Whew

I haven't taken many pictures lately, so bear with me.

Another week of classes over. And another week of long, late G-Splash practices over. Auditions for G-Splash were yesterday, and we all made it! So now we choose what genre(s) we want to do, and only need to show up for that genre's practice, which is very relieving. Auditions were a bit nerve-wracking, but went fine. During roll call, they told us how it worked and started by giving us all a group number. We would be auditioning in groups of 4; Teresa and I ended up in the same group, so it was pretty nice having a familiar face there with me. Your group first goes to a wait room where you can practice and then you move to the audition room, while everyone else practices in the gym. Magically, everyone seemed to know when they needed to head over to the wait room, and all of us foreigners were out of the loop and on edge about possibly missing our time. Finally people started calling out for the next group number when they were done with their audition. Anyway, I was group 10 (about the middle) and we went to the wait room and went through moves (you could hear the music through the wall from the audition room) and wished each other good luck and all that. Then we got into the audition room and it was a bit tense, haha. The 4 leaders of the club were lined up sitting at the front of the room with all their notes, and there was another girl manning a video camera. None of them smiled (Yuki said later that they just try to act really scary...so I guess it worked.) They put us in positions marked with X's and had us say our name, faculty/department, and what genre we want to do. I didn't know we had to decide on a genre, so I started by just saying why I was trying out...and so Yuki asked me specifically and I said I liked all of them but was undecided. I ended up saying everything in English :/ because Teresa went before me and asked to use English and so then my Japanese answer kind of flew out the window. After that they just started the music and we danced. The music was the 5 different songs we learned the 5 dances to spliced together so there were a few 8-counts in between each dance, but otherwise you had to remember the order of the dances and when to come in. I had always struggled with the Breakdancing music, so I did end up coming in late on it, but I think that was mainly the only thing I really messed up on. Then it was thankfully over. From then, it was just waiting for all the groups to finish, and we were to find out results at 8:20pm. The leaders gathered us around and said the names of the people who passed, and we all did! And by we, I seriously mean about everyone who tried out, haha.

So then the club president listed some rules and things (like we have to use keigo, which is respectful language, to our senpai (seniors)), and then they talked about the party we were about to go to. A bunch of us went out to dinner (my group ended up being Natalie, Hunter, and one of the Japanese guys who made it, Yujiro) and then caught up with a bunch of other foreigners at the train station, and headed to Takadanobaba (such a funny name I think...) where we were to meet the rest of G-Splash at 11pm. There were a bunch of other groups meeting there when we arrived, and it was really funny/refreshing to see everyone being loud and goofing off. There was even this one group that seemed to be hazing this guy...They made him chug a bottle of some alcohol, then shoved these hamburgers that these girls just threw on the ground into his face/mouth, and then started throwing him up in the air...He probably threw up later. Anyway, the new members all arrived and these girls led the way to the gathering place which was a Japanese-style building with a bunch of rooms that they rent out to big parties I guess.

We got to the room and many of the senpai were already there. We took a seat (it was all tatami mat with lines of tables...meaning we foreigners had to fit our giant limbs in a tiny space) and we did a toast and munched on snacks. Then all the first years to the club had to stand up and introduce ourselves, same as during auditions, but in Japanese. I was a bit nervous, but all the senpai were pretty enthusiastic and loud and encouraging, so it wasn't bad. Then the second years and up did their intros and said what genre they dance. After that it was staying there until trains started up again, trying to meet people, drinking, and snacking. Natalie and I had a great time with the snacks like Kit-Kats and Custard Cakes, and I particularly with the edamame. I met most of the foreigners, during auditions, dinner, and waiting at Takadanobaba, and otherwise I didn't meet that many Japanese people. I talked to this girl, Rie, whom Natalie had already met, and she speaks really good English so we spoke in English. The most Japanese practice I got was when Natalie, Jeannette, and I started talking to the main Breakdancing guy, Shougo. He's quite the interesting character, and it was really nice of him to keep talking with us. He just kept coming up with things to ask us, about what we like about Japan, why we are studying Japanese, things we think are weird about Japan, and so on. He complimented our Japanese skills, which was cool, and kept calling all Japanese people stupid and told us how someone had left the shirt he was wearing at the gym, so he took it. Sigh. Besides that, it was just lots of red and crazy people (lots of smoking too ick) and tired people. We were thankful when it was about 5am, so we headed out to go home.

