Kanji Lesson: お正月 means "Reset"

It seems that at the end of every term there has to be one day when I stay up entirely too late packing after watching something very long on TV.

Finals were yesterday, and tomorrow everyone who is moving out this semester goes home. We just finished Slumdog Millionaire after playing jump-rope in the second floor hallway with an extension cord. We leave for Osaka tomorrow morning.

It's the things you can count on in life that make it easier to change.

You know what I'm NOT gonna miss?

Having to bike to the grocery store while the wind is feeling particularly nasty.

Seriously, it's strong enough to blow me clean over.

To prove I haven't disappeared

So, here come the pictures I promised ages and ages ago. About the weekend in Ikebukuro. Not much else to say. Onto the pictures:

To start:


We took the Shinkansen, which is pretty much like riding a charter bus. I pretty much slept the whole way there.


Out the window at Nagoya station. Just before I conked out. XD


The lobby of our hotel. AND IT WAS AN AWESOME HOTEL. Rachel did such a good job of organizing it.


Your average street in the middle of Ikebukuro. Lauren taking a picture in front of me. Whatever. XD


I swear, Hetalia was on that TV screen RIGHT before I took this shot. It was awesome.

Then we took a trip to the other side of the station and ran into...



It's a café where all the waiters are dressed as butlers. This isn't the one Rachel said we needed to go to, but it's definitely a famous one. Thing is, since there are so few of them, you have to make a reservation months in advance.



Then we went out and did stuff. Ikebukuro at night: CROWDED. Like, even more so than in the daytime. Being the city person I am, I was practically twirling in circles the whole trip. XD

And now, we come to the epicenter of the anime district. Eight stories of manga, anime, posters, hanging plates, magazines, character goods, you name it.

Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you Animate.



The view from right up front. Delightfully intimidating. Also, I have no idea what that poster is of.


Down the street on the right, you can see all the stuff down the road. XD They're all closed, since it was kind of late when I took this.
(No matter where you go, all the stores in Japan close at 8 or 9.)


Then we went to dinner at this noodle place, and because I fail at life, i made Italy out of the water I spilled. XD Kind of...


Fact: everything in Ikebukuro is blue, and everything in Akihabara is red. Even the Animate there is this weird orange color.

Then we found an arcade, and while Lynsey and I think Rachael played Taiko, I decided to take photos of everything in the UFO catcher machines.


Designer perfume. Difficulty level: 8


Hello Kitty mp3 players. Difficulty level: 7


Hello Kitty skillet. Difficulty level: 6.5


The Nightmare Before Christmas Watches. Difficulty level: 7.5


The Nightmare Before Christmas necklaces. Difficulty level: 8.5


Care Bears Pillow: Difficulty level: 9


Nail polish set. Difficulty level: There's no way.


Coffee mugs. Difficulty level: Come back later.


Clocks. Difficulty level: Come back when they're WAY closer.


Cat plushies you actually expect to be in a crane machine. Difficulty level: Harder than it looks.


Clannad figurines. Difficulty level: The one on the right maybe. The other one, don't bother.


Neon Genesis Evangelion figurines. Difficulty level: Don't bother.


Disney lunch boxes. Difficulty level: Not with that fabric on the table.

Then we went upstairs and did Purikura, which is like a photobooth on steroids. I'll have to scan in one of our photo sessions sometime. They all kind of look like this:

This picture is larger than the others so you can see the details of this girl's preposterous manicure. Seriously, what.

While we were there, fate intervened on our behalf and we looked to the left at one point to see THE most amazing Hetalia cosplay I've ever seen in my life. And we only saw the UK and Hungary at first, so when they all came out to take a photo we nearly died of happiness. Seriously. They were amazing. However, they asked us not to put our pictures online (I'm doing a whole presentation on the differences between Japanese and American fans), so yeah.

Then we went back and talked about really random stuff until like 4 in the morning. XD

The next day Lynsey, Kat and I went to Akihabara, where we looked for the giant Gamers and ended up in the orange Animate somehow. XD


If you know you're in Ikebukuro when you see butler cafés, you know you're in Akihabara when you see a MAID. Seriously, they're EVERYWHERE.

After Akihabara, we went to Harajuku, where Rachel and Lynsey got Gothic Lolita dresses. They looked so cute. XD

There was a store there that sold nothing but socks.



