My flavor of Japan

I cant end this thing!

So… Yeah, its been like a month and a school quarter’s worth of time that I’ve been back in the states, and I’ve still yet to post a final word surmising this blog.  
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Its not that I’ve been lazy! Dont get that misconception please!  Its just that I cant write a summary of my experiences to do them justice.  Any justice… whatsoever… There are too many fun experiences to list and too many people I’ve met, that if I condense everything into a tiny blog blurb I would feel like I’d be brushing everyone off.  I still vividly remember the people who saw me off,  each one of you running after that bus with your own personality.  Jon acting calm and dignified as always, Seioh running as hard as she could waving frantically. and Yu, who sprinted farthest and saluted me with one sharp and powerful wave.

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So NO!

I wont/cant surmise everything in this trip which means this Blog is not finished… Guess my adventures in Japan are on hiatus, but that doesn’t mean that if i get a chance to resume them, I wont.  So hopefully life’ll bring me close to a current which will float me towards Japan again.  And then hopefully I’ll remember my password to this blog and I’ll start this up again.  But as for now… maybe I’ll make another tumblr?  or maybe not…

-STAY TUNED INDEFINITELY -

ｒへｊｗｋぁｋｔｊｄｋｓｌ；あいおげにあにｆｄｓｊｈｋｌ

This week is a ridiculous thing. 

There are a heinous amount of irons in the fire… An inconseivable amount… at this rate, I will not just fly off the handle… I will do some acrobatic pirouette off the handle…

I am Moving.  Countries…. in 5 days. Which means that I`ve gotta literally erase everything here: bank, phone, apartment utilities, insurance…  Ive gotta do it in Japanese… (actually i already failed to do one in japanese so good thing I have friends… ;P )

Its also finals week… I`ve have/had 3 tests, 4 reports, and 2 speeches (to go)…

On top of that, farewell parties are popping up like 筍… And since its Japan the drinks must be drunk…

There has been no such week like this, in possibly my entire life… Its laughable how busy I am…

ohh… its raining… and I have to go back home to put back my laundry… lovely…

also! I fell on my bike today =(  it was embarrasing!  grrr rain!

on second thought… forget about laundry… I`ll do it when i get back from the party tonight… and re-hang it in my room…  then finish another report/start another… weeeeeeeEEEEeeeeeee

日光 trip! Expanded

Right, So you already know the basics,  so I`ll just say, 日光 is one of the best places to see the maples, and many of the Japanese people here know about it and/or have been there before.  Its quite a popular place to go view senery!

So,  we decided to rent a car to go.  Tha`d be all fine and dandy, if we (Me, Yu、and two other Japanese friends who we convinced to go named Seioh and Saho) didnt decide on it at 1:30am after eating with the conversation club and drinking afterwards.  This was done because partially, going there on trains would be super expensive (around 60 just back and forth) and transportation around 日光would have been terrible as well, so all in all, it was a better decision.  The other reason was that we would have had to leave at 6:50 on the trains if we were to have taken them…

While searching online for rental options, we were rather limited;  Most cheep cars were rented out completely as we were renting the car the day of.  So, The option that we decided on, rather, were forced to choose due to lack of other options, was the Toyota Bellfire… or Vellfire… (ベルファイアー).

Me: “ベルファイアーって何？Whats a bellfire？”
Saho:”分かんないけど。。。なんか強そう” “I dont know… but it seems powerful”(refering to the name)

So all 8 of us piled into our humongous minivan and Shoved off for 日光!

Me, Zarina (a girl from Kazakhstan) and Vivian (a girl from Taiwan)

Saho with the hat,  middle = Ming (girl from Taiwan), Right = Asoon (guy from Taiwan) Seioh in the passenger seat, and Yu as our driver!

This was 930 in the morning, and the ride would take us 3 hours!  You can see that the B(V)ellfire has a GPS so we were pretty sure of how to get around.  Always a plus, as poor Yu hadn`t driven for years.  Apparently, theres no road trip specific culture for Japanese, as “road tripping” isnt as convenient for them as just taking trains.  So sorry… cant share any fun songs or w/e with you guys!

This is 日光!

