So I looked at the calendar the other day, and to my surprise I've been in Japan for over two months now. Weird. I suppose the whole week of midterms should have clued me into this development. But honestly? I had other things on my mind. So there. Anywho, I thought I'd share some lists of things with you all. (And yes, I meant to put three things in each list. Got to narrow them down somehow!)
Things I miss: (Besides the obvious friends and family, y'all know I miss you!)
1. boneless fish, I don't mind picking the bones out so much as I mind that it takes so long to do so with chopsticks!
2. living 5 min. from my class, I like walking, but some mornings I just don't want to deal with the trains.
3. pants that fit! So this one needs a bit of explanation. At first I couldn't figure out why I was losing weight. I wasn't exercising that much. I mean, yeah, an hour and a half of walking 5 days a week, but I used to have 4 days of fencing practice, which is much more exhausting than my walking. And I walked plenty around campus, both to classes and whatnot and just for fun. I haven't really gained or lost a significant amount of weight since sometime around my second year of high school. So why this sudden loss? Well I figured it out. That date I just said? My second year of high school? The last time I gained a large amount of weight? Also the same time I started eating cafeteria food 24/7. And this semester is the first time in the last five years that I haven't been eating cafeteria, specifically Sodexho, food for the majority of my meals. That whole freshmen fifteen thing is soooo not a lie! Though it might just be the Japanese food, which is supposed to be some of the healthiest food in the world. I'll have to see what develops along these lines next semester. France: your food will be put to the test! Can you win against the Japanese???? Tune in next spring for the results!
Things I don't miss:
1. cafeteria food, obviously! Did anyone NOT see this one coming?
2. Rain. Specifically Roanoke's rain that drizzles then pours then goes away completely. The rain here pours and pours all day for a couple of days and then it goes away again and hasn't been back in weeks. I value consistency, especially in weather. Hirakata's weather has it's own problems with inconsistencies throughout the day (like being freezing in the morning, warm at 10, hot at noon, then cool at 6, and cold again by bedtime), but each day is strangely similar to the day before and the day after. I could get used to this.
3. I can't actually think of anything else that I don't miss. I keep thinking of other things I miss. This is making me sad, so time to move on.
Things I've grown to like:
1. tofu, especially when drenched in soy sauce *licks lips*
2. onions, Okaasan buys these small onions (or maybe that's just the normal size in Japan?) They would fit in the palm of my hand. She cooks them whole either in the microwave (rangi) or in a pan with oil and then she, Otoosan, and I each get one, Kayoko doesn't like onions. We eat them in layers, usually with various dressings on top.
3. cabbage, When I was little I thought this was just a different name for lettuce, because they looked the same in the grocery store. I never ate any though and thought that it sounded nasty. Well, it's in a lot of dishes here, and it doesn't taste that different from lettuce. There's a slight difference in taste, but not an overwhelming one, and it doesn't taste as nasty as it sounds!
Things I still haven't done:
1. Climbed a Japanese mountain, which will hopefully be checked off after tomorrow (Saturday).
2. Drunk sake, Surprisingly I haven't actually had any alcohol, even though I'm legal right now over here, and will be legal in the US in a week. I just haven't felt the need. Probably a large part of the fun has gone out of it as it's not a forbidden pasttime now. Also, I realized that I have no idea what is good or bad or what I like, and I don't really want to start experimenting on my own. I've made friends here who could definitely help me out in that respect, but I'm not sure I trust them quite enough yet. Also, none of them live near me, and I don't want to try walking/riding the train back home drunk. Just sounds like a bad idea all around. If anyone can recommend some good stuff to try, I'll look into it though.
3. Found a balance between people time and me time. *Sigh* This is going to be a long explanation. Disclaimer: Ranting will probably occur.
For the first month or so, I was doing the whole meet-as-many-people-as-possible and talk-to-everyone-all-the-time thing. But these last few weeks the very thought of sitting down in the CIE lounge causes a gut reaction of HIDE! Part of this is caused by the fact that everytime I sit down in CIE alone, and pull out a book or some homework, I immediately find myself the to-go-girl for Japanese students to come talk to and especially to ask questions for their neverending interviews! They are usually in groups of two or three, and they seek out those of us who are sitting alone, because we are "easier to talk to". I don't mind helping them out with their homework, and I do want to meet them and practice speaking Japanese/English with them. But after a while it becomes a bombardment! It seems that if you are in CIE you are signaling your willingness to talk. You are NOT left alone, even if it is obvious that you are involved in something! So the reaction of HIDE is not an exaggeration. Even retreating to the library or the benches outside is not a guarantee of being left alone!
I've taken to finding unused classrooms in order to get a few minutes of quiet reading/alone time. I've also found a park near Hirakatashi station that is a nice retreat. It's next to the Yodogawa River (although river is a bit redundant, because kawa or gawa means river in Japanese, かわ、がわ、川). The park is very large, but my favorite part is a wide grassy area with large boulders randomly scattered around it. I, and other people, sit on the boulders and enjoy the sunshine, read, write, study, etc. It's very peaceful.