When we got back to DK House, there was a package for me on the ground! It's from my host family, and I'll take a picture of it soon...I just need to clean up a bit.

Anyway, I am headed out soon, so that's all for now!

Ooh la

Check out these stunning photos of Tokyo

...while I learn to take my own.

Ueno = Muy Bueno

One day, Daniel and I went to Ueno.
Ueno Station is large and interesting.

See this special train. It even has a screen on the front announcing how special it is. I forget what it's called/where it goes/what makes it so special.

This is a model of the inside of another special train. It's called the Cassiopeia...or Cornucopia...or Capricorn. It will be specifically for traveling from Ueno to Sapporo, in what appears to be extreme luxury.

Finally we decided to actually leave the station because Ueno is abound with parks, museums, a zoo, etc.

Here's one side of the Museum of Western Art, that we ended up going to because admission to the general exhibit was free that day.

People milling about, seeing the sights in Ueno!

Pretty path we started walking on.

And look who we came across! Why, it's...

Noguchi Hideyo! The man on the 1000-yen bill and the topic of the chapter we are studying in Japanese class! Hurrah! I can almost tell you his whole life story!

Trees on the path.

And more trees. So pretty.
Oh whale! Watch out for that tree! This was near the Museum of Nature and Science, so maybe that explains his presence.

And here's that museum! We ended up not going in because by the time we got there it was going to close in 2-3 hours, and we wanted to be able to spend more time than that after paying admission, so we're saving it for another day.

And an awesome train right next to it!

And here is inside the Western art museum. There was quite some old art there and some interesting pieces, but I think I became more interested in the building. I just felt, being in Japan, I don't need to see more Western art, especially when I've been to D.C.'s extensive galleries a number of times. I liked the Rembrandt paintings though. But it was free, and there still is a special exhibit section that we didn't see because of our general ticket. And Daniel touched a statue/sculpture. Tsk.

More inside the gallery.

Well, regrettably, I rather rushed Daniel through the art museum, but here's back outside!

Lots of trees. There'd probably be more people if the weather hadn't been so windy/cold.And a fountain.

This tree looked cool with all its twisting and bareness and being wrapped around everything.

And here's Mr. Blue Whale's friend, Mr. Blue Giraffe! Though he was in the middle of path and trees, so I don't know what his excuse is really. We may have been near the zoo.

Tiring!

First, happy birthday, 哥哥! (Japan-time-style)

Alright, so the week has been going by pretty quickly. Time in Japanese class really flies by, it's surprising. And I'm learning a lot, I think. It seems like a lot, because we have daily homework, quiz(zes), reading, that sort of stuff. Then comes lunch/run errands (though I think all my errands have been run)/do homework. And then G-Splash practice at 5:30 until 7:30/8-ish. And then dinner/home/more homework/studying/preparation. So my days are pretty long...from waking up at 7am, getting home 9pm or later, going to sleep anywhere between 1 and 3 am (I'm definitely trying to sleep earlier though, it'll help once I can start using my downtime for homework/study rather than errands (we had to pick up our gaijin cards which meant doing our hour-long commute, walking to the office, and then back to school again) or checking out classes.

Course registration ends Friday...and I have yet to do it.

Tomorrow, I have my linguistics class, and we'll actually start learning, I guess, so that should be good.