We arrived!  This was on the way to a shrine, which has something to do with a sleeping cat and monkeys…. but the cat was expensive to see… and the monkeys were gone, so… we saw neither =(.  But the shrine was fun to see anyway!

Top row from the left: Ming, ME!, Asoon, Vivian, and Saho
Bottom row from the left: Zarina, Yu, and Seioh

Since its still Maple viewing season, or was (we went on the last weekend) The shrine (Toshogu Shrine) was pretty crowded!  This shrine is also the most popular to visit. Its famous for a pagoda, and monkey stories, and a cat statue, and other cool things.

nature!

So, if you havnt guessed, we didnt really come to see the shrine as much.  As much as it is cool, what we really came for was to see the Maples!  The colors of the trees were really stunning!  The maples were bright red and yellow!  When viewed against the rest of the green forest it was pretty stunning.

 Pagodapagodapagodapagoda

 The Toshogu shrine has 3 other “subordinate” shrines, which we could visit as well for a cheep price.  However, if we bought those shrine tickets, although cheep, it wouldnt let us see the sleeping cat statue.  Thats okay though!  Seioh, who`s been here before, said it was kinda small… and not too special (just a sleeping cat) and so instead we saw all the other buildings!

These guys are the monkeys that this shrine is somewhat famous for.  Supposedly theres a story to it.

On one of the buildings, theres a story of some monkeys that are young and pure.  This is them… I dont even remember/couldnt really read the story (it was in Japanese) but this is when they were young… thats all I got for you =.=

This is the gate to the main shrine,  Its populated… but its Japan, so thats normal…

Everything was pretty standard i guess in terms of shrines,  There was however, a game where you threw some rope onto sticks… not too special, but it was something I hadn`t seen before.  There was also alot of springs around, and one was a sacred spring… which had something to do with alchohol… Yu couldn`t even decipher the Japanese…  We payed our respects, and even did おみくじ, a form of fortune telling.  It was pretty exciting, and I got 大吉 or best luck!  great… cause I cant read the discription (According to Seioh it was kinda hard for Japanese to read anyway)  It also came with a tiny cat (the one with the paw raised and the koban).  Eitherway, It was yellow, which supposedly welcomes in money!  so its sitting in my wallet now.

It was pretty close to sunset, but you can still see colors in the forest!

So, we left the shrine area, and took up a ridiculously slow climb (because of traffic) up to the lake area, which has waterfalls and springs.  We even saw a monkey!  It even had a red face and everything! but I didnt get a shot of it =(…

This waterfall was pretty big!  loud and everything!, but the Maplessss…

So aparently, even though it was still maple season, the Maples had all pretty much lost their leaves here =(… this waterfall would have been surrounded be red and yellows as well as green had we come earlier!  くやしい～! but ohh well, it was still pretty awsome to see!  We walked higher up on a pathway next to the waterfall to see different views.  Apparently, this area also has cherry trees, so if you come during spring, you can see pink flowers surrounding this area.

Noooo the sun!!!

So, yeah… the sun set =( we didnt really make it… but we could see the waterfall!  There are two unimpressive rocks to the left of this shot which are apprently the “eyes” of the “dragon” that this river sorta looks like.  It made a poorer shot than this one so I couldnt take it!  They were just kinda round boulders that sorta stuck out of the water. =P  Rawrawrawrwaraw look at all the bare trees!!!  It would have been much more impressive had there been leaves on the maples!

This place smelled…

After the sun set, we walked over to the hotspring area!  This is where the springs originate, and we could walk around and see the steaming huts. (huts built over the springs which showed ownership)  It smelled but it was pretty fun to walk around and see all the steam! (it was pretty cold, so there was tons of steam to see.

 Free foot hotsprings!

These were public hotsprings!  Only for resting your feet though I guess.  They were really refreshing and warm compared to the temperature outside!  They also smelled, and had some sulphur in the water which looked like bacteria film growing…  Eitherway, it was my first time seeing something like this So I was pretty stoked! We must have stayed in there for atleast an hour =).