I think the world has had enough of my hiding out though. The last couple of groups of Japanese students I've run into have actually wanted to talk to me and learn about my culture and share theirs instead of just wanting me to answer some questions. And then today, well, first a guy from one of my classes apparently lives near-ish me and we ran into each other today at the train station. This incident is odd because although I've seen several other Kansai Gaidai students along my route to school, I've never seen him in these last two months! We ended up having a really interesting conversation about the class we share, and then how it relates to our home colleges and classes. I enjoyed talking to him, and it didn't feel like an invasion of my private time, even though my trips to school and back are the times I'm guaranteed to be alone. He got off at the station before me. However, I was not left alone for the rest of my walk to school. I ended up walking next to one of the girls who I worked with last Saturday at the English Camp for Elementary School Kids. We had a good conversation too! All about our various trips to school, our morning schedules, classes, etc. When we got to school, she ran off to class and I was left to make my own way to my class. This morning I was interrupted, not once but twice, during my daily dose of me-time, but they didn't feel like intrusions. I have two thoughts about this: One, I'm clearly becoming used to being interrupted and may actually be adapting to the more social lifestyle I'm living in the middle of over here. And two, the universe thinks I spend too much time alone, and need to get out more! The universe is probably right.
That's the end of my lists. I hope they gave you some insight into how my first two months in Japan have gone. If you have other suggestions of lists for me to do, I'd like to hear them. I'm disappointed in myself that I couldn't think of more!
Friday, October 28, 2011
Friday, October 21, 2011
Midterm Week
Last Friday: Pop. Culture Essay Due-easy
Tuesday: Spoken Japanese Oral Exam-easier than I thought it would be, but still pretty hard
Wednesday: Reading/Writing Japanese Reading Exam-easy as pie
Thursday: SPJ Written Exam-ugh, I don't even want to talk about it. XD
Friday: RWJ Written Exam-not too bad
Next Tuesday: Ethics Exam-I'm looking forward to this, which is weird, because I'm not a huge fan of tests. I don't hate them, but I don't like them either. I think it's because I'm really liking this class, and the test is essay question based, so I'll get to talk about what I've gotten out of the readings at length!
So, that's my week in a nutshell. Originally I was supposed to have the Ethics test on this Tuesday, but the professor took pity on us, which I am of two minds about. On one hand, I like having the extra time to study, but on the other hand, I would have liked to get everything done and over with in a week.
Last Saturday's outing to Kyoto was fun. The cake we made is called Yatsuhasi, and I wouldn't actually call it cake. It's closer to a chip texture. It came in thin rectangles, and we got to put them on the open cook tops and do various things to them as they moved down the rows. You placed them in two rows of four and then put a wooden block on top. There were six 'stations' sets of rows with a block over them. The one on the far right would be taken off, and they were all moved down, with pauses where you changed the order of the eight rectangles in each set, to make room for the new set. It's really hard to explain without having the materials in front of me. But they were tasty! Apparently they come in all sorts of flavors, but our were cinnamony and reminded me a bit of snickerdoodle cookies!
This Saturday, I'm helping out with an English Learning Camp that Kansai is hosting. A bunch of Elementary students are coming to Kansai, and getting a tour of the campus, and then they'll come through the rooms where we, the foreign students, will be. There'll be booths for the different countries, and the kids will ask us questions about our countries, families, schools, etc.
Then on Sunday, I have a meeting with my presentation group. My pop. culture class has been split into groups to present on the next few weeks topics. My topic is one that's close to my heart: Otaku! Mostly what we're dealing with is the differences between how the Japanese view otaku, which is mostly negatively, and how the term has been adapted/used/received abroad. One thing that has surprised me the most is that none of the Japanese students I've interviewed have known where the word originally came from or what it meant before it was used to describe anime and manga lovers. I've learned through my own research, and by living on Otaku Hall, that it originally meant house or home or family. Later it came to be used as a formal way of saying 'you'. When used this way it indicated distance, it wasn't used by close friends. This is why scholars think it got morphed into meaning what it does today. A big stereotype of otaku culture, is people who stay at home and only talk to others who are interested in their specific interest. They distance themselves from the rest of society. Another thing I've learned about this, is that most Japanese define otaku as being obsessed or interested in only one thing, to the exclusion of all else. Otaku have one interest, and are always researching and learning more about that one thing. This is different to the way a lot of Westerners use the term: to refer to anyone who is interested in anything Japanese, regardless of the depth of that interest.
Well, I got a little carried away, talking about that, but it ties in to what I've been doing and thinking about lately, so consider it a look into my head!
So, I realized today, that I've been in Japan for almost two months exactly. I'm halfway through, and I'm not sure how I feel about that. :\ I'll let you know when I figure it out.
Have a good weekend folks!
Tuesday: Spoken Japanese Oral Exam-easier than I thought it would be, but still pretty hard
Wednesday: Reading/Writing Japanese Reading Exam-easy as pie
Thursday: SPJ Written Exam-ugh, I don't even want to talk about it. XD
Friday: RWJ Written Exam-not too bad
Next Tuesday: Ethics Exam-I'm looking forward to this, which is weird, because I'm not a huge fan of tests. I don't hate them, but I don't like them either. I think it's because I'm really liking this class, and the test is essay question based, so I'll get to talk about what I've gotten out of the readings at length!