Ah, real quick. G-Splash is a popular dance group here, probably the best, and it's broken up into 5 different genres: House, Hip-Hop, Break, Lock, and 'Girls'. So now I notice that 'Girls' isn't quite a genre...but I'll let it slide. So for two weeks (starting this past Monday), they do a different genre each day, and then next Friday is 'audition' time (though a little birdie says that day is just to see who has been dedicated enough to the group and they really let everyone join). So far we've covered hip-hop, lock, and break. Each day starts with attendance, which takes awhile because there are so many people (they call out each name and you have to raise your hand); then we do some warming up which has consisted of isolations, hopping, and squatting to the beat with the emphasis either up or down. All the same, it adds up and it hurts. Anytime I walk the stairs, I feel my quads and calves burn like crazy. Then the seniors from each group take the lead and teach us some basic moves that belong to that genre. Basically though, I feel really rusty because it's been quite some time since I've danced, so I try not to look at myself in the mirror hahaha, which doesn't really help anything. Also, it gets quite hot in the gym, and I also don't have enough work-out clothing to do this everyday. Anyway, today for instance, we dabbled in breakdancing, which I feel must be a really tough genre to just teach someone outright. But we learned the basic steps one does before going to the floor, and then the 6-step, and we ended by practicing a freeze, which consisted of balancing on your hands and head slightly, while elevating your feet to the side. It was pretty difficult, and I can maybe do it for about a second (okay...maybe half a second). But it's progress nonetheless. Hopefully I get better at dancing, but in the meantime, it's nice to just have something to do everyday that's not class or homework, and I really don't think I'll be getting a part-time job while I'm here, so it's good to have something to take up some of my time.

Anyway, I want to try to get to bed at some sort of reasonable time, but I will post pictures of things shortly, because I have accumulated quite a few since I last posted...

A Quickie...I hope...

So, second day of classes, and we were late. But it wasn't our fault. There was an accident (I think someone in class said it was a human accident (which can often be read as a suicide on the track line)) and many lines were held up. The line at our station made it almost to where the escalator from outside leading in was. So we waited and waited. Finally they let us through the ticket gates (and it was craaaazy) and I think we made it on the 2nd or 3rd train thereafter. Obviously it was supremely crowded. We had met up with a fellow DK-er, Jonas from Germany, and he suggested we just stay on the Keihin-Tohoku line and make just one transfer at Akihabara. That route is supposedly quicker (though just by a few minutes per my research) but it felt sooo much longer today. There are actually more stops this route, and it felt longer because a) we had to wait a long time at each station as after-effects from the delays and b) it's all in one-go as opposed to us going a few stops and making a transfer and repeat. I'm rather partial to our Akabane-Shinjuku route.

At the Yotsuya station, we grabbed a little ticket to act as our late pass, and we rushed to class about 30 minutes or so late. So Natalie and I had missed the vocab quiz already, but we gave our passes to the teacher (Noguchi), apologized, he understood, and gave us the quiz to take during the break. Class was fine, and the quiz was fine. Then 2nd period, we had Kobayashi and we went over some homework stuff, and talked a lot about personality traits.

Went straight to lunch because I was trying to catch a class during 3rd period, which starts at 1:30 pm, and lunch is 12:30 until then. After lines and such, I got my udon around 1 and scarfed it down quickly, which probably isn't good, but I was hungry, and antsy. I left with a classmate James to this Ethnography of Japan class. I had heard the professor, David Slater, was a bit of a jerk who assigned a lot of work, but on the other hand, this made him a good teacher and his classes are challenging and worthwhile to take. Luckily James and I got seats since we got there a bit early; others weren't so lucky. Slater weeded out the 'tourists' as he called them by emphasizing reasons NOT to take his class, and it worked. He got rid of many many students. It's a small group discussion-based class, with a lot of theoretical reading and whatnot, and paper-writing. I don't think I'll be taking it though.

Next I met Greg and Natalie for Slater's other class, Japanese Symbolic Practice, and it sounds really interesting, but I'm not quite sure it's for me. It's heavy on anthropology and sociology, which I am interested in, but the focus is field research. The topic centers on digital communication and how it has changed and affected our interactions with one another, with an emphasis on the cell phone, or keitai. The class requires weekly participant observation, and then you choose a topic to conduct your field research on, and that all culminates into a 15-25 page paper. Greg and Natalie are taking it for sure, but I am still debating (though I should probably decide soon...because I would need to prepare for Thursday's class...) It's definitely an interesting topic and he presented it in a very thought-provoking manner, but as I said, I'm not sure if it's really for me.