2 hours before being completely stuffed with meat

After the hotsprings, there was really nothing we could do!  We passed by a bridge, checked out the sky (it was pretty starry!)  and then headed back!  Yu had a track and field competition the next day, so we decided we needed a manly feast for dinner.  We ended up eating at an all you can eat yakiniku place.  And we all ate till we couldnt eat anymore.  Ugh… It tasted so good… but i dont know how many more eat-till-verge-of-vomit`s I can handle…

Like a stoplight!

Really, my favorite part of 日光 was the awsome scenery!  Even if the maples by the waterfall were pretty dead, there were still hidden maples everywhere which still looked like nothing I`d seen before.  The Hotsprings were great too.  I`m really glad that I was aple to come to 日光　with friends =).  It makes me not want to leaveeee!  Aughhh!!! there are so many more things to see!!!

ハレルヤ～チャンス！ ^^

日光 trip!

 So! I finally did something, and got out of Tsukuba!.  I went to 日光 (nikko) where you can see the fall foliage of Japan, and some temples and nature!  There are also Onsen`s there so, thats a bonus too!

I even took pictures! (its been about 2 months since I`ve used my camera), So I`ll make a legit post within this week!  I just have to bring my USB w/ pictures to the library.

The useage of the camera has also inspired me to take pictures of this campus!  Since I`m going away literally in 2 and 1/2 weeks, I`m feeling the need to take pictures of everything/one.

But! for now a summary = 
-rented a car (japanese friend drove)
-3 hours to Nikko
-saw a cool temple and maples
-drove abit more to a lake/town (ridiculously crowded)
-made it to the lake just barely be4 sunset
-saw a waterfall!
-went back to lake town
-sat in public foot onsen
-3 hours back
-stopped half way through for dinner @　焼肉食べ放題
-didnt eat anything the next day  b\c too stuffed…

Pictures/ post soon!

Hold on!!!

Okay… So the last thing that I updated you guys with was me getting into my apartment… well that happened about 6 weeks from now.  Within those 6 weeks, I went to school, Joined a ton of clubs/circles and got my ass handed to me in many a sport.  Made good friends,  Climbed Mt. Tsukuba, and Mt. Fuji,  and Finished Midterms!  I`m curently in the midst of making an academic language conversation club in tsukuba!  So sorry for not updating you with my life, but I`ve been busy!!!!

Okay,  so yeah… Tsukuba. 
I can now say, that I enjoy this school!  The people are fun, and it really gives you an impression that You`re in Japan when not many people speak English.  Although ICU was great, and the people were fun, if not more fun than Tsukuba`s,  they all were very internationalized.  Over here, when you speak in english, no one understands you at all, unlike in ICU where they atleast partially if not fully understand you.  This atmosphere is a more interesting atmosphere to be in, so I`m happy I got to experience it here!

Anddd…. Clubs and Circles!
Okay, so since I have nothing to do, and no internet in my place, so I didnt want to rot away into oblivion on my tatami mats…  So I joined circles!  By the way, there are no teams in japan.  They`re called clubs.  So If i were to say I joined the tsukuba clubs,  It would be like saying I joined varsity sports teams in the college thats the best at sports in Japan, and one of the best in the world.  so no,  I would not be let in to those clubs.  Circles are the recreational alternatives, but they’re still filled with talented players who dont have time for the varsity teams.  Therefore, in my Ping-pong circle,  I get schooled by almost everyone.  I havn’t won an official match in the entire 5 weeks that I’ve been in the club,  I dont know whether I’m getting unlicky with my matchups, but I do know that the members are overwhelmingly better than I am.  Fun times.  Another club that I just recently joined is the ultimate frisbee club.  Again, the story is the same for that circle.  I get schooled at frisbee, and play like 6 hours at a shot =(… so my legs and back and everything hurts after that…  Another club that I’ve joined is the conversation club.  This club is kinda filled with foreigners, and they mostly speak english… but the few Japanese that do attend are atleast going there to have fun talking to us… so atleast I’m making good friends! 

Ohh yeah,  The clubs are where I’m finding the majority of my friends.  Its quite hard to make friends in classes, so when the clubs hang out,  i sorta try and force myself to go with them.  Its of course not hard to go out with them, but its quite mentally taxing to converse with them, but then thats the whole point of me going to Japan right?  practicing japanese? so yeah… I go out, and Ive definitely made good friends, though not as many as I hope for.  but Ive still got 5 weeks left! so i`ll 頑張ろお！

Speaking of clubs, in particular that foreigner-filled mostly-in-english conversation club,  Im in the works of creating a new conversation club.  With some of the friends Ive made in the school, were making a more academicly focused japanese/english conversation club.  Probably by the time that were finished I’ll be leaving tsukuba, but i’m having fun while doing it, and + its a favor to the japanese who have been so nice to me while i’m here.  Maybe I’ll actually learn some japanese here too!

Since I mentioned them, the Japanese classes are pretty basic. And when you ask to move up, they wont move you… so I havnt really been learning much Japanese。 Just through conversing have I learned more vocab.  This is kind of annoying, but we (the students, and ICU’s staff) have done everything we can to work the system… So instead, I think I’m going to go around it!  Through this new club I hope to learn alot!

Climbed Mt Tsukuba and Mt. Fuji!

So… Climbing Mt. tsukuba was a preliminary climb to test our athletic prowess.  It was also a large attraction in Tsukuba, and about the only thing there is to do here but drink.  So we decided to go out and climb!  We being the UC group.  The peak is about 3 times shorter than Mt. Fuji, so i think that makes it about 1100 meters.  We did this while it was still hot, so I was unprepaired for how cold the peak would be.  We climbed at around 2, and got to the peak at around 4,  but by then it was already windy and chilly!  My sweaty t-shirt and shorts were not enough to keep me warm.  We ate lunch at the peak (we carried the lunch) and then went down… the view was good though!  but it was nothing compared to the view we would see on Mt. Fuji

So… I spent about 400 dollars on a Day trip to Mt. Fuji.  Why was it so expensive?  The peak of Mt. Fuji at night is windy and cold.  its -8C without wind chill, and much lower than that with the strong wind that blows there.  I had to buy an all weather pair of pants and Jacket… the only place that I found was adidas… so It cost 200 for that.  the other cold weather things like gloves, and long underwear, and socks, and hiking shoes ran up the extra 50.  Then the 150 left was for getting there and back.  it was definitely showing the power of the Japanese train system.  We took 4 and 1/2 hours and $50 worth of trains to get to Mt. Fuji.  We planned on climbing through the night so that we`d make it by the sunrise, but unfortuantely, the bus running to the 5th station (where everyone starts climbing from) was not runing so late.  We had to take a taxi that ran us around $40 each.  So… in the end,  it cost us 150 there and back (the bus was $10 on the way back.) The climb took 8 hours although it should have taking 6, and another hour and 1/2 extra on the way down because we had a slow person with us.  but I wont complain here about it!

Was it worth it?  hell yesss! Ive been on the top of Mt. Fuji!  It was a great experience climbing, (as it was something I’d never done before) and seeing the sunrise after freezing through the night was something that even I can not forget!   Sorry for not having any pictures here, but ask me for them because I have a bunch on facebook and in my computer that I can show you of the ordeal. 

So… In summary, I think I’m living the life in Japan!  Just prove me wrong xD!

Inactivity…..

The lack of anything to do in Tsukuba seems to affect everything I do… meaning studying, working, eating, hanging out… getting a necessary haircut… I`ve just been passing time being lethargic and generally in a vegitative state…  er… not really, but my usual pace of activity has slowwwweeeedddddddd…

と言う訳で …

I acknowledge my absense and I`ll have a post up soon!  About mt fuji and tsukuba… and our school festival… and pingpong club! and conv. club! and living here part 2… and w/e else I can think of!

(Special Thanks to BJ who called me a douchbag douchE bag and told me to update the blog… even special-er thanks to Erika for instructing BJ how to spell douchbag…The most special thanks of all goes to justin for correcting MY spelling of “douche bag”)

(for reference, http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/douche%20bag)

The long overdue post!

I’m claiming the internet of my friend right now to write this and update people! =)  so “hello world!”