So, that's my week in a nutshell. Originally I was supposed to have the Ethics test on this Tuesday, but the professor took pity on us, which I am of two minds about. On one hand, I like having the extra time to study, but on the other hand, I would have liked to get everything done and over with in a week.
Last Saturday's outing to Kyoto was fun. The cake we made is called Yatsuhasi, and I wouldn't actually call it cake. It's closer to a chip texture. It came in thin rectangles, and we got to put them on the open cook tops and do various things to them as they moved down the rows. You placed them in two rows of four and then put a wooden block on top. There were six 'stations' sets of rows with a block over them. The one on the far right would be taken off, and they were all moved down, with pauses where you changed the order of the eight rectangles in each set, to make room for the new set. It's really hard to explain without having the materials in front of me. But they were tasty! Apparently they come in all sorts of flavors, but our were cinnamony and reminded me a bit of snickerdoodle cookies!
This Saturday, I'm helping out with an English Learning Camp that Kansai is hosting. A bunch of Elementary students are coming to Kansai, and getting a tour of the campus, and then they'll come through the rooms where we, the foreign students, will be. There'll be booths for the different countries, and the kids will ask us questions about our countries, families, schools, etc.
Then on Sunday, I have a meeting with my presentation group. My pop. culture class has been split into groups to present on the next few weeks topics. My topic is one that's close to my heart: Otaku! Mostly what we're dealing with is the differences between how the Japanese view otaku, which is mostly negatively, and how the term has been adapted/used/received abroad. One thing that has surprised me the most is that none of the Japanese students I've interviewed have known where the word originally came from or what it meant before it was used to describe anime and manga lovers. I've learned through my own research, and by living on Otaku Hall, that it originally meant house or home or family. Later it came to be used as a formal way of saying 'you'. When used this way it indicated distance, it wasn't used by close friends. This is why scholars think it got morphed into meaning what it does today. A big stereotype of otaku culture, is people who stay at home and only talk to others who are interested in their specific interest. They distance themselves from the rest of society. Another thing I've learned about this, is that most Japanese define otaku as being obsessed or interested in only one thing, to the exclusion of all else. Otaku have one interest, and are always researching and learning more about that one thing. This is different to the way a lot of Westerners use the term: to refer to anyone who is interested in anything Japanese, regardless of the depth of that interest.
Well, I got a little carried away, talking about that, but it ties in to what I've been doing and thinking about lately, so consider it a look into my head!
So, I realized today, that I've been in Japan for almost two months exactly. I'm halfway through, and I'm not sure how I feel about that. :\ I'll let you know when I figure it out.
Have a good weekend folks!
Friday, October 14, 2011
Random Things
1. The cat
I finally learned why the cat it named Nihango. Nihan is the Japanese version of Meow. And "go" means word or language. So I'd translate Nihango to something like The one who says Meow, Speaks in Meows, The Meower, etc. Quite an appropriate name for a cat, don't you think?
2. Cars
I really really really REALLY don't like Japanese cars, or Japanese bikes, or Japanese roads, or Japanese traffic. Not one day goes by without me being scared for my life because of one of the above.
3. This Weekend
Saturday I'll be going to Kyoto to make Japanese cake with a group of people including my speaking partner. I was planning on Sunday being my personal Tinker Day, but I have yet to research a mountain to climb, so we'll see. I may just embrace the Tinker Day spirit and wing it. I decided to climb the mountain at the last minute last year and I see no reason for this year to be any different.
4. ZZZZ
I'm sorry, I'm tired. Don't know why, I've been sleeping. Maybe it's the rain. Rain makes me sleepy. . . zzzz
Okay, sorry, but I'm going to give up on this now. I'm going to sleep a bit now, so I can stay awake in my class next hour.
I finally learned why the cat it named Nihango. Nihan is the Japanese version of Meow. And "go" means word or language. So I'd translate Nihango to something like The one who says Meow, Speaks in Meows, The Meower, etc. Quite an appropriate name for a cat, don't you think?
2. Cars
I really really really REALLY don't like Japanese cars, or Japanese bikes, or Japanese roads, or Japanese traffic. Not one day goes by without me being scared for my life because of one of the above.
3. This Weekend
Saturday I'll be going to Kyoto to make Japanese cake with a group of people including my speaking partner. I was planning on Sunday being my personal Tinker Day, but I have yet to research a mountain to climb, so we'll see. I may just embrace the Tinker Day spirit and wing it. I decided to climb the mountain at the last minute last year and I see no reason for this year to be any different.
4. ZZZZ
I'm sorry, I'm tired. Don't know why, I've been sleeping. Maybe it's the rain. Rain makes me sleepy. . . zzzz
Okay, sorry, but I'm going to give up on this now. I'm going to sleep a bit now, so I can stay awake in my class next hour.
