Tiptoe through the Tulips

Today was the 29th of December. Pictured is a bush I passed today. It has flowers on it.

This confuses me.

I have in fact seen many flowers blooming around here. This is not proper for this time of year!

Plus, it's only like 45 degrees! That's crazy talk! We did have one day of cold weather complete with wind and snow, but that's scarcely enough!

That's all for now.

Kyoto

As of now I'm going to be posting more shorter entries and not always include pictures. This way I can give you all a quick peek when I feel like it instead of grudgingly sitting down to edit and upload lots of pictures and then sit around typing a great long entry...


Anyhoo, I went to Kyoto yesterday with my Nihon-go Partners and two of my friends. After arriving we had a nice lunch of Italian food (what else?) and then proceeded to hit an arcade.

From there we went to do some actual sightseeing. Kyoto is literally riddled with temples and shrines, all of which are beautiful. Pictured is the creme of the crop, so to speak. Great big thing with amazing architecture and a fantastic view. Not long after arriving however the light began to quickly fail. Homeward bound we went.


Today I went to Umeda with my buddy Jared. We did some shopping (I have some gifts now) and then got supper before looking for an arcade. We found a few and had some fun.

I'm currently out of school for a 2-week break, and I'll be back home in less than a month. Crazy...

Hikone and Sekigahara

Last weekend I went on a field trip to Hikone and Sekigahara, which are a castle and a battlefield, respectively. The trip there via the JR line went as smooth as could be expected. It was a long trip, yes, but I got to sit across from my Professor who pointed out attractions along the way (such as points through which the old trade road passed and the Suntory Whiskey distillery). Upon arriving at Hikone station, we immediately went to a smaller train line to go, you guessed it, back the way we came. This was so we could walk to the castle via the same route by which the old road went. This was pretty neat because we got to look at some old buildings and get lots of historical side notes. We also stopped by a place that made and sold shrines for you to heep in your house. They ranged from about $60 to about $1,000,000 depending on how big and elaborate you want.

Anyway, the castle itself, as I could tell from the get go, was designed so that the invading armies would break their ankles bafore reaching the main keep. The stairs were TERRIBLY designed (but not as bad as they could have been. keep reading). Some of the steps didn't even lead anywhere! Fortunately all of those wicked stairs paid off, for at the top of this giant hill was one of the most spectacular views I've ever seen. I could see all of Hikone city and across Lake Biwa there was snow falling on the mountains. I have some pictures that will be down farter in this document. Inside the castle there were more stairs. In this case, when I say "stairs," I mean "protruding ladders." After climbing two flights of those things, we decided that the other flights really weren't worth it. At the base of the hill was a large garden, which too was beautiful. Big pond in the fading light. Oh, and there were Sakura trees that were blooming! I thought that they all blossomed in the spring and that I would miss it, but apparently this one species blossoms late! Wooo!

Then we were off to Sekigahara to stay at a traditional Japanese hotel. It was pretty chilly and there were more of us than the pace was made to handle, but the food was great and the futons were SOOOO comfy. At this point I should probably mention that last weekend was rather chilly and that the legal drinking age in Japan is 20. With supper we had hot sake and beer. Now, I don't know what you people are thinking when you tell me that sake is nasty, because the stuff is pretty dern tasty. Apparently good sake isn't really sold in the States. I'm beginning to believe that.

Anyhoo, the next day we actually started looking around the city to see the historical sights. First was the Head Mound, where there is a giant tree which is planted on top of a big ol' pit of severed heads from the Enemy soilders. That is why the tree is so big! Afterwards we went to where the losing army's commanders were stationed. It was a great big ol' hill. Now, after climbing this hill I decided that I could die happy if I never saw a stair again in my life. The memory is too painful, so moving on. From the hill I was treated to another amazing scenic vista. A picture is to follow. You'll recognise it by the awesome farmland we got to walk through. We took the scenic route through the area before heading back to the station, where we unofficially disbanded. I still wound up sitting near the professor on the train back.

Well there's a good big update for you. I hope you enjoy reading it as I have written it in leu of a History paper. There is plenty more to the story, but I'll tell ya later. Bye now.

Big News, Everyone!

So it looks like we've got ourselves a shiny new Presidential Elect! This is big news all over the place. I saw part of both Obama's victory speech and McCain's concession speech live on CNN. There are lots of TVs in the Global Lounge at school.

Everyone seems to be very pleased with the outcome of the election. My French friends are even happy to hear it. I have posted for your visual entertainment the front page of Thursday's newspaper. It may be written in Moonspeak, but it does show that American politics are serious business.

Apart from that, I really don't have a lot to report. Next week I have my Mid-term exams, which should be a BLAST. Also, next Friday a few friends of mine and I are going to start up a campaign of D&D 4th Ed. It'll be awesome, I'm telling you.

Well, so long for now. Keep your teeth clean.

Tokyo Game Show '08

I fulfilled any Gamer's dream last weekend and attended the Tokyo Game Show, an annual event that displays demos of the biggest upcoming releases from the world's biggest brand leaders (except Nintendo, they're so cool they throw their own private event). The line to get in was HEUG, but fortunately it was in a near constant state of motion. It didn't take us long at all to get inside.

Once through the not-so-tight security, I filed into a large dark area that opened up into a giant poorly-lit exposition hall FILLED with shining screens, brand names, and OVER NINE THOUSAAAAND people. Not long after our arrival, I broke away from my friends to do some exploring on my own. In the end it's a good thing that I did, as they didn't even play anything. I however, shuffled my way to the Konami booth and got my hands on the upcoming Metal Gear Online; a team deathmatch game that has taken cues from Battlefeild and plays, of course, just like Metal Gear Solid 4. I was pleased to see the empty cardboard boxes sitting arond the ruins of an arctic factory, and more pleased to se another one in my inventory.

Anyway, I scoped out the entire place. I was somewhat surprised to see Spore at the EA booth, as it was released last month. Since I have that, I moved along. I wanted to play Final Fantasy Dissidia, but they had special tickets for their demo area. Dissida, by the way, is a fighting game (Ehergeiz, for those of you who know what that is) that uses the main pro- and antagonists from all of the as of yet released FF games as its combatants. Once it's relesed, we'll see how Cloud holds up against Kefka!

Instead I headed for my other anticipated game: Banjo Kazooie- Nuts & Bolts. It is the third release of the BK series on consoles. Unfortunately, this one is an Xbox360 exclusive. I got to play this one, and it handles quite well. They have put a vehicle system in the game they they seem to intend for you to use almost exclusively. Though I'm sure it will still be great fun, I think the game may lose some of its origional charm.

Before leaving, I thought I'd stop by the Square Enix shop. After a good 70 minutes of standing in line, I got inside to take a good look at the merchandice. In the end, I bought a wicked cool rubber ducky. It's a Chocobo. Aftr I got out of there, I went across the way and got me a plush Luigi... after a 0 minute wait...

Final thoughts: Part of me wishes that I had gone back the second day to play Mirror's Edge, Fallout 3, FarCry 2, and LittleBigPlanet. On the other hand, I really don't enjoy waiting hours in lines. Also, I'd like to point out that I did other stuff while in Tokyo, such as go to the Meiji Shrine, stay in a capsule hotel, stay in a cyber cafe, and see a store called "Store My Ducks." However, I don't really want to write about all that stuff. You'll have to wait 'till I get back to hear my stories and see the pictures! MWAHAHA!

As the Game Show was my main goal, that's what you get. Here are some pretty pictures.



Oh, and a note to Ben: I rode the Shinkansen (Bullet Train) to and from Tokyo. It was pretty sweet, but it had every quality of an airplane, exept on the ground.

Blub Blub

Last Saturday I went to the Osaka Aquarium with Mika and Kana. The place was truly awesome. They has exibit after exibit of awesome beasties, each one obscured by the massive crowd. I got as many pictures as I could, but most of them came out horriffically because this camera I'm using preforms just plain bad in low-light conditions.

Anyhow, I still got shots of these guys...





Short post and long in the writing, I know, but I have been very distracted with schoolwork ect. I have another adventure tale on the way soon, so stay tuned.

Planned Adventuring

On Monday we went on a class sight-seeing trip. Our first stop was Himeji Castle. Now we are quite lucky that we came to Japan this year, because before too terribly much longer they are going to begin several renovations to the structure, and because of this it will be closed to the public for, oh, FIVE YEARS.

Anyway, I took the grand tour of the castle. Starting from the base, I went around the foundation, then began the long climb up to the 6th floor. Inside they had something of a museum. Lots of awesome stuff. Scrolls, spears, rifles, you know, awesome stuff. The woodwork was amazing and the view was spectacular.




After the awesomeness of the castle, and a pretty tasty meal thereafter, we headed for the adjacent gardens. They were just as beautiful as the castle, however the gardens were shorter. There was a great big koi pond. I could only imagine how much those fish were worth. There were also very impressive bonsai trees, two of which I was sure were over 100 years old.



Of course, this is the point at which my camera's battery gave out. Luckily I am not the only one who went, so at some point I can get more pictures from my friends. Trust me, I got a total of 104 pictures, these are not the only ones.

