the problem with waking up at 7:30 or 8:30.  One affords you with time to take a shower and make lunch; the other affords you more sleep.  Which is more important?

That's not to say that I was fully rested when I arrived at school, nor did I run the chance of falling asleep.  Classes aren't boring at all, rather drag on for what feels like far too long, or at least too long for my liking.  3 hours would probably be enough, but then that would leave far too much time in the middle of the day for slacking off and just walking around.  There's nothing wrong with that, but you still need to get something done.

Lunch consisted of yet another bento from Kitsutsuki, which was tasty as ever, and required eating a fried egg with chopsticks.  No easy feat, but not too much of a challenge either, given that you have some level of manual dexterity.  Following that, in class we learned that on Wednesday, we'd be given the second level of the textbook, Minna no Nihongo II (or, Everybody's Japanese II).  I can only hope that it doesn't move at a faster pace, because then I just may have to spend the rest of my time studying and not getting around that much.

The afternoon was filled with anger at facebook for its picture uploading application and all of its unexpected errors.  Really, how many errors are expected?  And should it really take eight times to upload an album?  I think not.  Getting this done really cut a lot of my time out, as did writing those previous blog posts, but when I am back up to speed, I should be able to get out more and get the recommended length of sleep.  Good luck with that, me.

There will be no pictures this week, because I can't find anything interesting.  You'll just have to amuse yourself with the 400+ photos I took while in Tokyo.  Enjoy yourselves, and keep on reading!

Day 19

Waking up in a room 2 cubic meters in volume is a bit unsettling, even if you know that you did fall asleep there.  What's especially unsettling is that knowledge that the world outside of your building is bustling with energy, commerce, and everything contrary to where you currently are.  I, however, didn't feel that odd after waking up in the capsule hotel, as I had a fairly good rest (about 7.5 hours).  I got out of "bed", grabbed my camera battery, got everything together, checked out, and was soon enough on my way.

My first stop was 7-11, for a small breakfast.  There I saw one of the most surprising things ever, even for Akihabara: 10 a.m. on a Sunday, guys reading manga at the front of a convenience store.  With people walking by, I'm sure staring directly at them.  I know I was, because I got a picture of them.  Enough of taking advantage of people, it's time to do some sightseeing!  Off (again) to Roppongi.

I really missed something here the previous night, probably because it was so dark and I just could not see it, but Roppongi does not end just past the clubs.  There's actually a bit more of it, but soon enough, it becomes another district and ward.  The streets were unsurprisingly dead, as most everybody was recovering from the previous night, just to get out the following night and party their faces off.  Lunch was rather interesting, as I found a Subway, yet ordered a sandwich that didn't come with either cheese (of any sort) or my type of dressing, so just roast beef and onions.  Went well with a coke; somewhat difficult to order something here in Japanese, especially when the person behind the counter starts the conversation in English.  What do you really do, speak four or five words in Japanese, only to stumble over the next phrase?  That's what I did, and was indirectly complimented for at least trying.

Now that I had eaten something substantial, it was time to make my way to Tokyo Tower, the tallest self supporting steel structure in at least Tokyo, I think in the world.  It, from a distance looks red and white, appropriate for Japan, but is soon realized as being orange and white, per safety regulations.  Nevertheless, my walk took me past the Russian Embassy in Tokyo, and at the base of Tokyo Tower was a performer with a monkey who walked around on stilts, I kid you not.  I even have pictures to prove it.

The wait to get to the top was worth it, as I found an elderly Japanese woman from Nagoya, who actually initiated the conversation with "Do you speak Japanese?"  We talked for a few about my studies, where I come from, and then I realized that she lives not far from where I study.  Nice conversation, waiting for the elevator to arrive.  After that, we didn't talk anymore, probably because she was with family.  The elevator rose 150 meters to the first observation level.

