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.