It’s been forever… It feels like about a month since I’ve posted anything…  This is mostly due to my lack of internet, but also due to lack of blog-able material!  Tsukuba isnt very fun =(  I havn’t done anything other than “hang out”  with friends for the past 3 weeks.  Of course there’s class… and Moving into an apartment, which I could have posted about… but besides the apartment (back when both of us didnt have internet)  Nothing has really been that interesting =(.  

First I’ll say,  Tsukuba is in Ibaraki prefecture,  Its outside of Tokyo, but only just… and there’s an express train that runs right into the heart of Tokyo.  So, Tokyo is accessible, but expensive to get to.  The sleepy town of Tsukuba is filled with college students who’s majors are mainly science or sport oriented (Tsukuba is like #1 in sports in Japan and is world renound!.)  However,  English is not as prominently known as it was in ICU, so you must use Japanese in order to accomplish daily tasks.  It’s famous food is natto… great.  Its weather is cooler than tokyo, but with the Typhoons coming in, cool is not what I want!  I think I’m going to have to buy warmer bedding lest I freeze to death in the night after a rainstorm!

The classes have been really confusing…  You finish registration for the quarter half way through the quarter,  So in order to get your classes, you can “shop” around different classes in order to see which ones you want to take.  I’m taking lots of Japanese studies classes!  And will probably be done with my International Studies major after this! (except one class which i’m saving for writing… hopefully) Classes are easy, and give tons of credits so I’ll be getting like 26 units for minimal work.

The people here are pretty cool!  We were assigned tutors, and they’ve been helpful in giving us advice on classes, and living in Japan. They also welcomed us into Japan with a BBQ =D  I’m trying to meet more people by becoming active in different “circles” (the japanese form of club is a circle.  They also have clubs, but those are equivalent to being on the team or varsity sports) around campus.  I’ll be looking into the ping-pong circle, the frisbee circle, the Tsukuba International Student Association (TISA) and the communication club! so far so good!

Japanese class seems difficult enough.  The stuff I’m learning is review along with more vocabulary, but the students in the class with me are much more versed in Japanese.  This was due to some placement test errors which involved many students getting placed too low.  Our old university yelled at Tsukuba for us, but others weren’t so lucky.  Either way, I’ll be working hard in Japanese to catch up to the level my peers are at!

andddd Apartment!  I was very excited about this new (not so new anymore) development and so its the only one I took pictures for!

This is my apartment! It’s name means something like May Hights, but the May is an archaic way to say May.  Its like saying “ides” to describe the 15th of w/e month you’re talking about.  Its a sleepy building that only houses 5 other people + the landlord.  Sandwiched between two taller buildings, we’re quite shady and cool, and In general our doors and windows are open!  I’m saying we, because there’s one other person from ICU staying at these apartments, and he’s also the guy I’m stealing internet from.  Its Joey from before!  woo…

This is my door!  where that wet stain on the floor is now, is my $40 (20 since i split it w/ Joey) washing machine!  got it used!

I’m number 103!  I’m at the end of the building, so If i had a window not facing a building, I’d have a view of an empty lot which is filled with grass now!  Gas, water, and electricity are all set up =)

The entrance! Welcome to my weird floor and lamp combination!

The apt is 24.4 square meters so its quite sizable!

Its a place to put shoes before you step on the linoleum.  It fits 4 pairs comfortably.  A couple of times, I’ve grabbed a shoe only to see a cricket jump out of it… gross =(

My room mates…  

This guy welcomed me into my room.  At least they’re the jumping kind… I seem to be happier with jumping spiders.  They watch you and run away from you ect.  Not like their weird alien emotionless cousins that sit on their web and move for no reason ect.  yech… yeah, the jumping ones are better.

This is my bathroom!

Its tiny… but good enough.  the whole room is the shower, so The sink’s pipe just empties out onto the floor.  Its kinda annoying though, because after a night time shower, the floor’s never dry, so if you’ve got socks on, you cant step into the bathroom.

That’s the bathtub.

Its uncomfy.  I took a bath in it once.  I was crammed with my knees up against my chest pretty much.  Also the water pressure made breathing kinda weird. It was a waste of water =(  not too enjoyable.

This is my shiny kitchen!

I actually use Joey’s kitchen since we split the stove cost and food costs.  So my kitchen is clean.  I’ve got an $8 microwave sitting on the floor, but thats it.  Bowls came from our nice Neighbor/ Landlord who gave us bowls because she wasn’t using them.  We also received lunch, juice, tea-pots, and flashlights from her!  Thanks お母さん！  

This is the entrance to my Japanese style room!  

Those sliding doors are good enough to keep aircond/heater into only that room.  

Tatami!!!  

This is the best part about my apartment.  Although It’ll be expensive to clean. (We have to pay a premium for the tatami when we move out to have special cleaning done to it).  Tatami allows me to sit anywhere I want for extended periods of time and not ache from hardness!  Its comfy, I can sleep on it (the first night I didn’t have a bed, so I did sleep on it), I can lie on it, and it gives my room a SUPER Japanese feel.  funfunfunfun!  Maybe I’ll find a $10 kotatsu and put a table there… but probably not…

This is my huge window which keeps my room bright and temperate.  You can see my aircond and its remote control.  The control is out of batteries… so I have to put it abt a foot from the aircond to make it register commands.

The sliding doors on this window actually use paper instead of plastic or glass.  I dont know if its “real” rice paper, but its nice and Japanese.  The people across from me are noisy Japanese girls.  I’ve seen them once, and heard them many times.  Better than Joey, who deals periodically with throwing up noises/splattering outside his window from the people next to him.

This is my spacious closet.  Its now filled with clothes and gadgets.  not really special.  The remote there is for my light.  Its got 4 settings, on and off of course, and 2 others.  One is “kinda-sorta 90% power”  and one is “5% power… not too useful”

This is the aforementioned unused lot.  Its green.  And has bugs in it.  But is nice to look at.

The awesome part about our neighbor san, is that she’s a gardener.  She keeps the plants growing pretty well.  We’ve got a hibiscus-esque tree out in front which is blooming right now.  Its pretty, and the way she made it’s trunk grow (it’s trunk follows the gutter for like 5 feet, then makes an L turn to the sky for another 5 feet where it then has leaves and branches which makes it look like a tree.) is impressive.  It attracts those black and orange death-hornets though… beauty at a cost…  

Then however, we’ve got THESE!

They’re still hard now, and I’m pretty sure we cant just take them as we please… but there are tons growing! I want to ask her about them to see when they’ll ripen… but it seems rude to ask for them… so I wont.  Either way, Hopefully I’ll get to eat them when they’re soft enough!  You can never get enough free fruit in Japan!

———OHH besides Tsukuba,  I didn’t tell you about staying at my friend Ken’s place!  Ken is a 36 year old Japanese guy who came to Irvine because his company (Takeda Pharmaceuticals) sent him to learn English for a year. I then was his conversation partner and got to know him pretty well =).  He returned to Japan just this summer, and he wanted to show me around his place, so I went to his apartment in takadanobaba and stayed there one night.  He lives with his wife and two kids, a 6 year old son (who’s learning English) and his 1 year old daughter.  His wife cooked delicious food, and I played bay-blades with his son!  And wii mariokart.  Believe it or not… I lost at mariokart to his son quite often.  I only beat him in levels that were the same from the N64 game.  Seems like I’m old.  Staying with his family was a great experience! and makes me want to learn more Japanese so that I could express my gratitude to them more appropriately.

on the left of me, Ken, the rambunctious Japanese guy. And his more subdued family to the right of me. 

internet arrives! sort of.,..

well.. I’m sitting in my neighbor’s room using his internet… so soon I might buy a wireless router or something and get internet in my room.  The reason behind this purchase is because I have just spent about 2 hours pouring over how to set up an ad-hoc network from his computer to allow me to access internet.  Apparently Windows Vista wont have it.  I hate wireless. So for now, I’m only going to be able to use internet when my neighbor doesn’t want to. meaning… I wont keep in touch with the world as much as I did before =(  sorry facebook… sorry tumblr… sorry gmail…

well, At least I managed to get this much down… I dont feel like sitting in front of a computer anymore though.  Mine thoroughly annoys me now.  I’ll post pics of my room soon though!  its a fun looking room!  maybe i’ll show you my beloved bike too!  BYE!