From here, on a good day, you can see pretty much all of Tokyo, and if you're lucky (which I wasn't), Mt. Fuji.  Too much fog to be able to see anything beyond the 10 km mark.  At least Shinjuku is within that, because I was able to get pictures of buildings that I had been standing at the base of, and in comparison, I was able to truly see the size of Tokyo.  The first observation level has a few signs pointing to areas of interest, like Mt. Fuji, the National Diet Building, Shinjuku, and other districts of note.  Also of note is the shrine on this level, the highest up of all 23 wards.  It's no wider than two meters and no deeper than one, but still overly impressive.  I then noticed that I could purchase another ticket for 600 yen to ascend another 100 meters to get even better pictures.  In so few words, it was worth it.

Feeling a bit worried that I wouldn't make it back in time, I looked at my watch and realized that it was only 12:00 p.m., leaving more than enough time to even get to Shibuya for one more photo and then to the one place I really wanted to see, the Yasukuni Shrine, built to honor all of the Japanese who died in war since the Meiji restoration.  Just outside of the shrine, I noticed a black van with some writing, two Japanese flags on the back, and blaring something loudly, probably about Japan being the greatest country on Earth, and something against foreigners.  I'm certain about this, as I've read up on it, and this group is slowly gaining power.

Disregarding that for now, I entered the front of the shrine, which is adorned by a few torii (large Japanese gates that look like the mathematical symbol 'pi'), and about a hundred food and vending stands.  I didn't get anything, partially because I wasn't that hungry, but also because I really couldn't read most of the characters on the signs.  Never mind that, I have pictures to take.  Near to the back, there was a small play going on, and in front of that, a well into which to throw coins in remembrance of the soldiers.  I did that, just to show reverence, and probably drew a few pleasantly surprised looks from some Japanese people.

Off to the side, there was some native, ancient Japanese music being played with a small performance going on.  I was watching it, when I was approached by this older fellow who initiated a conversation in Japanese, which he gradually shifted to English.  It turns out he works for a computer company, translating instruction manuals from Japanese into English, and it seems that he just wanted a bit of time to use his skills.  What better way to do it than having me tell him about the American education system, and why I was doing what I was doing.  His grip on the language is very strong, and I can see that he must use it often.

But, unfortunately, after my conversation with him, my time in Tokyo had come to an end.  Sad, but I had to get back to Okazaki for classes the following day!  So, off to the subway, arriving at Tokyo terminal, searching for the ticket counter, and paying another 10000 yen for a Shinkansen ticket.  The ride back was shorter than I had thought it would be, which was no real problem, except that it was quite crowded, so I couldn't stretch out at all.  I should really pay the extra few dollars next time and ride in the Green Car, where it's quiet, roomy, and really comfortable.

I arrived home at about 8 p.m., after a short ride on the local train, had a small dinner consisting of very little, as I had eaten a chicken "bento" (boxed meal) on the train.  Sorry to leave you on that note, but once I had returned, life began to move again at its slightly reduced (in comparison to that of Tokyo) but still quick pace.  Here they are, three pictures and text.  Ciao.

This picture reminds me of what I've seen of L.A.  Smoggy, full of buildings just going on forever.  The only thing that sets it apart, really, is the fact that it's in Tokyo.

It's somewhat amusing to see the visage of Pikachu in Tokyo.  I thought that the Pokemon craze had all but died out.  It may have, as this is a vintage Pikachu N64, for sale in this vintage Nintendo shop.

This is the entrance to Akihabara in the morning.  It is much less populated than it would be during the daytime, even an hour or two later; either the tourists just haven't shown up yet, or the cosplayers are still getting their costumes and acts together.

Day 18

My alarm set for 7 a.m. was ignored, and I instead awoke at 8:30.  Not the best, in my opinion, but I still got to the train station at about 9:30 a.m., early enough to get to Nagoya, board the Shinkansen, take the train ride, and be in Tokyo by about 12:30 p.m.  I never thought that I could be in Tokyo only 4 hours after awakening some several hundred kilometers away, but that's what $100 pays for.  The ride on the Shinkansen was everything I had hoped it to be: blazingly fast, convenient, quiet, and full of plenty of non-smoking cars (yes, there are actually smoking designated cars).

Tokyo station is one of the most complex and varied environments I think I've ever been in.  When the Shinkansen arrives, you are expected to leave as soon as you can, because it will be departing again in 10 or so minutes; this is great for businessmen, because that means you'll almost never be late for an appointment or your train.  The Shinkansen is of course not the only thing that leaves from Tokyo Eki(station): many local trains also have either their terminus or a stop here, some underground, and some right next to the high speed rail.

It took me a good 20 minutes to even find my way out of the station, and when I left, I looked around and said to myself, am I in the right place?  I didn't see too many tall buildings, but what tipped me off was the Tokyo Central Post Office, a monstrosity of an office block.  I can only imagine the several millions of pieces of post that go through that building each and every day.  So, upon further consideration of my surroundings, I went back into the station and bought a ticket to ride the subway to Shinjuku, the location of most of Tokyo's skyscrapers and the governmental buildings.

That ride was one of the few where I did not have to make any transfers.  Too many of those, and you're bound to get lost somewhere.  Nevertheless, about 10 minutes later, I was in Shinjuku, with my camera at the ready, and taking snapshots of tall buildings, park areas, and whatever else I found to be interesting.  The most impressive building I saw was the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building, which was once the tallest fully occupied building in Shinjuku, maybe even Tokyo, before it was taken over by the Midland Tower.  Not only was it the height of the building, but more importantly the sharp angles and twin tower appearance at the apex that caused for some pretty good photos.  But enough of that, I must make better use of my time.  Off to Shibuya!

A few more subway stops later, and I was at one of the busiest and (during the workday) one of the most heavily populated areas in even all of Tokyo, let alone the world.  The intersection outside of JR Shibuya station is called a "pedestrian scramble", in that you cross in all directions/traffic stops in all directions, and is the most heavily trafficked intersection on earth.  There is also a Starbucks coffee shop at the other end of the intersection, which is purportedly one of the world's busiest.  I didn't spend a whole lot of time here either, because I really only came to get some pictures of the crossing and Starbucks.  Next stop, Akihabara, the electronics and main epilepsy district of Tokyo.

The Akihabara Electric Town exit of the Yamanote line of JR is at a first glance nothing special, just a train station with a large book store.  But after you leave the station, you're greeted instantly by one of the largest numbers of gaijin (outsiders, or foreigners) in all of Japan, and thus a fair amount of English.  The most unsettling thing is gaijin assuming that you know no Japanese and only speak English.  I was somewhat offended by this, especially when I was approached by people asking "Hey, can you take my picture?"  I felt like responding in Japanese, or even French to throw them off, but my Americanism got the best of me, and I went along with it.  Besides, I even got a free picture taken of myself out of the deal.  After that little escapade, I then proceeded to walk around the rest of Akihabara, after of course getting a map to help me get around.  I really didn't have to ask for one: I just stood off to the side, looked at a different map, and then this Japanese guy approached me, gave me a map; we conversed in Japanese about finding a capsule hotel for a few minutes, and then I went on my way.

Akihabara is one of those places that you don't want to go to and be carrying large sum of money, because you'll probably spend some of it.  I myself had around $650, but didn't spend more than $2 (on DDR, of course).  I knew both my limits of what I should have purchased, and what my backpack could hold.  So, after following the directions given to me, I got to the capsule hotel, spoke half in English and half in Japanese (because I haven't learned how to ask for hotel rooms yet), paid the rather low sum of 4000 yen (40 USD) for my room, put some stuff away, and after the short rain subsided, went on another expedition, this time to Roppongi, the nightlife center of Tokyo.  I didn't go there for that, but was accosted on more than one occasion by English speaking Nigerians who wanted me to come up to their bar and have a drink.  I used my increasingly common "sorry, I'm all sweaty from exercise" and "sorry, I don't drink alcohol" excuses, and was soon on my way.

Once in Roppongi, I noticed that I had not actually eaten dinner yet, and as I was all sweaty, what better to do than have McDonald's.  Open air McDonald's restaurants are the way to go, especially when they have enclosed upper floors.  I ate on the third floor, and as I was enjoying my double cheeseburger and fries, pondered about how I would finish off the night.  I no sooner thought about that than I realized that I had not yet seen Roppongi Hills, the shopping area, so I went that way.  Atop one of the taller buildings in Roppongi is the Tokyo City View, which I of course wanted to see, so I paid the student fee, rode an elevator up, and then took 40 or so pictures of Tokyo at night, which is about as beautiful of a view as you can possibly get.  I bought the general touristy stuff for my family as gifts for when I return home, and then got on my way back to Akihabara for a good night's rest in a capsule hotel.

The room measured about 1x1x2 meters, and was large enough for me to completely stretch out in and still have about an inch or two of room.  The controls for the light and television were somewhat confusing, but then again, I was confused as to why there was even a television inside of this room; aren't these things mostly used by businessmen who need a quick rest and don't feel like paying huge sums of money for a night at the top of the line hotel?

Enough of that, I think you now have a pretty good idea about how that first day went.  I now present you with three pictures and text, and a good night.

This is the interior of one floor of a capsule hotel.  About 30 people can sleep on this floor, with a total floor space no larger than your average classroom.  Women sleep on different floors than men.  There are only really four power outlets on the floor, and I had to use one of them for my camera battery.

Tokyo at night, from atop Roppongi Hills.  I have a strong feeling that I only have less then 5% of the metropolis in this picture (and that's a very good guess), so you can see the sheer size and electricity usage of the region.

The crossing at Shibuya is the busiest in the world, as can clearly be seen in this picture.  The Starbucks is in the background.  It is of note that this is only about 1/3 of the crossing, mostly because I don't have that great of a camera for taking wide shots.

Day 17

The start of a new module, but really, just a review of the same stuff we had done the day before.  Oh well, at least it isn't anything new and difficult on a Friday.  Two new students in the class, only one of whom showed up; one student actually was held back due to not taking the last test of the class, but she's getting another chance later today.  If she does make it back in, though, we're running close to capacity.  In so few words, because you've already heard these so many times before, class went how I expected it to go, and was finished soon enough for the weekend to start.

My first attempt at using Japanese in public was rather successful, as I was exchanging money at the bank from US travelers cheques to Japanese yen, $1000 US to be exact.  Good thing that I got it done too, because the only money in yen that I was currently carrying around with me was a 1 yen coin, which is worth less than 1 cent US.  But then again, I was walking around with the equivalent of $1000 in cash, so I had to get it back home, eventually, after lunch, which was just another inexpensive bento from Kitsutsuki (400 yen, or about $3.90 US).

Afternoon consisted of some relaxation, thought about what I would do over the weekend, and then finally laundry.  It's a good thing that I bought that bicycle, because doing laundry would be so much more difficult, as the laundromat is a good 5-10 minutes walking, but much shorter biking (and it is easier to carry the laundry bag while riding the bike rather than walking).  I once again got my homework done at the laundromat, and also got everything organized in my binder, at least to a reasonable level.

Directly following the return home and putting away of laundry, I visited wikipedia and started reading up about the wards of Tokyo, deciding on whether or not I really wanted to go there over the weekend.  It didn't take long, because no sooner did I get back with laundry, then I was off to the train station to purchase a ticket.  My Japanese has continually gotten better, because I was able to tell the attendant "I am a student studying abroad, and my Japanese isn't so great.  However, I can speak it a little.  I'd like a train ticket from Nagoya to Tokyo for tomorrow, on the shinkansen.  No, I don't want a reserved seat.  How much is that again?  Okay, here's the money.  Oh, one more thing, can I also get my ticket from here to Nagoya so I don't have to buy it tomorrow?  Thanks, have a nice day."

Pizza for dinner, just a reheating of the pizza from earlier this week.  Now, off to do just a little bit more preparing for my trip to Tokyo, and then sleeping so I can get up in the morning, get on the train, and be in Tokyo hopefully by noon.  Don't expect any updates until Sunday evening, but when that comes around, expect some long posts and plenty of pictures.

No picture from today, though, as I didn't really have time to take any.  Again, cheers.

Day 16

Thursday, and graduation day for many students here at Yamasa.  The way it works is that classes are taught as "modules", or just 2 week cycles, and at the end of the 2 weeks, another group of students enters.  The cycle then repeats.  The classes move at such a rate that no matter when you enter, there will always be a class that's geared towards where you need to be.  Classes are capped at 15, though, so your test results may necessitate the splitting or combination of multiple classes.

Only two of our students were leaving, so we have enough room for 4 more to come in before we get split up.  As it was their last day, the class had sort of a party feel for the entirety of the day, but that's also a function of the karaoke party that was to happen later on.  Needless to say, the lessons proceeded as usual, with the occasional outburst of something party related.  For lunch, I had a fun time searching for something to eat.  Everyone as usual went to Domy, the local supermarket, but I didn't feel like walking, so I tried Kitsutsuki for a bento.  They were all out of them.  So, I tried ZigZag for the lunch, which looked like it would be good, but Shin had run out of supplies to make food for the day, except for sandwich buns and meat.  I had two chicken sandwiches, which were, as usual, tasty and inexpensive.  Okay, so I didn't have to pay - Arturo treated everyone to lunch that day.  Nice guy.

After classes that afternoon, we all attended a ceremony that is a tradition of Yamasa, and that is graduation speeches.  Every graduating student, there were roughly 10 of them, gave a speech of varying length, from 10 seconds up to 1 minute 30 seconds.  Many many pictures were taken, many laughs shared, and many rounds of applause given for the graduates.  All in all, a very festive time for the students of Yamasa.

Karaoke was soon to follow, but at first, I had to make a few failed attempts at exchanging money.  There I was, riding around with $1000 in travelers cheques, trying to find a bank to make a money exchange.  I showed up at 5:02 p.m., but it closed at 5:00 p.m.  Darn.  All I have remaining is just enough for karaoke, and that's it.  I hope I can get to a bank early enough tomorrow and exchange the money.  At least Friday classes only run for the first half of the day, so I can just take my time at the bank.

On the subject of the first word of the previous paragraph, karaoke!  Such a huge phenomenon in Japan, karaoke is pretty much everywhere.  Our class had a "going away" party for Dan and Mikhail, so we rented a room for about 5 hours and sang plenty of songs, ordered plenty of food, and I observed some astounding feats of alcohol consumption (and a few failed attempts).  The songs I sang were, in no particular order, "Billie Jean", "Bohemian Rhapsody", "Never Gonna Give you up" (better known to the world as "rickroll"), and "Don't stop believing".  I received plenty of complements from everybody, even when they were sober, so I guess I did a pretty good job (or just had enough energy to put on a good show).

Following our trip to the karaoke bar, we all then went, some of us inebriated, some like me completely sober and able to recollect the events of the night, to Denny's to sit around, talk, and have dessert.  My dinner consisted of, at the karaoke club, mini tacos and a pretty good but cold ramen soup; at Denny's, all I had was a scoop of ice cream that came, to my surprise, on a slice of French toast, and was overall tasty.  I got back to the residence at about 12:45 a.m., and still had some (surprisingly easy and not very time consuming) homework to do.

Tomorrow starts another "module" with new students.  I'll have more to say then, but here's a photo and text.  Cheers, mate.

Ever seen a drunk Brit sing the Sex Pistols' "Anarchy in the U.K."?  It's great, just probably something that you hope he isn't completely serious about (or know that he probably doesn't even remember).

Day 15

Another test?  I don't believe it; we just had one of these on Friday.  At least it didn't seem like too much of an ordeal, except for the speaking portion (the main reason I came, to learn how to better speak the language).  So again, the first half of the day was sort of boring, as I was just more or less waiting for lunch (because I was so hungry after the test).  Lunch again was incredibly tasty, as it was Shin san's famed (and inexpensive) taco rice.  I love it every week I get it, which will hopefully be about 8 more.

Later in the day, less boredom, but still class.  Again, and as usual, a review of what I had already learned, followed closely by a learning of completely new things (which pleasantly surprised me).  It's good that I'm only learning a few new things every week, because were it all new, I don't think I'd be able to keep up with it (my brain has not fully recovered from the second year at UChicago yet).

So, at lunch, Christian told me about his mistake yesterday, about how he looked at his schedule incorrectly and forgot when his private lesson was; however, he still did want to go to the arcade to play some DDR, which I ended up doing for the second day in a row.  Not the best thing for my legs (in terms of level of "pain"), but some pretty good exercise.  At the arcade, I managed to pass, for the first time, Max 300 on heavy.  I have passed it at home before, but that's somewhat easier, as the pads at the arcade have been "used very well", so to say.