Then I headed to check out another class, History of Japanese Language. This class also seems interesting, topic-wise. We will basically be tracing the evolution of the Japanese language itself, in regards to phonology, morphology, syntax, and semantics. Linguistics is another field I've been wanting to delve into, so that's what attracted me to this class. And from what the teacher described, I feel like I'll really learn a lot about the language that I've been studying for years now, not just the history, but a lot of new vocabulary and Kanji as well. Another plus: no textbook, just handouts that the teacher creates himself. I think it will be neat to, at the end of the semester, as per his example, be able to explain the major differences between the modern Japanese phonological system and that of the Nara period and also support that with examples using the language of both times. Just to think about what causes a language to change, how, and why, is pretty interesting, because the process of evolution is something you hardly linger on on a daily basis - we just accept things as they are in the present - but it's really quite a complex thing.

I am leaning towards the last class (I don't think I'll be taking more than one on top of the Intensive Japanese class due to the workload in Intensive alone, and I'll be doing a club that so far is 2 hours a day) because I really do think I'll learn a lot (and the teacher was rather endearing) and it relates much more directly to my Japanese studies.

Overall though, it was neat to sit in on these classes. Slater's felt like I was back at UVA, and the linguistics one made me relish the fact that I can take a class like it here, because I don't think UVA offers anything quite like it.

We got out of that class early, so I rushed over to G-Splash practice, where Natalie, Jeannette, Hunter, and Teresa already were, which started at 5:30pm (the linguistics class is set to end at 6:30, so there is some overlap unfortunately). But I will write about G-Splash some other time, as I have it every day this week, and next, at the very least.

The DK-ers headed back after printing out our homework, and we picked up carry-out at Yoshinoya for ourselves and Greg, and stopped by Shop 99 as well for snacks. We ate dinner in the DK kitchen, and it was quite satisfying as most of us hadn't eaten since lunch around 1pm (and it was around 930 by this time). Then some of us indulged in these ice cream puffs, and choco snacks, introduced to me by Natalie, and they are both so delicious! I rather despise Natalie for introducing me to them...

Then I took a much-needed shower, albeit with gnats (these darned things are all over the shower room, I don't understand where they come from...). But at least when I take off my glasses, I can't see them...

I've been doing homework for some time; there wasn't actually too much, just a worksheet, but I wanted to do some extra preparation, and then blog, so there.

Goodnight. Here's to hoping I can get used to this sleeping schedule...

OH!

It was my first day of school!

I woke up at 7am after a pretty restless sleep starting at 2am. I met Greg and Natalie in the kitchen around 720 for breakfast, and then Natalie and I began waiting at the door around 745. Greg didn't make it down until a few minutes before 8 because of some miskept time, but that was not to stop us! We headed to the station, some of us excited/anxious for our first day, other not so excited. Our first train was pretty packed, though we were surprised at the number of people who actually got off at our stop...who ever knew Nishi-kawaguchi was such a hip spot? It was probably so packed though because the Keihin-Tohoku line is the only one from Akabane that goes out to this area. Our other trains weren't too bad...I guess...I just force myself to not think about all the people on the train and the lack of air (well luckily on one, I was under an air vent and there was actually air coming through) and then I don't feel so claustrophobic. I just kept repeating "I'm thankful no one has bad body odor right now..." Which might not be the case in the summer. However, I'll cross that bridge when I get to it.

So we got to school early and headed to the classroom, Greg to his, and Natalie and I to check what section of level 3 we'd be in. We, and 2 other UVA-ers are in this section together. It seemed a lot like the 'old' students (those who have been here for a semester already) were in a section together, and they lumped the new ones together, with some exceptions.