Afterward we went to the Akashi-Kaikyo Bridge, the longest suspension bridge in the world. Now THAT was an example of amazing modern architecture. Not only is it Xbox HEUG, but it's made to be a tourist attraction. It has an observaition deck, part of which has a glass floor. That's kinda intimidating. Srsly.

Well that was this week's advnture. I'll be back.

Last-Minute Adventuring

On Friday, as we have been doing this week, I got out of school early. This is primarily because school has yet to officially start, and this is just orientation. Upon arrival that morning, however, I was informed that several of my friends wanted to go out and do something. After some discussion, we decided to go out for Karaoke at a place we recently learned of that had rooms running at $10 for 3 hours of singing plus one beverage. VERY reasonable, especially on a Friday.

To get there we had to take a Hankyu line train to a station a few stops away from school, then get off and walk down the street to a JR line station. Kinda confusing, but not that bad, really. More details on that later. Anyway, after several stops we got off at a fairly large station that had a nifty walkway attached to it that led to the shopping mall in which the Karaoke place is.

Turns out it wasn't $10. It was $6.80.

I kicked off the fun with a song I never expected to see there: "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life" by Eric Idle. I also went through some Queen, Beatles, Pet Shop Boys, and a few others. The high point of the night was when I did a trio of the song "Barbie Girl" with a French girl and a guy from Michigan. Believe me, it was plenty hilarious.

After the singing and paying, we each got a voucher for one free pay at the neighboring Arcade. The downside is that we could only use them to play a grab-hand game. The upside is that this particular grab-hand game contained nothing but ice cream. The other upside is tha I am he only one who won. =P

Not long after that, I headed home. I told my Okaasan that I'd be back home by 7 or 8, and as it was I wouldn't make it back before 8:30. Now when I say "I headed home," I mean it. Our remainig group at this time consisted of two guys who wanted to try out the ping pong place in the mall, and three folks who wanted to romp around in Osaka. This means that I had to find my way back on my own.

As I said, it wasn't so bad. After getting to the JR station I started at, it was a simple matter of walking down a main street, making one turn, and arruving at the Hankyu station moments later. As many of the signage is bilingual, I managed to get myself on the right trains and everything. I didn't even get lost!

Well, that was my latest adventure. Sorry there aren't any pictures, but as I said, it was pretty much a last-minute decition to go anywhere, and this camera is too bulky to just keep around all the time.

Second Trip to Osaka

Yesterday I visited the fantastic little structure pictured here. I would have told you about it then, but by the time I got a chance to st at my computer I was so tired that I just wanted to sleep. Getting to the Castle involved a lot of uphill walking which I did not enjoy. However, seeing the castle was amazing. The thing is huge.

Unfortunately I arrived at the actual castle entrance a few minutes after it closed. This, of course, means that I couldn't go inside. Bummer.

However I have learned that I will be heading back as part of a field trip with my class next week. This means that I WILL get a chance to go inside. Anyway, I don't feel like doing a lot of typing, so here are a bunch of pictures for you to look at.

Oh yes, and Dad, I took pictured of most of the Historical Markers so you can read them later.

First Trip Into Osaka

We decided to head to Osaka to wander around a bit and check the place out. Moments after arriving I felt like I was in Japan. Thousands of people going every which way and towering buildings that defy the senses of country folk like me. Pictured is a view from an overpass into the heavily built city. Really a sight to behold.

Anyway, our first stop was an electronics store. When I say "store" I mean, of course, huge 7-story mall. The place was enormous and filled with lots of goodies and even more people. From there we went to an actual mall that had a Ferris Wheel built onto it. This thing makes the one in Chicago look like a pinwheel. We looked around inside, especially in the arcade. Pretty soon afterward we ran off to get some food. I cant remember the name of the place for the life of me, but it's apparently the equivalent of McDonald's in Japan. It was cheap and delicious. Rice, salad, miso soup, and some unidentifiable meat. Mmmm...

We then went to Karaoke, which was fun but pretty pricey. We've agreed to go someplace cheaper next time. Afterward we headed back to the station to come home. The trains were pretty full, but mostly because they were some of the last trains of the night. They emptied pretty quickly. I walked back home with Willy and got a can of cold coffee on the way. BOSS brand is pretty good stuff.

I would share more details, but it's past midnight and I've had a long week. I'm heading to Osaka again on Thursday with my Nihon-go partners, so that should be a lot of fun. The train is pretty cheap too. It was like a $6 round-trip. I won't be going every week, but every now and again would be fun. Maybe I'll run into more drunken Scotsmen. They're hilarious.

That's One!

Well, I've been here for a week now, so I thought it would be prudent to update.

Observations so far:

Everything is delicious. Pictured is what I had for supper this evening. Yummy. Though one odd thing is that there doesn't seem to be any lean meat here. All of it is riddled with delicious nurturing fat.

Not everything is delicious. Example, if anyone offers you some Natto, refuse it. You can be as polite or as freaked out as you want, but do NOT eat it. It looks like foamy baked beans, has the texture of stringy jello and beans, and the taste of semi-sweet battery acid and beans.

Everyone is nice. If someone talks you you, odds are they will be very nice. Occasionally you will pass someone who looks at you funny, but that's rare. I don't know if they're just being nice, or if they're genuinely really nice. Either way, it makes you feel pretty at ease.

This place is clean. The only litter you really see is cigarette butts. On that subject, I don't see as many people smoking as we've been lead to believe. I only see maybe one or two people a day smoking. I see more than that at Adrian!

This place is green. Everybody seems to have a garden of some sort, and the municipal plantings are just as nice. I see little potted bushes, vegetables, and bonsai trees all over the place.

Umm, well... I guess that's it for now. I've got to get back to doing stuff now. I'll be in touch!

Big Happy Family

Yesterday my two Host Brothers returned home. Their names are Aki Hiro-kun and Junki-kun.

I don't know a whole lot about them yet. I know that Junki-kun is going to be here for a month while he works in an internship, and that his major in college is Physics with emphasis in Dense Matter. I told him that the subject was over my head. He said it's over his too.

Though I talked with Aki-kun longer, I didn't really find out very much about him, other than that he as played a few Final Fantasy games.

Oh, and on a side note, I got lost on my way home yesterday. I took a few wrong turns, but eventually after a half-hour of wandering and asking directions, I got back. Today, however, I made it back like I knew where I was going.

Kubi jizo

Today's exitement was a quick trip to see the Kubi jizo, a Buddha's head statue. It was a small but very beautiful place tucked away down a narrow street in town. Okaasan tells me that you pray to this statue to cure illness.

We also went by the post office and the shopping mall. I found that I CAN use my debit card to get money from an ATM here! Woo! Now I can pay for my books tomorrow!

Apparently my host family's sons are coming home tomorrow. Their eldest son is having a week of vacation from his job as a bank clerk, and he younger son is going to be in an internship for his three weeks of summer vacation from school. Apparently he goes to college in Tokyo.

Tomorrow's gonna be quite a day. I'll meet new folks and go to school again.

Oyasumi nasai! I'm off to bed!

An Unexpectadly Long Day

Today is apparently a Japanese holiday, so I did not have to so to school. I was planning on just lounging around and relaxing since I had such a long and frustrating few days. Well, after a late breakfast consisting of toast, yogurt, and fruit, I was asked to go to a shopping mall so that I could buy detergent. This was all well and good.

Unbeknownst to me, we were also going to a Buddhist shrine. Though this was a surprise, it was not at all an unwelcome one. We drove up into the mountains to get to the place, and immediately I knew it was gonna be a beautiful place. Especially after I saw the main gate.
The entire place is just as pretty.








Anyway, after we were done there, we went to the shopping mall. I got some detergent, and was surprised to learn that you can get refills for your empty jug for significantly less money. My host okaasan has a discount card, which is very nice. I also bought a towel handkerchief/sweatmop. My host faily bought a vacuum cleaner. Their 5th vacuum cleaner. Hardly enough, if you ask me. On the first floor of the mall, we had a late lunch.

What did I have, you ask?

McDonalds.

I got a Big Mac with fries and a Coke. It tasted just like it does at home, if a little better. And i certainly LOOKS better. My burger looked like a display model. Japanese McDonalds stores also sell a shrimp burger. I need to try that sometime.

A little later on we went for a walk. They didn't tell me that we were gonna be out for about an hour. Maybe more. We walked past the City Hall I went to yesterday and to a nearby river. There is a bicycle trail there that leads all the way to the sea. Across the street and on our way back home there is a large park complete with playground. Their toys are better. I'll try to get some pictures next time.

When we got back we had supper. My Okaasan made me fried rice. It was the best I've ever eaten. With it I had raw tofu, pickles, and melon. After supper we watched another Hanshin Tigers baseball game and Okaasan and I played Othello. I won!... twice...

After the game ended, Otoosan metioned that they have a home kareoke machine. It was promptly broken out and used thoroughly by yours truely. The American songs fell into a few categories: Hymns, Christmas Songs, Old Songs, Nursery Rhymes, Pop, and Everything Else. Hotel California was on there!

But now it is past midnight and I need to get some sleep. You now have the latest news.