So I got back from the arcade, and what did I have for dinner?  That's right, beef.  I "fried" (better to say "cooked in a pan with a small amount of oil") up the beef, cooked some rice, and enjoyed my meal at 10 p.m., all the while discussing the current state of affairs in the world with Sebastian at the dinner table.  Clean up of the meal took longer than usual, because I had to put things in containers, move things around, clean a large amount of dishes, and just get everything put away.  Then, homework, which took just a bit too much thought to do this late at night.  It would be better to just get it done after class while it's still fresh in your mind.

That's all, and here it is, you moment of zen.

Max 300, the original 10 footer of DDR.  Considered by many to be the toughest song in the game until the release of DDR extreme, but now pales in comparison to some of the more current 10 footers in the game.  For reference, search youtube for the charts of Max 300 (heavy), and PARANOiA -Hades- (challenge) and Pluto -Relinquish- (challenge).

Day 14

Wow, I just realized by typing the title that I've been here for 2 entire weeks already.  Have I learned anything?  Oh yes, more than I would have had I stayed at home.  I can say that this trip was a very good idea, and there is very little that would prevent me from doing this again (except for, of course, a [hopeful] physics internship next summer).  Today's weather was not all that representative of the past two weeks, as it was essentially a summer torrential downpour in the morning.  I managed to safely make it to class on a bike carrying an umbrella and only getting a bit wet.

So, in class, we immediately get the announcement that we have another test tomorrow!  5 days after our previous test!  I can only hope that the test is as easy as Friday's, and that I can feel good about myself (by getting another score like a 99).  It, however, encompasses a fair amount of what I have already learned at Chicago, with only one or two new things, so I feel fairly confident about it.

I experienced a bit of racism (or nationalism, I think) at lunch today, mostly from a Chinese guy.  It may be something against Americans, but tomorrow I'll show him that I'm the better man and accept him and everyone else during lunch.  If that fails, and I receive some snooty comment from him, I'll probably retort with "Fine, go back to your economically developing, not most powerful country in the world."  I can stand a bit of national tension, but not to the level that ostracizes you based on which country you come from.

After that subsided, class resumed, and I again breezed through everything, mostly thorough the help of a coffee energy drink.  I won't bore you with the details, but will say that we received a fair amount of homework (something that seemed like it would take a long time to complete).  However, I was originally planning to go to the arcade later today with a friend from classes, so I went back to my residence, picked up some clean clothes/exercise clothes, got to the train station, bought my ticket, and proceeded to wait, all the while doing my homework.  I took the third train that showed up at the station (waiting for my friend who never showed up), and managed to have all of my homework done and checked by the time the train reached its first stop.  Not too bad.

But then, arcade again!  I was there alone, with only one goal, and that was to play some DDR.  Which I did, and only spent about 1400 yen total (and that included three drinks from the vending machine at 120 yen each), so that works out to roughly 10 rounds, a few of which I failed due to improper arrow options.  My best scores have been uploaded at facebook, so if you're reading this, chances are you're not more than two or three clicks away from seeing them.

Dinner consisted of pizza again from Pizza La, which sort of failed due to the size of the basket on my bike - when I got back, the pizza had fallen so many times (into the basket, mind you, not on the ground) that it was all mangled, and didn't look much like a pizza.  But man, did it taste like one.  Very much so.  Again, at least three meals came out of that purchase, and so did a Coke.

I'm of course tired, because it's both late at night and the end of a blog post.  So here it is, your pic and text.  Mata ashita (or, again tomorrow).

I won't tell you how to read this, but you'll thank me (unless of course you read katakana, then you're screwed).  Let's just say that this is played in the US (especially in Breckinridge House at the University of Chicago), Japan, England, France, and a few other countries.  The number of rules vary on whoever is playing (which is really anyone who has ever been born), and I just can't seem to not lose.

Day 13

Monday.  I remember why I dislike Mondays so much; it's because you actually have to get up early again and be coherent in the morning.  On the weekends, I disagree with those two concepts, but still must go along with it.  That being said, waking up was moderately difficult, but I did get to class on time, after showering, having a sandwich, and getting everything together.