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
Another Long Weekend of Fun
So, I didn't have very many plans for the weekend, but it ended up being really fun. Saturday was the only planned day. I met up with Kolla, Aiko, and one of Aiko's friends, Mizuki, at Hirakatashi station. We preceded to take a couple of trains into Osaka's Korean towns. There's actually two, one that's sort of grew up near a train station and is home to many resident Koreans, and another that was made by the city to be a tourist attraction. We went to both.
First we went to the original. The second we walked out of the station, we were in a maze of streets, with shops crowded on both sides. There were clothing stores mostly, both modern, westerized clothing, and shops with traditional Korean dress. There were also lots and lots of small shops devoted to K-pop paraphernalia, similar to the ones I visited with Victoria and Kolla in Harajuku. Aiko and Mizuki are also big fans of K-pop, and we spent quite a bit of time purusing several of the shops. The funniest product I found? Definitely the oven mitts printed with your favorite K-pop star's face!
One very interesting thing, which all four of us ended up buying, was a text/practice book teaching you Korean and hangul (Korean writing system). Of course, they were adorned with all sorts of K-pop stars, and we all got different ones. :) I'm going to enjoy using it, and it'll help me with my Japanese as much as Korean, as it's geared to teaching Korean to Japanese fans, and there's not a bit of English in the whole thing!
After we finished swooning over all things K-pop, we headed to the other Korean town for food, as Aiko said the restaurants there were cheaper. It was after 1pm, which is rush hour down there apparently, but we finally found a place with seats for four. Aiko, Kolla, and I ordered bim-bim-bap, which is one of the few Korean dishes that is devode of spice. I unfortunately don't have a lot of tolerance for spicy foods, which rules out most Korean food. Mizuki had something that almost had my tongue burning from across the table. When we were done eating, we wandered up and down the one street of this town. We found another K-pop shop, and this one had a TV showing clips from a recent concert, so we stayed there for a while, watching. We bought hoddeok and ate them as we walked back to the train station. Hoddeok is a sort of street pancake thing. It's made of dough, and filled with nuts and honey. It tasted almost like an elephant ear or funnel cake at an American fair.
On Sunday I spent 6 hours in a Karaoke room with Okaasan and Kayoko. It was very entertaining, and I almost didn't notice the hours passing. I butchered several Japanese songs, due to the lyrics being all in hiragana and kanji, and my inability to read them fast enough. I did manage to get all the way through the theme song to My Neighbor Totoro, one of Hayao Miyazaki's famous movies, without messing up! I mostly sang a bunch of the English songs, some of which Kayoko or Okaasan recognized.
Monday was less fun filled because I had a headache throughout the day. It was National Sports and Health Day, so thankfully I didn't have to deal with going to school. Instead, I went to the family to drop of Kayoko. She spent the day with friends doing more Kareoke, man that girl likes to sing! Then Otoosan, Okaasan, and I went grocery shopping and out to eat. We went to this german looking restaurant. It had advertisements for Oktoberfest (as it was spelled) and lots of beer selections. Unfortunately, due to my headache, I didn't get to sample any of that beer.
Tuesday dawned, and I woke up with a massive headache and nausea. Ugh. I got up anyway, and ate a piece of toast for breakfast and was going to head to school anyway. My body had other plans though, and before I got my backpack completely packed, I was downstairs and in front of the toliet. Okaasan called the school and told them I wouldn't be in to class. Then she had to go to work. She kept apologizing for leaving me, and she said if I wasn't better when she came back from work we'd go to the hospital. I thought that a bit extreme for an upset stomach, but when a CIE representative called later that day, she also encouraged me to go to the hospital if I was sick, even if I wouldn't normaly at home. Thankfully, that was not necessary. After my stomach was empty of my meager breakfast, I wandered upstairs, changed back to pjs, and slept for several hours. I was out like the dead and had some pretty strange dreams, which I fully blame on the headache. When I woke up the again, it was around 2pm and I was feeling much better.
It must have been some weird bug that's going around. I was fine when I woke up today (Wednesday) and came to school and everything. When I went to Professor Hanagan's office (I missed his class on Tuesday and wanted to find out what they had gone over) his wife, who is also a teacher here, said she had heard of four other students with similar symptoms in the last couple of days. I think Okaasan will feel better when she hears that. She was really worried yesterday about what had caused my sickness. At least it's over now, and hopefully that will be the only illness I have while I'm here.
It is ironic that I got sick when I did. My vocab quiz last week was mostly words about different illnesses: to have a stomache-ache (onaka ga itai), to have a headache (atama ga itai), to catch a cold (kaze ga hiku), to have a fever (netsu ga aru), etc. And my kanji quiz today included the kanji for both hospital (byooin, びょういん、病院) and illness (byooki, びょうき、病気)。I didn't particularily want to put them into practice so soon, but I'm glad I knew how to tell Okaasan what was wrong.
First we went to the original. The second we walked out of the station, we were in a maze of streets, with shops crowded on both sides. There were clothing stores mostly, both modern, westerized clothing, and shops with traditional Korean dress. There were also lots and lots of small shops devoted to K-pop paraphernalia, similar to the ones I visited with Victoria and Kolla in Harajuku. Aiko and Mizuki are also big fans of K-pop, and we spent quite a bit of time purusing several of the shops. The funniest product I found? Definitely the oven mitts printed with your favorite K-pop star's face!
One very interesting thing, which all four of us ended up buying, was a text/practice book teaching you Korean and hangul (Korean writing system). Of course, they were adorned with all sorts of K-pop stars, and we all got different ones. :) I'm going to enjoy using it, and it'll help me with my Japanese as much as Korean, as it's geared to teaching Korean to Japanese fans, and there's not a bit of English in the whole thing!
After we finished swooning over all things K-pop, we headed to the other Korean town for food, as Aiko said the restaurants there were cheaper. It was after 1pm, which is rush hour down there apparently, but we finally found a place with seats for four. Aiko, Kolla, and I ordered bim-bim-bap, which is one of the few Korean dishes that is devode of spice. I unfortunately don't have a lot of tolerance for spicy foods, which rules out most Korean food. Mizuki had something that almost had my tongue burning from across the table. When we were done eating, we wandered up and down the one street of this town. We found another K-pop shop, and this one had a TV showing clips from a recent concert, so we stayed there for a while, watching. We bought hoddeok and ate them as we walked back to the train station. Hoddeok is a sort of street pancake thing. It's made of dough, and filled with nuts and honey. It tasted almost like an elephant ear or funnel cake at an American fair.
On Sunday I spent 6 hours in a Karaoke room with Okaasan and Kayoko. It was very entertaining, and I almost didn't notice the hours passing. I butchered several Japanese songs, due to the lyrics being all in hiragana and kanji, and my inability to read them fast enough. I did manage to get all the way through the theme song to My Neighbor Totoro, one of Hayao Miyazaki's famous movies, without messing up! I mostly sang a bunch of the English songs, some of which Kayoko or Okaasan recognized.
Monday was less fun filled because I had a headache throughout the day. It was National Sports and Health Day, so thankfully I didn't have to deal with going to school. Instead, I went to the family to drop of Kayoko. She spent the day with friends doing more Kareoke, man that girl likes to sing! Then Otoosan, Okaasan, and I went grocery shopping and out to eat. We went to this german looking restaurant. It had advertisements for Oktoberfest (as it was spelled) and lots of beer selections. Unfortunately, due to my headache, I didn't get to sample any of that beer.
Tuesday dawned, and I woke up with a massive headache and nausea. Ugh. I got up anyway, and ate a piece of toast for breakfast and was going to head to school anyway. My body had other plans though, and before I got my backpack completely packed, I was downstairs and in front of the toliet. Okaasan called the school and told them I wouldn't be in to class. Then she had to go to work. She kept apologizing for leaving me, and she said if I wasn't better when she came back from work we'd go to the hospital. I thought that a bit extreme for an upset stomach, but when a CIE representative called later that day, she also encouraged me to go to the hospital if I was sick, even if I wouldn't normaly at home. Thankfully, that was not necessary. After my stomach was empty of my meager breakfast, I wandered upstairs, changed back to pjs, and slept for several hours. I was out like the dead and had some pretty strange dreams, which I fully blame on the headache. When I woke up the again, it was around 2pm and I was feeling much better.
It must have been some weird bug that's going around. I was fine when I woke up today (Wednesday) and came to school and everything. When I went to Professor Hanagan's office (I missed his class on Tuesday and wanted to find out what they had gone over) his wife, who is also a teacher here, said she had heard of four other students with similar symptoms in the last couple of days. I think Okaasan will feel better when she hears that. She was really worried yesterday about what had caused my sickness. At least it's over now, and hopefully that will be the only illness I have while I'm here.
It is ironic that I got sick when I did. My vocab quiz last week was mostly words about different illnesses: to have a stomache-ache (onaka ga itai), to have a headache (atama ga itai), to catch a cold (kaze ga hiku), to have a fever (netsu ga aru), etc. And my kanji quiz today included the kanji for both hospital (byooin, びょういん、病院) and illness (byooki, びょうき、病気)。I didn't particularily want to put them into practice so soon, but I'm glad I knew how to tell Okaasan what was wrong.
Thursday, October 6, 2011
Adventures Continued: The Concert! and Sunday's Travels
Kolla and I became avid crowd followers on the train out to Makuhari. Almost everyone we saw was wearing some sort of 2ne1 apparel, from concert t-shirts to a group of four dressed in one of the outfits in 2ne1's Clap Your Hands music video. We followed them to the right trains, and the right building. Thank you random Japanese people with all of the 2ne1 apparel! The concert started at 6pm, and the doors didn't open until 5. We got to the area around 4:30. We followed the crowd part of the way to the hall where the concert would be held, and then took a short detour for food. We ate a quick meal at a small cafe in the building next to the hall.