I am almost used to the gratuitous English here. Almost.


Okay, then...


I had to go look it up, but apparently touting is trying to sell something by harassing people. I still don't know what smorking is, though.


To get serious for a second: outside of America, people LOVE Obama. Seriously, they really believe in him. That's why he got that Nobel Prize: all over Europe and Asia, people are finally starting to see America in a positive light, and they're starting to believe we can actually DO something. So yeah, once you leave America things get really idealized really fast.



Then we went back to Ikebukuro and Lynsey and Rachel played Taiko again. In their dresses. XD

That's all I've got. There's a place in Ikebukuro station called Swedish Foot, and I actually broke my camera there when it hit the ground and the lens jammed. There are places here that can fix that, fortunately, so for now I'll just use my DS camera.

Kanji lesson: 池袋 means "heaven"

Been in Tokyo for the weekend. Took the Shinkansen Hikari to the main station with Lauren and Lynsey, did more walking than I can fathom, and then came back. Tokyo in the fall, especially on a little 3-day weekend like this when there aren't very many tourists, is actually a very comfortable place. Our hotel room was nice, and we saw basically everything there is to see in our end of Tokyo.

Not to say we saw everything, though, oh no. You couldn't see all of Tokyo if you had a week to yourself. We just saw Harajuku, Shinjuku, Akihabara...and then a lot of Ikebukuro, which is where our hotel was. It's a lesser-frequented area where you can find a lot of entertainment without all the creepy people who usually go to the entertainment places. We played Taiko and took enough pictures to wear holes in our socks. When we went to Harajuku, Lynsey and Rachel (who came with us) got Lolita dresses, and they were so cute, all pink and black and with petticoats everywhere. They almost matched, in a strange way. I have video of them playing Taiko in those dresses. It's pretty funny.

Also, I don't know what it is about Karaoke that just makes you abandon all sense of musical integrity and sing at the top of your lungs with only a little regard for pitch, but it sure is fun. And karaoke in Japan is the coolest thing ever. You get your own room and you call up the songs using this touch-screen remote that lets you look up the song you want by title. Lynsey had no voice by the end of the night.

However, I did find something a little interesting with their karaoke TVs: it's this huge TV and there's always something weird playing in the background, like stock footage from the 80s that at least sort of fits the song. And English words have katakana over them to let you know how to pronounce them, so if you were singing that song from Aladdin, "I can show you the world" becomes "ai kyan shou yuu za warudo".

I'm getting a Japanese cell phone this afternoon with the rest of the group. We have to get there early because there are only three phones available at the store today. The plan is actually really good. The phone itself is a hundred dollars, but the plan is 10 dollars a month for free calling except during nights, but that doesn't matter anyway because for three dollars and fifteen cents a month you get unlimited texting, which is all anyone does on their phone, anyway. I've already got a screen cover that shows a picture that covers the screen if you look at it from an angle. They're meant to keep people from reading your stuff, but I just think it looks cool. Japanese cell phones kind of make American cell phones look like a joke.

Expect a massive picture post sometime soon. My SD cards are almost full.

Well, some things just never change.

I still can't accept praise without some kind of self-humbling gesture.

Melville-sensei asked me today if either of my parents spoke any languages besides English and seemed very surprised when I told her no. She also taught me a piece of grammar that's not covered until level two, but I picked up on it, as well as how to respond to it.

I got my tickets for the shinkansen I'm taking with Lauren and Lynsey to Tokyo on the 9th. Our hotel is really close to the station, and it's already been reserved for the whole weekend. It's an actual hotel this time, not a hostel like we did in Kyoto. Pictures from Kyoto will be with you once I can resize them well enough to fit here. That was a week...

Also, going to the doctor in Japan was astonishing. They stuck a cotton swab up my nose and told me I didn't have the flu, thank heaven, but they then prescribed me enough medicine to make sure I never get sick again. Sheesh.

Also...there's a song called Spicy Marmalade that's been stuck in my head for about half a week now, because it was someone's ringtone here. It really has nothing to do with marmalade, but it's a catchy song, to be sure...even though I hate marmalade.

Address

Also, apparently some of you have been wondering where I am.

Here, have an address:

Sarah Lopez

Japan Center for Michigan Universitites
1435-86 Matsubara-cho
Hikone-shi, Shiga-ken 522-0002
Japan

This would figure, wouldn't it?

That right after I get back from the most physically and mentally exhausting week ever, I wind up sick with some kind of coughy-thing. My nose isn't acting up in the least, so I know it's not anything flu-related (thank heaven), but it's still really unpleasant not to have a voice.

I'll post my Kyoto pictures after class sometime this weekend.

Culture, meet shock

So the general perception about Japanese education in America is that the students go through murderous curriculum and therefore are somehow better than us at some stuff, but at the same time, the pressure is so great that...well, I'm sure you know what I'm talking about.

My new roommate (my roommate from JCMU went to a homestay) is from Notogawa (very close). She looked at my friend Lynsey's test score of 79 and said, "That's really good!"

My friend Lauren's teacher later told her that her score of a 70-something was also "really good" because the class average was a 78. Both of these things were said in the same tone of voice you hear most people describe 80-to-90 scores.

Lauren, Lynsey and I come from the "anything-below-85-is-a-failing-grade" school of thought, and completely freaked out my roommate Akiyo when we told her that a 70-range score is, in fact, "really, really bad". I mean, I know the curriculum is different, but if you've been prepared for that kind of thing, you should be able to make in the higher range of scores, ne? If that's the kind of curriculum you've been raised with, it makes sense that you should be able to learn it well enough to score in the higher range of tests.

I don't know how Japanese GPAs work, but apparently the parents run on the same system of belief (at least Akiyo's do).

Yeah. It's different here.

So, here's the thing about Japan:

It makes you feel extremely self-conscious, and at the same time glad to be different.

Seriously, got on the train just as all the schools let out. Everyone was wearing the same outfit: white shirt, black skirt/pants.

On the upside, though, we've made plans to go out of town in October! We're meeting up with friends of Lauren and Lynsey's. Great fun.

That's all I got right now, other than the fact that Nishikawa-sensei is the coolest teacher EVER, and Mellvile-sensei ranks a ridiculously close second.

Yeah, I know. Took me long enough. Anyway, here be some pictures.


My room, as viewed from my desk chair. Complete with all the JUNK I brought strewn all over my bed!



My desk wen I first got everything out. From right to left: My DS, my bike helmet, my laptop, and the remains of what I had for dinner the first night. Tuna sushi, strawberry milk, the powdery crumbs that used to be Milano cookies before they got squished on a plane, and Koala's march cookies. And this weird sports drink called Aquarius that I swore was water when I bought it.



WE HAVE A RICE COOKER! YES! The kitchen only looks dark here because we never turn the lights on. The windows are big enough.



ZA KITCHEN. What you can't see: ALL THE STUFF IN THE CABINETS AND DRAWERS. Whoever lived here last year left us a bunch of stuff, and that's on top of what JCMU gives us. There's a whole bunch of pasta under the stovetop, and I mean like, spaghetti and penne. The good stuff. Lauren, Lynsey and I have already made plans to have dinner one night.



The dishes the room came with. Apparently people just leave stuff here for us to find, because this was a lot more dishes than the handbook said.




The bathroom is made entirely of plastic. Walls, floor, ceiling, everything but the mirror and shelves. Also, the water here is serious business. I turned the sink on halfway trying to fill up an ice tray, and it got water EVERYWHERE. And you can't see it, but the toilet actually has two flush levels: big and small. Don't let the name fool you, the small one is intense. I accidentally hit the big one my first night here and 5 minutes later wondered what on earth would necessitate that much water...




The showerhead. Also serious business, which is good, because it does what it's supposed to instead of just getting you wet.



The water heater! Basically what you do is hit the green button to turn it on, and then pick your temperature. A minute or two later you've got hot water! Same thing applies to the sink, except the water gets way hotter at the sink.



It's a microwave! And a toaster oven! And a small oven! On a fridge! With a phone on top of it! Yes, that little thing does all that. With great efficiency, I might add.



The entryway, complete with burnable and non-burnable trash cans. Seriously, anything but soft plastic goes in the one closest to the door, and soft plastics (wrappers, bottle caps, etc.) go in the one in front of it. But plastic water bottles (they call them pet bottles for some reason) and cans have to go in a separate container downstairs. And they don't let you forget anything here! There's a mesh catcher in the sink so anything bigger than a molecule of air gets caught there and thrown away, and there's a similar thing for the shower. Seriously.