Another day of class, another day of turning in homework whenever you feel like it.  Heck, it's like some of the students don't have their homework done before class so just do it then and turn it in at the end of the day.  That is sort of counter productive, because then they lose the daily practice of whatever we're learning, and also just look sort of lazy to the students around them.

We got our first tests back today, and there was one person in the class to get a perfect score on the writing portion, and that was the Mexican girl who sits on the other side of class.  My Czech friend and I both got 99 on the test, which was pretty good (I messed up on particles again, like I always do).  Then, on the speaking portion, I got a 91, which averages out to a 95 on the test (not too bad for my first exam here), and received several positive comments about the speed at which I can speak the language.  In fact, I've been receiving comments like that from all of my senseis over here, in that I can hold a conversation with them at the beginning of class that always seems to hold their attention.  I can only chalk this success up to my education at UChicago (and of course, my hard work).

So, what happens after class?  Laundry, of course.  Not so much homework to do, but plenty of laundry to transport.  Good thing I have two bags to transport it in.  It's a bit pricey, but it gets the job done, and it is something that has to be done (or else I'll either end up with stinky clothes, or clothing that is too worn out to wear).  The bike also comes in very handy at times like this.

So, when night falls, I have my homework done and am very tired.  Time to fall asleep.  Here's your picture and text.

My bike, which only cost 5000 yen, along with a 250 yen bike lock.  I may not need the lock a whole lot over here, as most everybody leaves their bikes unlocked everywhere, but if I take it home, Chicago necessitates bike locks.  It rides well, has a few different gears, and a light on the front wheel that is powered by the rotation of the wheel.  I should attach a capacitor to that and store my own energy.

Day 12

Second Sunday here, well more than my second tired day here.  Why?  Dinner went so late last night, I didn't get back until late, and still had to do some blogging.  But anyways, it doesn't matter, I got up in time to go to McDonald's again for lunch (double cheeseburger, fries, and a coke are good, especially with the amount of INTENSE exercise I did today, without DDR, nonetheless).  Well, that was tasty.

Following lunch, a long walk to the bike store to pick up my bike!  I didn't realize it would be so far, probably just felt farther than it really was.  The walk was about 5 minutes towards the Daiso, then 3 minutes to the school, then another 5 minutes to the train station, and then yet another 5 minutes to the bike store.  All in all, I was pretty sweaty by the time that was over, so I was ready to stand inside of a cold bike store until it was ready.  Thing is, the bike was sitting there ready for me to pick up (after paying, of course).  Total cost for the bike and lock?  5250 yen, or about $50 (US).  Not bad for a used bike that I'll probably be getting rid of at the end of the summer anyways.

So, since it was Sunday, I didn't think that the Yamasa building would be open.  Silly me, it was, and good thing I checked, because now my bike is registered (fully, I think - I still need to check on that tomorrow).  All it was was just a sticker and signing my name on a form, no payment or anything (which caused me to be a bit leery about the whole thing).  Oh well, I do have the sticker, which should be enough for at least the ride to school, probably for the rest of the summer, as long as I don't do anything incredibly stupid.

At this point, still no replies from my friend, who may have just gone to Tokyo and decided to not go through with our plans (of actually going together).  I just know one thing, that next weekend won't be so boring - I'm getting out of Okazaki and getting to either Tokyo, Kyoto, Nara, Osaka, or some large city.  Hopefully Tokyo for 1) Akihabara for gaming, 2) Shinjuku for taking pictures of the sky scrapers, 3) Minato for the Tokyo Tower (and thus pictures of damn near half of the Metropolis), and 4) whatever other wards happen to interest me.

Well, night has fallen, I have all of my work done, so the last thing for me to do is to give you a picture and text.  Cheers.

This is a manga cafe, open 24 hours.  You can go here and rent a booth for a certain amount of time to either read manga, surf the web, probably drink coffee or some other drink you enjoy, or just commiserate.  I didn't go beyond this point, which is a shame, because there's apparently a good arcade just down this way.  DDR count for the day could have potentially 1/5.