Then we booked it to the concert area, bought ourselves some t-shirts and light sticks, and got in line. The line moved pretty fast, and we soon found our seats: the back row, but who cares, we were in! Kolla and I took turns standing in line for the bathroom and watching our stuff. I ended up using the men's restroom, because 1. no one else was using it, and 2. The lights had just gone off and I didn't want to miss the start.
I made it back to our seats in time for the entrance. And what an entrance it was! Lights galore!Coming from the stage, from the ceiling, and from the light sticks almost every member of the audience had. They sang all of my favorites: Fire was the opening song, Ugly and Clap Your Hands were near the end, and Go Away was the encore. All the other songs were amazing as well. There's always the worry that a band won't be as good live as they are on CD, but though I could tell it was live music, the girls were absolutely amazing! The only bit of disappointment was that the guest appearance was Seven, and not Big Bang. He sang well, but I'm just not a big fan of his. *shrug* But the rest of the night was wonderful!
The concert ended a little after 8, and we began to make our way back to the train. Everyone was funneled out of one entrance, which made for a long line to get out, but they gave out free water at the exit, so it turned out alright. Kolla and I turned out of the crowd to stop and a 7/11 to grab some snacks and a rest. The train ride back to Tokyo station seemed to take forever. We were packed like sardines into the tin can of the train car. Thankfully, though we grabbed one seat, and were able to trade off who sat and who stood.
Once we got to Tokyo Station, we caught a quicker train to Shinjuku, where we finally figured out which train to take to meet Victoria in Omiya. That train was even longer, because we had to stand the whole time. In Omiya we meet up with Victoria who showed us the small line she takes to her home. The train station is a couple of blocks from her apartment building. She had already set out some mats for Kolla's and mine beds, and we collapsed into them as soon as she unlocked the door. It was a little after midnight, and had taken us FOUR hours to travel what we had previously figured to be a two hour trip! I was SO happy to take off my shoes and sit down, and I just wanted to go to sleep. However, we had to figure out how to get Kolla and I to Yokohama station where we were to meet the bus to take us back to Osaka. A couple of different options were figured out pretty quickly, and then we all crashed.
Our alarms went off at 6:15am, and we were out the door by 6:45. We got to Omiya around 7:30 and were able to catch a train that went straight to Yokohama station. After an hour and a half we arrived, and without too much trouble, this time, found where we were supposed to meet our bus. We were actually 20 minutes early! The bus left at 10am, and made several stops at rest stations along the way, which we took advantage of to get food and stretch our legs. This bus had much less leg room than the night bus, but it did have screens in the backs of the seats, like on long plane flights. Kolla listened to the music provided, and I watched a movie: Elizabeth: The Golden Age. We both worked on our homework.
Here's what was written on the wrapping of my sandwich: "We send to you the lovely flavor of the wind in the meadows." Hilariously bad English, but it was a good sandwich.
We ended up getting off in Kyoto instead of staying on the bus for another 2 hours and getting off in Osaka. From that station we took a short train ride to a station where we got on the Keihan line that runs through Hirakata. I was home by 7:30, and had some instant ramen for my supper. I took a long shower, doctored my blisters, and was in bed for a good long sleep by 9pm.
All in all, the weekend was a lot of fun, and I'm really glad I went. But it was a lot to do in just two days. I hope I can get back to Tokyo, and see some other areas at a more leisurely pace, but I'll have to wait for another long weekend!
Then we booked it to the concert area, bought ourselves some t-shirts and light sticks, and got in line. The line moved pretty fast, and we soon found our seats: the back row, but who cares, we were in! Kolla and I took turns standing in line for the bathroom and watching our stuff. I ended up using the men's restroom, because 1. no one else was using it, and 2. The lights had just gone off and I didn't want to miss the start.
I made it back to our seats in time for the entrance. And what an entrance it was! Lights galore!Coming from the stage, from the ceiling, and from the light sticks almost every member of the audience had. They sang all of my favorites: Fire was the opening song, Ugly and Clap Your Hands were near the end, and Go Away was the encore. All the other songs were amazing as well. There's always the worry that a band won't be as good live as they are on CD, but though I could tell it was live music, the girls were absolutely amazing! The only bit of disappointment was that the guest appearance was Seven, and not Big Bang. He sang well, but I'm just not a big fan of his. *shrug* But the rest of the night was wonderful!
The concert ended a little after 8, and we began to make our way back to the train. Everyone was funneled out of one entrance, which made for a long line to get out, but they gave out free water at the exit, so it turned out alright. Kolla and I turned out of the crowd to stop and a 7/11 to grab some snacks and a rest. The train ride back to Tokyo station seemed to take forever. We were packed like sardines into the tin can of the train car. Thankfully, though we grabbed one seat, and were able to trade off who sat and who stood.
Once we got to Tokyo Station, we caught a quicker train to Shinjuku, where we finally figured out which train to take to meet Victoria in Omiya. That train was even longer, because we had to stand the whole time. In Omiya we meet up with Victoria who showed us the small line she takes to her home. The train station is a couple of blocks from her apartment building. She had already set out some mats for Kolla's and mine beds, and we collapsed into them as soon as she unlocked the door. It was a little after midnight, and had taken us FOUR hours to travel what we had previously figured to be a two hour trip! I was SO happy to take off my shoes and sit down, and I just wanted to go to sleep. However, we had to figure out how to get Kolla and I to Yokohama station where we were to meet the bus to take us back to Osaka. A couple of different options were figured out pretty quickly, and then we all crashed.