Class began with Kobayashi-sensei who seems really nice, funny, and cool. He went over the details of everything - our schedule, grammar sheet, books, vocab lists, homework, etc. The whole time I was pretty excited just because I was thinking, how cool is this that I'm taking a class in another language...AND I understand it? (I mean, the Japanese teachers at UVA usually do conduct class solely in Japanese, but it still felt really different. And small things like on our grammar sheet, the grammar points are explained in Japanese, rather than in English like I'm more used to, and no English translations of example sentences and whatno.) His Japanese was especially easy to understand I think, which is another reason why he made such a good impression on me. Intensive takes up two periods, and we switch teachers and lessons for the 2nd period. We do grammar everyday for a period, and then we alternate Kanji and Oral/Writing for the 2nd period. I've yet to see it truly in action, obviously, but I'm sure it'll make the class go by somewhat more quickly since it's not just one huge 3-hr long block of all these Japanese lessons crammed in.

So after 1st period (marked by a bell!) there was a 15-minute break where Greg and Daniel dropped by, and then 2nd period started with Noguchi-sensei, who I have heard is really cool, but we really didn't interact with him that much to get a good feel for him. He was funny during orientation, but he basically just had students read each part of the syllabus and whatnot. Then he said, "Now we have a test!" And everyone starts laughing, "Ha Ha HA! That's so funny!" And then he said, "It's not a joke." And then we said, "Ha ha..." but not quite so heartily. So we really did take a test for an hour. It was deemed as a placement test, but I heard later that it doesn't actually count for anything and it might be a guide for next semester's actual placement test. Thank goodness, because that test was quite hard.

After that fun period, a bunch of us met up and we killed some time before heading to a cafeteria (apparently everyone heads there right after 2nd period, so it's extremely crowded then, but clears up a bit later) by buying our textbooks and walking around (slowly). I got the salt ramen again and ate with a bunch of Daniel's friends, most of whom are also in level 3 (but most are in the other section). Natalie and I sat with them for a long time, and most of them left too, and we got ice cream yummm. We had all this free time because we weren't planning to go to any other classes, so the only thing we had left to do was check out a dance club practice that wasn't until 3:30pm. So then Daniel took us outside, where I guess there really isn't much to just 'check out' since the school's so small and every building's pretty self-explanatory. But he took us up to this hill across the road and we sat on this tree trunk bench overlooking the sports fields, which I actually hadn't seen before. Natalie and I took a look at our new textbooks - exciting! - and pondered about the Modern Dancers group we were about to check out. Greg finally caught up with us too...as we were leaving. So I think he sat on the bench and played Pokemon.

[Note: Natalie did a killer recap of our experience with the dance club.] We ended up having a good time, which surprised me because I'm always somewhat nervous about going to new things, and we really had no idea what was in store for us. But we were able to do a lot more than we thought we would be doing (as in we danced with them) and joked around a lot. It was really cool how they moved together as one, not just when dancing, but warming up and stretching. They do everything in such a routine that it's ingrained in their minds and bodies so much that they just...do it...all together. I kept finding myself comparing it to dance groups I've been a part of. It was neat that they did stretching so similarly to my old Chinese folk dance troupe (though I guess...how many different ways could you actually stretch?). But they did everything so...robot-like in a way, and so seriously. Which is good when what you're really trying to get something done and you're looking for some serious discipline, training, and dancing. But what I like about, say, Mahogany Dance Troupe at UVA, is how much fun we have even just stretching. People are singing along to the music or just breaking into random dancing with others, and people are chatting and laughing and joking around the whole time, but still getting warmed up and stretched out. So I missed that atmosphere, though when they started teaching us some of their choreography, I think they were a bit more open, or that may have just been Natalie and my loud laughing... What also was different is that in Mahogany, we have a whole board of the executive members, whereas it seemed like only one girl was leading everything, with another one who helped out with watching and correcting the others. So in Mahogany, all of us will make announcements, and then we divide up things between us like warm-ups, stretching, teaching. Obviously they are very different groups, but it's always interesting to do some observing and comparing. I, and Natalie and Hunter, are excited to attend G-Splash's practices/auditions starting next week. They were practicing in the same room (the school doesn't have as many nice facilities as UVA does for things like dance practices) and I still found myself more drawn to their music and moves. We'll just have to see how things go, because Natalie and I agreed that the Sophia Modern Dancers seemed really nice and it seems more of a come-when-you-can type of group, as opposed to others that may be more strict about attendance and commitment.

Afterwards, it seemed most people were doing their own thing, since we all have different schedules now, so after getting in touch with some, Natalie and I decided to head back to DK; we were pretty tired after all. We ran into Hunter at the platform and discussed our days and all that. We made it back and decided on Mos Burger for dinner, with Jeannette as well. I had the Teriyaki burger, as my friend Ben advised me to go for it in honor of him about 5 minutes before I left, and it wasn't amazing but I suppose it did the job. We had a fun time just hanging out though, but we all seemed pretty worn out from our first day of school.

Harajuku

The first Sunday, Daniel took me to Harajuku to check out the sights there. We walked to Yoyogi Park for the cherry blossoms and it was really nice and pretty except it was a bit cold that day, so I can't wait to go back when the weather is nice. Harajuku is pretty known for its...diverse people I guess you could say. People dress up in a range of styles, like cosplay (I don't know, look it up) or Lolita or gothic, or they make up their own crazy thing with straps across their faces or whatever. I've read about girls spending soooo much money on their outfits just to go to Harajuku and wait for people to stare and take pictures. So I stared and took pictures.

But first, some pretty pictures!Except this...

Holy moly, check out that trash!

Even the line for the men's bathroom was really long!

Isn't that gorgeous.

Here we go...
Moving on...

A band called Loovee or something performing on the street. I liked the vibe of the area because so many people come just to perform their music for passersby. I think that makes it evident how much they actually enjoy it. And you can hear everything from jazz to rock to other foreign stuff, just by walking a few feet, which is neat.

And then there were these Elvis biker dudes in leather...They all dress up in leather and dance all over the place in leather and look at that guy's huge hair in the 2nd picture in leather. There was another group of them, and then one with girls and guys. And they're apparently there every Sunday too. I got some video of them all.

Then we went to Wendy's to sit for awhile because we were cold and tired.

After much evasion, I finally got a picture...

Rain rain go away...

I see now why I've got to try to blog more often...it's quite hard to write about things that have already occurred (obviously I keep getting my facts mixed up, and I can't remember all the details...plus, it's quite some overload for reading).

First, I'd like to say, I feel really bad for the girl who lives in the room right below mine because I feel like I'm really loud. I drop things all the time...that's mainly it, but it's probably not too appreciated.

Second, results of my placement test were in earlier this week...and I got the class I wanted (Intensive Japanese Intermediate level 3), which I was very happy about. Because it means that I am at the level I think I am at, and as a bonus, I didn't have to go talk to any adviser and deal with having to change classes. I just hate inconvenience.

Third, class starts tomorrow! The Japanese class starts super early at 9:15, and though that's not as early as some 8am classes I've had at UVA, keep in mind I have an hour-long commute to even get to campus, I don't like to be late, rather I like being early and having some time to myself to get settled and ready for class to begin. So the three DK House-ers taking Intensive Japanese (Greg, Natalie, and I) are planning to eat breakfast around 7:20 and aiming for 7:45-7:50 out the door. That may be a bit excessive, but I feel more at ease leaving earlier "just in case", plus we want to scope out the morning rush hour scene and all that. Jeannette and Hunter decided to test for the Regular Japanese classes, which meet half as much as we do or something. Intensive class will be 3 hours every day, which is basically 15credit-hours UVA style, which is near what I would take at UVA. I'm looking to take one other class (the school doesn't advise taking more than that really if you do Intensive) and I haven't decided on it yet. Which feels weird, since I signed up for classes at UVA next semester earlier this week already.

I give up. It's time for pictures.

My school supplies! Daniel took me to this place called Loft in Shibuya which is amazing. It's totally my kind of store, similar to Tokyu Hands too but much prettier. It has school/office/stationary/drawing supplies on the main floor, and some floors have things like interior furnishings, or toys. So I got these 3 animal notebooks for classes and the small blue notebook to put in my purse (I wanted it to write down kanji that I look up throughout the day so I can better remember them, and I may also use it to jot down notes about my day, as my brother just suggested, so I don't have all these problems with remembering what it is I do every day to blog about. Phew.) Then that red thing is a file/folder, but what's cool about it is it's not a pocketed folder (which always rip or don't hold enough paper) nor is it a 2-or 3- hole punch binder (which get annoying when the papers you get in class are not hole-punched. It has this contraption that just clamps down on a stack of paper. (I just took some pictures of it in action, but having trouble uploading to my computer right now.) But basically it's pretty cool, and only a bit over $3, and there were a bunch of different kinds, so I think I want to bring some back to the U.S. Then the pack of stickers...they're actually page labels...you stick one side to the page you want to mark and fold the sticker over. I got piggies.

My bowl of ramen and some gyouza (dumplings), and Daniel gobbling his down yummyyyy, at this restaurant at the top of the Yodobashi Camera in Akihabara. Daniel and I stumbled upon it and apparently the chef who opened it is pretty renowned and the place itself (Chabuton?) is well-rated. It was pretty good, though the gyouza were way tinier than we expected from the picture, and the lady came to offer me an English menu while we were standing outside. Sigh. I was merely checking out the selection and deciding what I wanted and it was just taking some time as I'm...indecisive.

That reminds me. If you haven't read about it from someone else's blog by now, or know about it from your own experience, a lot of restaurants here use ticket-vending machines to order your food, especially if it's a hot-shop style noodle place or something (the school cafeterias use this system as well). There's basically a vending machine with a button for everything on their menu, including ones for making it a bigger size, or side dishes like an egg. You put your money in, press a button, and a ticket with your order comes out and you hand it to someone or put it on the counter. It's quick and effective. And space-saving, because most often the machines are outside, so while you're trying to decide what you want, you're not taking up their limited space inside.

Was waiting for a bus (to Costco...more on that in a bit) and turned around to see a Big Boy! Hardly even see that much in the States anymore...or at least not around me.

Okay, so I should have taken this picture when we first got there when it was still light outside, but I just had to include this. Daniel and his apartment-mate, So-Ky, and I went to Costco! It was a bit aways, in this place called Kaihim-Makuhari after some train transferring and riding a bus, but from what So-Ky told me, there are some others too, but this is the one we went to. It's two floors of stuff, with a large parking garage, which is why it's so huge. You go in, grab a cart, and head up the slanty escalators (designed for carts, so no steps, just a ramp) to the 2nd floor, where they scan your membership card (no just flailing it in the air like the one at home) and give you coupons and things. Then we went back downstairs to do our shopping (the 1st floor is food and the top is the other 'stuff' that Costco sells). It was pretty awesome; layout was very much like back at home, with the bakery/breads in that open space, the wines and freezers and all that. I was tempted to buy so much more than I ended up getting because I wanted it to all fit in one box, otherwise I wouldn't have been able to get it all home, unless I shipped it. But I picked up breakfast things, muffins, bagels, and the Quaker granola cereal I love, and NUTELLA. Even more awesome is that they had a food court, and basically the exact same menu as at home. I was very excited to see some chicken bake(!) and better yet, they had BULGOGI bake (Korean style beef?), so I had to try that, and it was delicious. It was overall very exciting to me. It wasn't that crowded when we were there, but it was also a weekday evening, not like a Sunday afternoon. And the checker at the exit definitely checks for EVERYTHING. I had my stuff all packed up in a box and had the flaps down to seal it and he wanted to make sure that everything was accounted for and checked it all, very unlike the ones I've been to back home.