That chair is the loudest thing I've ever sat in. I need to go to Cainz tomorrow and get some WD-40 or something. Also, my desk is a lot cleaner now.




The lovely view I have from my window of Hikone (pronounced hi-KO-ne...I've been doing it wrong). You can't see it, but I'm right by the road, so I get to listen to cars while I go to sleep. They're actually very relaxing...



In case you thought Japanese trash was confusing, allow me to direct your attention to the above picture. The cookie box, in the right-hand corner by the koala cookie that has its head covered by yellow. That swirly-thing with the kanji in the middle? That means you can burn it. The blue thing (which is a drink container, by the way) has that square thing by the olympic rings. That means it's soft plastic. Cans and bottles have similar things.

Now for the town outside! (I didn't get photos of the actual supermarket because my batteries were dead by then. XP I'll do it next time.)

Starting out from JCMU, if you turn right and keep following the sidewalk, this is basically what you see on your way to Cainz (Cainz is what would happen if Wal-Mart and the Home Depot joined forces Wonder Twins-style). First thing you'll see across the street is a hotel:



No, you're reading that right:



(You should see it at night. It's all blue and shiny.) The sign has a surfboard on it. We're on a lake, I guess it makes sense...somehow? Whatever. XD It's not like I'd ever stay there.



Lawson station! It's a convenience store, where I got my dinner the first night I was here. The guy who works there is really nice.



A little further down is...a car dealership. And the cars here present type 1 of Japanese cars, the PT Cruiser-shaped kind. Type 2 is Scion-shaped. BOXY. All the vaguely-SUV-resembling cars look like scions, and all the mini vans look like bubble vans. It's different here.





Lake Biwa. The sunsets here are lovely. Also, clouds. Constant clouds. I love it.



There are ravens EVERYWHERE here. Like, you hear them whenever you go by anywhere with trees. Freaked out a few people on the bike tour earlier.



The other side of the bridge I was standing on. I don't think the diamonds on the road mean the same thing they do in America.




Campaign posters, I believe. They're EVERYWHERE. The bottom one, though, I've only seen once.



See, this is what the cars look like here. And I just had to let you all see that pig on the dashboard of that car.



Apparently the noodles there are really good. Must make plans to go there sometime.






A cemetery. Right there next to the noodle shop. I really like the little shrine in the last picture, but I wouldn't get any closer because I mean, I don't even know whose it is...



It's a wedding chapel.



Just so you could see the stained-glass window.



A dress and suit shop. I wish I could have gotten a better shot of the posters on the sides. The things on the fence are LED string lights that go all blue at night. Actually really pretty. Reminds me vaguely of Christmas.



I don't know what he's saying, but he looks very serious about it.



Apparently it's a really expensive French restaurant.



I'm not sure how it works.




Apparently the Uncanny Valley is 8km from Hikone...



This one kept staring at me when I walked by. Like, AT me. I almost told it I wasn't in the mood to contract my soul today. Almost.

So, what do people do in Hikone? Well...a lot of them grow things.








^Those little covers are the cutest thing I've ever seen that you could plant something under.^




A bamboo forest. Lovely sight. The breeze feels great when it comes from that direction.



This intersection is apparently a deathtrap to students who aren't paying attention. I haven't had problems with it because I wait for the signal like I'm supposed to...



I can only figure that this is telling me not to walk outside alone at night, but I mean really...



That's an honestly terrifying image. Look at that knife! Jeez! This is enough to keep me inside past 8 PM nightly...



Do not let anyone try to convince you that all the buildings in Japan are shiny and beautiful. These people have a serious appreciation for decay, and I'm not being sarcastic about that.




These markings on the ground are for blind people so they can get around. They're all over the place on the entryways to buildings, too. TAKE NOTES, AMERICA.



Boats! (Is it bad that I thought of Ponyo when I saw these?)



Really now.



These kids are there to remind you not to hit kids that are running into the street. Sorry for the blur.



The sign outside the drugstore. I thought you all would get a kick out of that.

Yeah, that's it for now. Oh, and leave some comments! I keep hearing people are reading this but I don't know who!