Our alarms went off at 6:15am, and we were out the door by 6:45. We got to Omiya around 7:30 and were able to catch a train that went straight to Yokohama station. After an hour and a half we arrived, and without too much trouble, this time, found where we were supposed to meet our bus. We were actually 20 minutes early! The bus left at 10am, and made several stops at rest stations along the way, which we took advantage of to get food and stretch our legs. This bus had much less leg room than the night bus, but it did have screens in the backs of the seats, like on long plane flights. Kolla listened to the music provided, and I watched a movie: Elizabeth: The Golden Age. We both worked on our homework.
Here's what was written on the wrapping of my sandwich: "We send to you the lovely flavor of the wind in the meadows." Hilariously bad English, but it was a good sandwich.
We ended up getting off in Kyoto instead of staying on the bus for another 2 hours and getting off in Osaka. From that station we took a short train ride to a station where we got on the Keihan line that runs through Hirakata. I was home by 7:30, and had some instant ramen for my supper. I took a long shower, doctored my blisters, and was in bed for a good long sleep by 9pm.
All in all, the weekend was a lot of fun, and I'm really glad I went. But it was a lot to do in just two days. I hope I can get back to Tokyo, and see some other areas at a more leisurely pace, but I'll have to wait for another long weekend!
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
Saturday's Adventures
Kolla and I arrived at Shinjuku station at 7:15, a bit earlier than was scheduled, so yay! We got a quick breakfast out of a nearby conbini and waited for Victoria. We weren't sure where she was getting off at, but she found us eventually!
Our first stop was Harujuku, the famous fashion street. We visited a number of what I call fan stores. They are little, usually underground shops, that are crowded wall to wall, floor to ceiling with picutres and posters and basically anything you could think of plastered with faces of J-pop and K-pop stars. One of these shops was a bit bigger, and had several purikura machines as well, which we took advantage of.
We went into a couple of shops without buying anything. One was a Lolita shop. For those you don't know anything about Japanese fashion, Lolita fashion is modeled after European Victorian age clothings: petticoats, aprons, lots of accessories, all of the lace, and platform shoes are basics of the style. We paid a brief visit to a store devoted to hip-hop clothes and accessories. Another shop we spent some time in was a Visual-Kei shop that specialized in recreating the outfits and jewlery worn by famous bands.
After all our shopping, we stopped by one of the many stands that were selling crepes. That was the most delicous crepe I have ever eaten!!! I got one filled with chocolate ice cream, chocolate sauce, and pieces of pie crusts. Of course, the sauce went everywhere, but it was so worth it!
Then we took another train to Akihabara, the Otaku district! The stores here were mostly tall narrow buildings with a different small shop on each floor. We went into a couple and I bought the newly released 2ne1 album, in preparation for the concert later that night. We also saw several maid cafes, both on the street and in one of the buildings.
By this time, we had been on our feet for almost 6 hours so we went into a Tully's cafe to rest. We sat and talked and drank coffee/tea for an hour or so. Then we hit up a few more shops. In one of these, I finally found a phone charm I liked: Gigi, the cat from Kiki's Delivery Service.
We took a train back to Tokyo Station, and Victoria went home to a well deserved rest. Kolla and I caught a train out to Makuhari to continue our adventures!
Our first stop was Harujuku, the famous fashion street. We visited a number of what I call fan stores. They are little, usually underground shops, that are crowded wall to wall, floor to ceiling with picutres and posters and basically anything you could think of plastered with faces of J-pop and K-pop stars. One of these shops was a bit bigger, and had several purikura machines as well, which we took advantage of.
We went into a couple of shops without buying anything. One was a Lolita shop. For those you don't know anything about Japanese fashion, Lolita fashion is modeled after European Victorian age clothings: petticoats, aprons, lots of accessories, all of the lace, and platform shoes are basics of the style. We paid a brief visit to a store devoted to hip-hop clothes and accessories. Another shop we spent some time in was a Visual-Kei shop that specialized in recreating the outfits and jewlery worn by famous bands.
After all our shopping, we stopped by one of the many stands that were selling crepes. That was the most delicous crepe I have ever eaten!!! I got one filled with chocolate ice cream, chocolate sauce, and pieces of pie crusts. Of course, the sauce went everywhere, but it was so worth it!
Then we took another train to Akihabara, the Otaku district! The stores here were mostly tall narrow buildings with a different small shop on each floor. We went into a couple and I bought the newly released 2ne1 album, in preparation for the concert later that night. We also saw several maid cafes, both on the street and in one of the buildings.
By this time, we had been on our feet for almost 6 hours so we went into a Tully's cafe to rest. We sat and talked and drank coffee/tea for an hour or so. Then we hit up a few more shops. In one of these, I finally found a phone charm I liked: Gigi, the cat from Kiki's Delivery Service.
We took a train back to Tokyo Station, and Victoria went home to a well deserved rest. Kolla and I caught a train out to Makuhari to continue our adventures!
Monday, October 3, 2011
Friday's Adventures
Kolla and I had our last class on Friday together. It starts at 4:40pm, and we watched a movie that day. The movie was really interesting. It's called "Go" and is about 3rd and 4th generation Koreans being born and living in Japan. The perfect movie to start off our weekend of K-pop in Tokyo! The movie went over normal class time, so we didn't get out until about 6:45.
Next we decided to walk to Hirakata-shi station instead of spending money on a bus ride. We regretted that decision pretty soon, as we were almost run over by several buses! But we made it and caught our first train of the weekend to take us into Osaka. We got off at Kyodobashi station and switched to the JR line and took a train out to Sannomiya (Kobe area) where we would board our night bus. We thought we had to get off at Amagasaki station and switch trains again, but we quickly figured out that we could actually take the same train all the way to Sannomiya! We rode in a women's only car, which was a first for both of us. It was a very quiet car, and I don't know if that's because it was women only, or if it was because it was later in the evening.
We arrived in Sannomiya station with an hour to kill. We located the exit for the bus terminal, then grabbed some McDonald's for a quick and cheap meal, also because it was the closest resturant to the station and we didn't want to wander too far off. We got to the bus terminal at 9:40pm, ten minutes early for boarding, and 20 mins. before the bus left. However, we didn't see our destination listed on the board. We asked a woman working a snack counter and she said we were at the wrong bus terminal. She pointed us down the street.
We took of running, because by this time we should have been boarding the bus! We got to a corner and couldn't go straight anymore, because of some constrution. What to do now? Kolla asked a woman standing on the corner with us if she knew where we needed to go. Not only did she know where we needed to go, she ran with us to show us the way! We had a zigzag course across several crosswalks and maybe 4 or 5 city blocks. We got to the bus barely on time, and as we turned around from checking in, to thank this wonderful stranger, she was gone! I wish to say here what I couldn't say to her: You are a wonderful person, and I'm so thankful you were willing to not only tell us where to go, but run there with us. You didn't have to help us, we were complete strangers, but you did anyway, and it saved our weekend. Thank you so much!
So, thanks to our mystery woman, we made it on the bus about 2 mintues before it pulled out at 10pm. We had quite a lot of leg room, and seats that reclined, and curtains over the windows to block out any light. We talked for a bit and then traded off sleeping, trying to sleep, listening to music, and talking for the next eight hours. The bus made three rest stops on the way, one at midnight, one at 2:40am, and another at 5:30. I got off each time and used the restroom, even if I didn't really need to. My various travels have taught me to never pass up the chance at a restroom! I also appreciated the chances to walk around stretch my legs.
And that ends Friday.
Next we decided to walk to Hirakata-shi station instead of spending money on a bus ride. We regretted that decision pretty soon, as we were almost run over by several buses! But we made it and caught our first train of the weekend to take us into Osaka. We got off at Kyodobashi station and switched to the JR line and took a train out to Sannomiya (Kobe area) where we would board our night bus. We thought we had to get off at Amagasaki station and switch trains again, but we quickly figured out that we could actually take the same train all the way to Sannomiya! We rode in a women's only car, which was a first for both of us. It was a very quiet car, and I don't know if that's because it was women only, or if it was because it was later in the evening.
We arrived in Sannomiya station with an hour to kill. We located the exit for the bus terminal, then grabbed some McDonald's for a quick and cheap meal, also because it was the closest resturant to the station and we didn't want to wander too far off. We got to the bus terminal at 9:40pm, ten minutes early for boarding, and 20 mins. before the bus left. However, we didn't see our destination listed on the board. We asked a woman working a snack counter and she said we were at the wrong bus terminal. She pointed us down the street.
We took of running, because by this time we should have been boarding the bus! We got to a corner and couldn't go straight anymore, because of some constrution. What to do now? Kolla asked a woman standing on the corner with us if she knew where we needed to go. Not only did she know where we needed to go, she ran with us to show us the way! We had a zigzag course across several crosswalks and maybe 4 or 5 city blocks. We got to the bus barely on time, and as we turned around from checking in, to thank this wonderful stranger, she was gone! I wish to say here what I couldn't say to her: You are a wonderful person, and I'm so thankful you were willing to not only tell us where to go, but run there with us. You didn't have to help us, we were complete strangers, but you did anyway, and it saved our weekend. Thank you so much!
So, thanks to our mystery woman, we made it on the bus about 2 mintues before it pulled out at 10pm. We had quite a lot of leg room, and seats that reclined, and curtains over the windows to block out any light. We talked for a bit and then traded off sleeping, trying to sleep, listening to music, and talking for the next eight hours. The bus made three rest stops on the way, one at midnight, one at 2:40am, and another at 5:30. I got off each time and used the restroom, even if I didn't really need to. My various travels have taught me to never pass up the chance at a restroom! I also appreciated the chances to walk around stretch my legs.
And that ends Friday.
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