This was at the famed Tsukiji Fish Market that we went to the morning after(of?) Teresa's birthday celebrating. I'd expand more on that but I feel it'd just exhaust me right now and other people blogged much more detailedly about it with much better pictures. However I will say that I definitely want to go to the market again, but in a different scenario. Instead of staying up for it, I want to wake up super early (catch the sunrise??) and head there groggy, but more refreshed and energized (and dressed more appropriately for the fish water all over the ground) than I was when we went. And then I'd also be able to enjoy the food stands on the way out. It really was some amazing sights and sounds though.

Look Right-Left-Right

I was working on another post...I just keep getting more and more behind...but time out for a quick 'Things I Miss' post!

• Carpeting
• Central heating/AC and good insulation
  
• Paper towels/non-waxy and thin tiny napkins/2-ply perforated toilet paper/a lot of paper-related things I suppose
• Handsoap in the bathroom
• Jaywalking
• Eating in class (class hasn't started yet, but I already dread not being able to do so)
• Big cups/big glasses of water at restaurants that are constantly refilled/water fountains
• Trash cans on the street
• Benches
• Street names and signs/logical way of figuring out an address number/people who use maps
• Girls who wear pants/sneakers/plain old T-shirts/no makeup
• Guys who don't weigh less than girls/don't look like they spend more time and products on their hair than girls do
  
• People who talk loudly, or at least so you can hear them

That is just off the top of my head. I will probably be adding more to that, though it's not to say there are not things I like about Japan more than the U.S. I'm sure that list will come.

Shinjuku

I mentioned previously that I'd explored Shinjuku within the first week. The san-nin headed over there after the festival thing outside our dorm and were planning to meet Teresa there in the evening. We walked around a bunch, I showed them the Don Quixote, although the one we went to wasn't that nice (not that Don Quixote is extra nice...but this one didn't have very wide aisles at all, nor was is very organized), but basically it's floors and floors of everything, from clothes and costumes, to groceries and household products, to electronics and crazy toys...it's just hard to find it all! Then we headed over to a 100yen store to try and find slippers and other things, as I mentioned before. Didn't get the slippers, but got a bunch of other things. Then we stopped at an arcade where Greg got into the Taiko drum game and another crazy drum game. Natalie and I were amazed when we found a Typing of the Dead machine in the corner and just had to play. Each floor housed a different genre of games, and the very top floor was for purikura (sticker pictures).

Time flew by there and when our game ended (it ended only because we got to this boss that killed us...we would be asked a question and a few choices would show up on the screen, and we'd have to type the correct answer and it would strike a blow to the boss, but every wrong answer would kill us...unfortunately all the questions were in Japanese so we couldn't really figure them out so quickly...otherwise we were doing really well), we headed to find Teresa at one of the exits at the station, luckily we found each other right away. We first took her to the arcade (Greg hadn't quite gotten his fill of the Taiko game, nor had he been able to get on the other drum game) and we took purikura. Then we just explored the whole area, doing a ton of walking and went into random stores, and stopped at a Yoshinoya for dinner because we really couldn't decide on anything else, and Teresa hadn't been to one yet. Finally called it a night around...10 or so, and headed back.

Mascot we ran into doing promo outside some store. This frog has pretty human-like hands though, and it's bipedal...pretty crazy...

Typing of the Dead machine! (This is for you, Jeremy!)

Natalie and I are awesome. Game description: the world's being taken over by zombies so to save people and kill zombies you have to type the word/letter/number that shows up on the screen, so it tests your reflex and typing. And then at the end of every stage you have to fight and beat a boss to move on and there are variations on what/how you type. This version was Japanese words, but you had to type them in romaji (Roman characters) so that's why we decided we could handle it. ...until the Japanese showed up.

Signs outside purikura floors. Males aren't allowed into purikura areas unless they're going with a female, because of...well you can see how that could be a bad situation if some random guy goes into this area where girls flock. But the way this sign put it...is great.

Shinjuku. See the buildings. See the lights. See the people.

This is actually just at an intersection. Once that green walk sign comes on, the streets become flooded. 人山人海, for my Chinese readers, hahaha.

I thought this ad was really cute and clever (those are stairs and it's pigs at a dining table and it's pink.) It's announcing some new restaurant I think.