Hirakatashi-Eki

Today was a lazy day. I woke up around noon and went to a little hole in the wall restaurant with my friends from the hall. I had something called potato pizza toast, which was, sure enough, pizza on a really thick piece of toast topped with sweet potato. It was delicious! Very cool.

After that I talked to Nikki on Skype, surfed the Web, and napped.

In the evening, six other people and I went down to Hirakatashi-Eki to have some fun. We wandered around forever trying to find an ATM that worked so the others could withdraw some cash. We finally found one at the 7Eleven near City Hall. Afterward, we found a really awesome restaurant on the fifth floor of a building. It's still weird for me to be eating in a tall building. Oh well. The place was AWESOME. I had French fries, gyoza, and basashi. I'm such a bad Kentuckian for that last one--it's horse meat. But it was really delicious, and I liked it much better than some of the other types of sashimi I've had.

We then wandered around the area and found a really nice rooftop bar. It was basically a total ripoff, though. They gave us these little macaroni salads without asking if we wanted it, and then charged us 300yen each for it. There were seven of us, and our bill came to 5520yen--about 50 dollars. Each of us had one drink. Oh well. It just wasn't what I expected.

Tomorrow morning I'm going to the aquarium in Osaka. I can't wait!

Friday Night in Japan

This evening I went out to eat at the little okonomiyaki place around the corner with two other Americans and a Slovak-Brit. After that, I went out to the same karaoke place as before, but with different people. It was a blast, yet again. This time I discovered the most delicious drink ever. It was called a Dragon, and it was basically melon soda with a little bit of alcohol in it. Yum! I also had a Dolphin, which was basically the same thing but with blueberry soda, which I didn't like as much. Kinda funny names for drinks, huh?

And...it just hit me that I'm sleepy. Seeing as it's 1AM here, I guess that's okay. So I'm off to bed.

Oh, but speaking of beds, I should tell you about my futon, since I've been getting some questions about it. Futon is the traditional Japanese bedding. I have one small folding mattress much like a Western exercise mat. On top of that goes a heavy mattress that I sleep on. Then there's a heavy comforter that I sleep under. The pillow has something inside that sounds like beans. It's harder than I'm used to, but not at all uncomfortable. Every day you have to fold up the futon set and put it away in the closet they gave us. The humidity here can really cause some nasty mold and crud to grow under your futon if you don't take care of it! Also, our flooring is tatami, which requires special care. If you don't put the futon away, the floor will kinda start to mold around the bedding and there will be a bed-shaped dent in the floor. :) It's like a fossil record of sleeping! Anyway, I don't think the university wants me to destroy their flooring or bedding, so I try to take care of it. Most days I put it away, but if I'm running late I might leave it out in the morning and put it away when I get home in the late afternoon.

Anyway, it's very, very comfortable. Like I said, harder than my bed at home, but very, very nice. I especially love my heavy comforter. It'll be great in winter. And now I'm off to enjoy my futon. Good night!

Contact Info

Here's how to reach me.

Room phone: 072-868-3381-2042

Mail:
My Name
c/0 Center for International Education
Kansai Gaidai University
16-1 Nakamiyahigashino-cho, Hirakata, Osaka
573-1001 Japan

Today is Friday, and I'm looking forward to the weekend. It's really nice to have classes, but I'm pretty wiped out from the week. Tonight I'm going out for supper and karaoke with some friends from my dorm. On Saturday I plan to do some grocery shopping and go to the mall. On Sunday, I had originally planned to go to a moon viewing ceremony in Kyoto, but instead I think I'll go to the aquarium in Osaka. There's a big group of students going, so it should be fun. Monday is a national holiday, Respect for the Aged Day, so there's no class. That'll be nice, too. Maybe I'll go to a hot spring or something. I dunno.

Regarding the Weather

I've been complaining a lot about how hot it is here. Well, it's still hot, but the humidity has gone down. Today we had a high of 90Fahrenheit, with a heat index of 97. Not fun to ride a bike uphill in the sun in that kind of weather. But as soon as the sun starts to go down (which is early--5:30PM) it cools off. Nights are very pleasant. They remind me of Florida, actually. Nice breeze going, warm air, not too humid.

We're getting into typhoon season, which is super exciting! I've never been in a typhoon or a hurricane or anything before. We're pretty far inland (if any of Japan can be called inland), so we won't have flooding or anything. Sometimes, though, the wind will get really bad and it'll rain a lot. Instead of snow day procedures, we got information detailing high wind day procedures for typhoons. Awesome. They said they usually get one or two a year in this area. I think one just headed for Tokyo, and another for somewhere in China, but I'm not sure. I'm waiting for you, little typhoons! Just please don't cause too much damage.

I mentioned high wind holidays; if the railway workers are threatening to strike, we also get a day off school. They don't want students and teachers stranded at Kansai Gaidai because the trains don't run.

Alex told me earlier that there was an earthquake today near Hokkaido. As you can see from the map, it was far away from me in Osaka, and I didn't feel it. They did spend a lot of time at one of our orientation sessions explaining what to do in case of an earthquake, which was interesting. I'll probably be in one or two during my time here. They're really frequent. But all the Kansai Gaidai buildings were built just 11 years ago, and they have the most up to date earthquake and fire resistance technology. A Kansai Gaidai bathroom is probably the safest place to be in an earthquake, other than a huge flat field.

In other weather news, no reports of Godzilla or Mothra. :) I'm so bad.

The trip here

I never did write about the flight over here, so I suppose this is as good a time as any.

I flew from Lexington to Chicago O'Hare, and I got sick on the way. Probably shouldn't have had pizza for breakfast that morning. Usually I do just fine on planes, but every once in a while I'll get motion sick.

Arrived in Chicago on time and had to navigate through the confusing airport. I misread one of the signs, so I nearly took a shuttle to downtown instead of Terminal 5. Luckily, the shuttle driver pointed me in the right direction. When I arrived at the international terminal, I had to check in with Japan Airlines. My carryon was way too heavy, so I had to take some things out of it--books, mostly--and add that to my checked baggage. I had time for a quick McDonald's cheeseburger before going through security. There was this Korean lady in front of me who didn't know about the restriction on liquids, so that slowed things down a bit. But it all worked out.

From Chicago to Tokyo I had a window seat on a 747, and it was great! The middle seat next to me was empty, and on the aisle there was an American engineer on business. The service on the plane was great. We got Japanese munchies for a snack--super salty puffs of rice with various flavors. For the first meal I had teriyaki chicken, pickled veggies, rice, and caesar salad. The bathrooms were kinda hard to figure out. I couldn't really get the sink to work, so I had to wash my hands in the teeny water fountain. I slept some, looked out the window a lot, and fiddled around with the TV. The second meal was smoked salmon in pasta, which I didn't really like. We landed at Tokyo Narita on time.

Narita wasn't nearly as confusing as I expected. I made it through customs with no problems, and spoke only in Japanese, which made me proud. For all I was worried about the medicine causing problems, they barely looked at the meds or the yakkan shoumei. Oh well. Better safe than sorry.

So I had to re-check my baggage, which caused some trouble. My checked luggage was fine, and the carryon didn't weigh too much, but it was too large. They said they'd have to ship it to me, and it would arrive the next day. I wasn't about to let my meds and my computer out of my sight, so I was hesitant. But they gave me carryon paper bags, and I put my meds and computer in there. At this point, the carryon was practically empty, and it would arrive at my dorm the next day.

The flight from Tokyo to Osaka Itami Airport was very short, and very cool. I could see the peak of Mt. Fuji above the clouds.

By the time I got to Itami, I was exhausted and hungry. I grabbed some food from the convenience store in the airport, and didn't really like anything I bought. What I thought was a fruit cup turned out to be this awkward gelatin thing. Also, I realized that I had lost my watch. I was really frustrated at this point. It was hot, I was tired, I was the only gaijin in the place, I was hungry, and the pay computer I used to email home wouldn't type in English.

But the van came to pick me up, and I met some other students, and it all worked out.

And that's how I came to Japan.

日本語で "crazy" は何ですか。

Today I went for my second speaking class, this one at 9AM. It was good. Language classes are 50 minutes long, and compared with Witt's full hour classes they seem really short.

After that class I returned to my dorm and got to talk to David and my family on Skype. Well, I got to talk to David; we had a really nice conversation with the webcams and it was great to see him. I can't wait to chill out with him eating some Subway and watching Deadliest Catch. Oh, the little things. <3 My family, however, was having some technical difficulties with Skype. I could hear them but not see them; they could see me but not hear me. What ensued was a cruel real-life version of charades. :) So that was interesting. Hopefully they'll get their computer up and running soon.

Anyhow, after that little adventure, I returned to campus and had lunch with Leslie at the campus McDonald's. I have gotten a few questions about McDonald's here in Japan. Dad likes to try to say it in Japanese; his attempts usually come out something like "Makudonadoodles." Close, but no cigar! For those who don't read katakana (one of the three Japanese writing systems, and the one used to write foreign words), it's Makudonarudo. Makudo for short, just like we say Mickey D's. The only Japanese McDonald's I've been to is the one on campus. It has this strange buffet-like ordering system that's hard to explain. But the workers at it are all these cute little Japanese ladies wearing those paper hats like they have at Krispy Kreme. Things are kinda expensive, too; a Big Mac meal will run you about 600 yen, about $6. Hamburgers are a dollar, but french fries and drinks are super expensive, and there are no free refills. Many of the items are the same, but there is a teriyaki burger that I haven't tried yet. Also, there is a seasonal special going called the Tsukimi Baagaa, or Moon-Viewing Burger. It's a hamburger with egg on it. I think eggs are associated with moon viewing, because I found some Tsukimi Udon in the school cafeteria that came with egg. Maybe the full moon looks like an egg?

Speaking of otsukimi, I'm going to a shrine in Kyoto on Sunday for some moon viewing with one of my profs. It should be fun, and my friend Melissa is going, too.

I had my first Survey of Japanese Art class today. The professor is a little dry, which is somewhat to be expected in art history. But I like dry, which is why I like art history. :) He's got a fun sense of humor. And as it turns out, more than half of the nationally and internationally recognized historical and artistic sites in Japan are in the Kansai region, so lots of what we'll be looking at is just a short train ride away. Very cool.

Tonight I went over to William's homestay for supper. OMG his Okaasan is awesome! She calls herself Mamasan (Mrs. Mama, basically) and is quite the chatterbox! She made the most delicious curry rice for us, with carrots and potatoes. Mmmm. It was like a spicy beef stew, and definitely the best meal I've had so far in Japan. She even gave me a tupperware containerful to go. We chatted for probably three hours--long enough for Will to eat and watch some cheesy Japanese baseball movie. Very fun lady, but kinda crazy. Not like "Geez, she's gonna murder me" crazy, just a little eccentric. She runs a cleaning business out of the front of her house, and she really likes art. She was telling me how she likes boys, how she likes America, how she likes gay boys, how she likes American boys, how she really like American gay boys, how she requested to host a nice, tall, American boy (and hence got William), how her boyfriend has a jewelery shop, how she doesn't like Japanese girls, how she thinks I'm cute, etc. She has pictures of her dog who died all over her house--I saw more of her dog than Papasan, who also passed away a while ago. It was quite an experience. She was an absolute blast, and she even gave me a little beaded cell phone purse as a gift. Very thoughtful, and I want to go see her some more.

I went grocery shopping on the way back. Fruit here is so expensive! A regular American size package of grapes is 780 yen! That's like a movie ticket! Ridiculous. So I did my shopping, and it was kinda weird--the workers went around yelling things as they walked around the store. I don't know what they were saying, actually. It was weird. And I have never seen such an assortment of fish in my life. They even had fish skeletons with the scales for sale, with the meat removed! I wonder what you do with those. Japan doesn't eat a lot of stuff that I think is too weird, but I'm not so sure I needed to see the gianr octopus arms--suckers included--in the seafood section.

And now I'm back and procrastinating on my homework. Not that I have a lot; I think my classes will be really easy. Still, it eats into my exploring Japan time. For sad.

First day of classes

Today my classes began. The way it works here is this: Five days a week in the mornings I have Japanese speaking, three days a week in the mornings I also have Japanese reading/writing. In the afternoon, I take my culture classes. I have three of those, and they run twice a week. So the schedule is a little funky, but here it is:

Monday
9-9:50 Reading/Writing
11-11-50 Speaking

Tuesday
10-10:50 Speaking
12-12:50 Reading/Writing
1-2:20 Asian Psychologies
2:30-3:50 Japan in Western Film and Literature

Wednesday
9-9:50 Speaking
1-2:20 Survey of Japanese Art

Thursday
9-9:50 Reading/Writing
10-10:50 Speaking
1-2:20 Asian Psychologies

Friday
10-10:50 Speaking
1-2:20 Survey of Japanese Art
2:30-3:50 Japan in Western Film and Literature

So the only class I haven't had so far is Survey of Japanese Art. All the other ones seem really good. The Japanese language courses seem like they'll get kind of intense, but for now we're reviewing chapters I learned long ago. I'll have some time to get myself back into "school mode." Asian Psychologies seems like a standard college course, which means for this program it's harder than normal. It seems to me that professors here don't exactly "dumb it down," but they understand that people are here in Japan to take weekend trips and go karaokeing, so they don't make things unnecessarily hard. Asian Psych isn't like that. It's a regular class, which is kinda nice. Japan in Western Film and Literature, though, is gonna be a piece of cake, I think. (Watch, just because I said that it'll be really hard!) It's such an interesting class, though. The prof is awesome, and today after we went through our syllabus, we watched the episode of the Simpsons where they go to Japan. Totally hilarious!

Anyhow, classes were good. It'll be really nice to have a routine, too.

I have made friends with some girls on my floor. April is from New York, Jessica is from Detroit, and Melissa is from Columbus (Westerville--yes, I checked). We went out to eat tonight to this little hole in the wall place that is practically 100% supported by Kansai Gaidai students, probably. They give you SOOOOO much food for really cheap. For 500 yen (a little less than $5), I got ice water, black tea, sticky rice, miso soup, pickled veggies, salmon tempura, chicken curry, and cold noodles. I only ate about a quarter of everything, and I'm still stuffed. Yum.

When it cooled off a little this evening, I exercised a bit in the park across the street. It's such a nice place. There were a lot of families there taking walks and playing ball. It's basically an open field with a playground and a small track around it, and I just walked and jogged for about half an hour. It was nice to excercise. This was the first time in I don't know how long. >.<

In any case, I'm pretty wiped out. It was certainly a full day.

My computer works!!!

My computer has now been registered and works well on the network here. See you on Skype soon!

Today is errand day.

Afternoon classes (culture classes, not Japanese language) start today, but I happen to have none on Mondays, so I ended up with a long weekend. Yay! So today I'm taking care of lots of little things. I have already bought a used bike for about $50-60, registered it with the police and campus, and submitted my computer for registration. I'm waiting right now for David to get online so I can talk to him, then I'm off for lunch, alien registration, and buying an Internet cable. What a day!

Check-In and Karaoke

Today was our official seminar house check-in day, so my extra roommate moved out to be with her host family. Now it's just me and Sally, my roomie from Hong Kong. The room is a lot bigger without the extra person, although I'll miss Jacinthe.

This evening I went out exploring. I found what I thought was a regular restaurant but turned out to be an izakaya. There were two other foreigners there, so I sat with them. Turns out they're Kansai Gaidai alumni who are back for a visit. It was nice talking to them about thing. I had some gyouza and fried eggplant for supper, then went on my way.

I was just taking a walk around the dorm area, when I met up with a big group of Kansai Gaidai students who were going for karaoke. I decided to tag along, and it was a blast. I had never understood why karaoke would be fun before, but I definitely get it now. We paid 1750 yen (about $15) for two hours in a karaoke booth with unlimited drinks. My voice is going to be so hoarse tomorrow. I honestly could not make it all the way through American Pie because my throat hurt so much at that point. It was a total blast, though. Who knew terrible singing, smoky rooms, and cheap drinks could create so much fun?

新しい日本の友達！！！

I didn't really do much today. I had my language lab orientation this morning, and received my Japanese placement. I tested into Speaking 3 and Reading/Writing 3, which is right where I should be! The placement test was really hard, so I'm glad I did so well. I had more udon for lunch at the cafeteria, and met another American student. Then I walked to the hyaku-en (dollar) shop and did boring shopping. I also took a nap today, which was great.

This evening was more interesting. I went to a nearby restaurant for supper, then William and I went to the park near our dorm to chill. We were just sitting there, and this super nice family came up to us and struck up a conversation. There was the dad, who owns a liquor store, his nineteen year old son, and his high schooler daughter. She was ADORABLE. Her name is Momoko, and her English was truly fantastic. She spent a month in Tennessee, so she was really interested in learning about Kentucky. She taught us some new words, as well as a Japanese tongue twister (hayaku guchi kotoba?): aka pajama ao pajama ki pajama (red pajamas blue pajamas yellow pajamas!). We talked in English and Japanese for about an hour, and in a few weeks we'll go visit them at their home. It was so nice to have a laid-back conversation like that. I really don't think that's something that would ever happen in America, to go up to some tourists and invite them over for dinner. Very cool.

Words I learned today (if you speak Japanese and any of these are wrong, please let me know!):
saka=hill
joyuu=actress
haiyuu=actor
Kansai-ben: suki yanen=suki desu=I like

General observations

• Alex, I do not think that Japan smells like fish and cigarettes. I have passed a few houses that smell like that, but I actually was very careful to notice the smell when I arrived in Narita, and it smelled like America. But it was a rainy day, so maybe the air was especially clean or something.
• It is really, really way too hot here. And humid, as well. The dew point, I would guess, might be about 75. Ridiculously sauna-like.
• There are some really big bugs here. I have seen a huge katydid, probably six inches long, some big yellow spiders, a moth with a wingspan of about five inches, and a four inch praying mantis so far. Also, there was a really cool big pink caterpillar at Kiyomizudera yesterday. