Wheelbarrows, the beach, chocosake, and nature

Today I overslept big time! But I managed to make it to class almost on time. The real reason why I was a little late was because my Suica card (train pass) malfunctioned in the station a little bit, so I couldn't get through quickly. It was pouring rain today, but it cleared up during my long class. :)

There was a fun concert during lunch, much like yesterday! One band played Nickleback songs, haha. The second band played Rihanna's "Umbrella" and Gaga's "Poker Face," and the lead singer took his shirt off. First band:

Second band video! I think their mic wasn't on, or maybe my camera malfunctioned. 

If that wasn't entertaining enough, there were these hilarious college students pushing each other around in wheelbarrows and tipping each other out. Shortly after this picture was taken, the guy (who is in two wheelbarrows at once) was dumped on his face. ;) 

After lunch, some friends and I went to the Aeon and I found what I have looked for for quite awhile!!

 YUMMM.

Robaato-san and I went to the beach and I drank the chocosake. :D The water was so cool and my hair got full of salt just like at home. I was sad to see a lot of small trash in the water. It wasn't nearly as bad as the amount of trash you can see along the Snow's Cut Bridge in Wilmington but I expected better from Tokyo, I suppose. I was told that there is no trash on the ground in Tokyo but that's not true either. However, the streets are VERY clean for such a huge city. I frequently see solitary volunteers picking up little bits of paper from the sidewalk with sticks and bags. Occasionally I walk by a drain that smells like Mexico City's water, which makes me a little sad.

I also saw these and wanted to buy them. <3 Seal pillows!

On my walk home, I see a ton of wild animals. :) Here is a turtle in the pond and a heron, I think.

The fish are huge!

I actually see a ton of crabs by the water in the park! I forget sometimes that it is ocean/brackish water. But when I first saw a crab here, I thought it was Shelob, the world's scariest spider.

 

I didn't have too many adventures today other than going to the beach and seeing that concert. I was so tired when I got home, though. 

The view from my apartment tonight. I love Tokyo. <3

Japanese belly-dancers!

Class today was maa-maa (so-so). I learned some nice new kanji but there is a lot to memorize. I'm not too fond of the format of our class because it's difficult to organize my thoughts about what we have to do each night and how best to practice it. Basically, I miss the Genki textbooks from the last two years, where everything was clearly stated and easily memorize with relevant examples. Our teacher realized that she has been letting us out early every day so now we have to stay until 12:30 instead of 12:10. Oh well.

Nikko is going to be a lot of fun, though! We will get to see Toshogu shrine, the most elaborately decorated shrine in all of Japan. It is a World Heritage site!

We will also get to take an onsen (hot spring) bath, and I know all the rules in Japan. The baths are sex-segregated and we will all be naked!! No towels, bathing suits, or underwear allowed. :) And you can only enter the baths after being clean already. I'm excited to try this.

<---onsen

Today we experienced a cool thing at lunch! There is apparently a belly-dancing club at my university and a ton of beautiful female students in beautiful outfits came into the courtyard and performed. They did some Arabic songs, some Indian songs, and some Colombian and Dominican songs, haha. It was great! I was so happy to see Japanese people doing these things because I did not expect to see it. But after all, Kanda University is for international studies.

(My e-pal Nami is on the far right! So cool!)

My friends and I weren't very good at concentrating on the dances because we were focused on how beautiful the outfits and students were. They were so good at shaking their hips, too! I made some videos:



This one sounded more Indian to me.


This one is the least traditional belly-dancing because it's to a Dominican song, which happens to be one of my favorites. :D (Whine Up by Kat Deluna)


After a long train ride in which my friends became very hungry and impatient, we went to Sunamachi Ginza (my second time) to get delicious food and look at the second-hand clothes store. There wasn't much time there because Robaato had to go home, but it was still fun. My feet were so tired after walking to and from the station four times today, and all through Sunamachi Ginza! I bought eel in a seafood store and the people looked at me like I was crazy when I said I didn't want a second plastic bag. I said I would eat the eel right away, and they laughed at me even more because they said it tastes much better warm. But they didn't have a microwave...and they said it wouldn't make me sick to eat it cold. But everyone in the immediate area was staring at me for my weird eel habits apparently.


DINNER WAS SO GOOD!! There is plain ramen under all of these amazing toppings, and a little bit of sauce/dressing and some kind of grain (?) on the top. My host mom is so talented!

Kabuki and other types of drama, octopus meals, and English cussing

Today we had class and it was once again interesting. My teacher makes a lot of kanji mistakes, though. On our quizzes, she sometimes writes the wrong kanji and asks us for the definition when we have not studied it. Also, she write kanji on the board in the wrong stroke order or forgetting some of the important details. I guess it's easier to notice for someone who has had to religiously study kanji details recently (me) than someone who is going by instinct and childhood knowledge, and is rushing through it quickly to write the next word.

 Here is a very interesting link with some information about Japanese PDA sentiment.

The best part of today was kabuki theatre!! We went after class to the train station and then into Tokyo, to a special theatre called the National Theatre of Japan. There was a short introduction to kabuki with very helpful information about this style of drama that I had never seen before. Fortunately, we all had English headphone sets that told us some of the background info and translated a lot of the dialogue and connotations. The show we saw was called Narukami. The plot was awesome, you should check out a brief summary here. I was really surprised at how sexual the seduction was! For a play written hundreds of years ago, this must have been very controversial and the commentary said as much. It was neat to see these male-female relations when all of the characters are played by male actors only. That picture is from Narukami but I didn't take it; I was pretty sure that we couldn't have cameras in there. The stylized voices, instruments, makeup, and movement patterns were so fascinating. Before seeing it, I had wondered if I might find it boring but I was riveted. :) Robaato-san agreed and maybe we will go see another kabuki show. The scene we saw was probably an hour or two long, and it was only part of the show, which can be hours and hours long.

Everyone should take a glance at the acting techniques, especially the ways in which the male actors portray women (onnagata). It's so interesting! I liked how the beautiful princess in Narukami was very clever and seductive, being portrayed as saving Japan from drought through her shrewdness and sexuality. Of course, beautiful women were viewed as tricky and dangerous. The actors and the background musicians had string instruments that I bet Steven would have loved. :)

After kabuki, I didn't really want to go straight home, so Ethan, Robaato-san, and I went to a conbini (convenience store) to buy a snack. I would have preferred a restaurant but this was a good idea because we found macha (green tea) Oreo bars! What an interesting flavor. I don't think I'll buy it again but it was neat to try once. It tasted like it was full of green tea powder, and I think it was.

Dinner tonight was wonderful! We had takoyaki, which means octopus balls (not octopus testicles, for those of you thinking that's what it means). It was delicious! Here are some pictures.

 

 

After dinner, I helped Namiko-san with her English (which is extremely good, although she does not agree). I corrected some of her emails that she printed out and she helped me with my Japanese. Then she and Tomoaki-san asked to learn about the various ways to use "fuck", so I taught them, hahaha. It was so funny for me to teach them how to recognize the difference between "fuck off" and "fuck up." They were so studious. :) They said they watched Pulp Fiction and heard "fuck" about a million times. I also taught them "shit just got real." It was a fun night! If only I didn't have a big test tomorrow...

The rainy season started today. It will now rain at least until July, I believe, every single day. Oh well!

Earthquake, shopping, unagi, and studying day :)

Today I got to sleep in for the first time since coming to Japan. :) It was quite nice. My host family and I ate breakfast together: a delicious salad with boiled egg, cheese, rice flake cereal, tomatoes, and dressing. Mmm. :)

I went back to my room to respond to all of my blog comments and then chatted online with a friend and then with my parents via Skype. They met my host family and it was fun, although the internet connection kept cutting out and my sister's camera isn't too good. Then before I knew it, it was lunch time!

I remember that lunch was really good but I forgot what we ate because I was so excited to experience an earthquake!! Yes, there was a small earthquake during lunch! I kept thinking, "If my mom knew that right after I got off the phone with her, I was in an earthquake, she would freak out!!" The word for earthquake in Japanese is "jishin" (じしん). The floor swayed back and forth and it was really fun. The lamp above our heads also moved. It was probably a 2 or 3 on the Richter scale, my family said, and about the same intensity as the one I was in last week while I was sleeping. I can't wait to experience another one, as long as it is relatively small!

After lunch, we went to an "arcade", which I discovered during lunch is the Japanese word for a shopping district, haha. Not the same as an American arcade, which the Japanese call "game center." It was really cool, though! And there was an arcade there too, lol. There were so many shops, and everything was cheaper than what I saw in Shibuya and Harajuku.





The neatest thing was seeing all of the food. I hope next week after class one day I can bring my friends here to eat lunch after school. This would also be a great place to bring my new Japanese friends! I declare today's blog to be primarily about food:

This fish-shaped bread dessert is make from alcohol and whipped cream and some other things, my host family told me. :) It was delicious!

Mmm, yakitori!! They also interesting meats other than bird meat, such as eggs, chicken skin, pig bones which are apparently chewy and therefore unappetizing to me, and seafood.

This was my dinner tonight. YUMMMMMMM. We bought the food in the market and brought it home to eat for dinner. We got pineapple for dessert, along with orange and banana cakes. :) Have I mentioned that I eat a ton of food here? I rarely encounter something I don't really like.

There was Pokemon tofu too. :)

My favorite: unagi (eel). YUM YUM YUM. It was neat to see Taku-chan eating eel because my little brother would rather die before eating that, and my mom might not even eat it either. But Taku loves his interesting foods, like raw egg in his rice (a common thing in Japan that I haven't tried), eel, and tofu. :)

I ate a dried fish like one seen in this picture, except mine wasn't fried. It was a first for me!

After looking at all of the food and buying some for dinner, Namiko-san and Tomoaki-san and I went into a furugi shop that actually DID remind me of the Goodwill! And nearly everything was ~$1!! I got some really neat clothes there. :D

Time for bed again... I get tired so easily here.

Another day in Harajuku and Shibuya, but totally different!!

This morning, my host family was so kind to drop me off at the Toyocho station so I could meet up with Saaya, Yuwa's and my friend who I hadn't met until today! She and I took the trains to Otemachi station and walked all around. She showed me her university, which was really pretty. Then we saw the United Nations University building and a farmers' market right in front of it! So we went there, checked out the neat items and got some free samples, and then walked to Shibuya. It was a tough walk to be in the hot sun for so long. But the buildings were so neat! My host family has noticed that I am easily entranced by Tokyo's buildings, so they checked out some building books from the library to show to me. :D I was happy to see that! Anyway, these cool buildings are in Otemachi and Shibuya:

The United Nations University building and farmers' market

I don't know why but I love skinny buildings. Maybe because it emphasizes how tight space is here, and yet so many people can live together and work together with high efficiency and relative harmony.

GO JAPAN!!!!

Saaya took me to a famous inexpensive store, and I bought two fabulous dresses! I tried to buy a vest but the biggest size they had was still for very skinny Japanese girls. :)

In Yoyogi Park, an extremely famous and beautiful area of Tokyo, there was a huge garage sale, perhaps the biggest one I've ever seen. It was crazy because my Japanese teacher told me that there were no garage sales in Japan. But she also told me there were no hugs in Japan. :) I looked up the "free markets" as they are called (which I think might be the Japanese way of saying "flea market", because things aren't quite free) and it said that there are approximately 800 shops in this location's garage sale. I bought a Japanese-style skirt and tube top for $1.50 each!! They are too cool. This is my kind of shopping. There was a shirt that said, "I <3 Vagina" and another that said, "STFU". I tried to explain the meaning to the mini-sale owners and they hid the shirts, haha. Most of the sellers were very young people, in their 20s or 30s. They promoted their wares but did not ever pressure me into buying anything like in America. I love Japanese manners!


Saaya's friend joined us for about an hour or so, and I felt so bad for him because he was wearing a suit and jacket in the incredible heat! I was wearing shorts and a sleeveless top, yet I was sweating and uncomfortable. But he ate delicious sushi with us and we went to a fun store called Hands. In this store, you could buy funny gifts, strange food (I'm looking at you, Steven), and other neat things. I had a great time looking at the stickers and their English translations. Here are a few.

  

We all ate sushi together. I'm quite shocked at the fact that sushi is somewhat uncommon in Tokyo. Much more common are soba and ramen shops. But there are still sushi shops for me. :)



Saaya's friend had to leave, so she and I walked to a gorgeous temple in Harajuku. It was surrounded by a beautiful, quiet forest that was delightfully cool compared to the outside heat. There were a lot of people speaking in English there. Saaya showed me how to wash my hands and mouth before entering the temple, and how to say a prayer.

People could buy a wooden panel and write their wishes/prayers to get them answered by the kami-sama. All of the prayers for a year are hung up and then later they are taken inside the temple. You can click on the picture to see the wishes up close. Some little kids wished for Legos and some adults wished for health, marriage, money, or other things. I enjoyed reading the Spanish ones and explaining their meanings to Saaya. It reminded me that I can understand a lot more Spanish than Japanese.

We came across some young people giving free hugs, just like in America! Of course we hugged them all.

Harajuku was so crowded today, even more than last night. Despite that, I ran into Erica and Sachi, my classmates at KUIS. Crazy!

Saaya showed me a 100-en ($1) store in Harajuku, and I bought myself a pair of lovely chopsticks. :D

In Harajuku, Saaya and I bought their famous crepes! Mine had ice cream, strawberries, chocolate syrup, and whipped cream in it. Soooo good.

I feel like I walked 20 miles today, and in fact, it's probably that I did. My feet hurt so much even though I was wearing my comfy sneakers the whole time. I don't know how Saaya could do it in her fancy shoes.

I noticed on the trains that all Japanese women wear either fancy shoes with heels or very stylish sneakers. But I have examined the fancy shoe-people because they catch my eye and their feet do not look like happy feet. I saw a woman whose face looked like she was 25, in the prime of her life, but her feet looked like those of a 70-year-old, with varicose veins and very old-looking skin. She was wearing adorable shoes, but maybe they were wrecking her feet. Today I saw more women with huge blisters and calluses on their feet, and also really expensive-looking shoes. Maybe that's why my feet are generally blemish-free; I wear sneakers almost all the time.

I felt happy today that I could carry on basically a six-hour conversation with Saaya in Japanese. :) Although it's becoming much more difficult for me to remember specific Spanish or English words! Tonight I was explaining some difficult English word meanings to Namiko-san, and I spent a good five minutes of hard thinking trying to remember the English word "metaphor." I even know the word in Japanese for it! And it's a word I use on a regular basis in the US. Oh well. :)

.
Dinner tonight was very delicious. I love fish!!

Namiko-san bought me the most beautiful outfit from India today. I was so surprised!! I also didn't know that one could buy Indian clothing in Japan, but maybe you can buy anything here. :)

After dinner Taku-chan and I played Pokemon while Namiko-san and Tomoaki-san watched. It was a lot of fun! But I am not very good at Wii Pokemon Stadium (which now has 500 Pokemon!!) in Japanese. I lost the semi-final round.

Once again, I am incredibly weary even though I returned home at about 6pm. It's midnight now... I could not be more tired!! I leave you with this hilarious shirt that I saw today. And look, next to it is naked Lady Gaga!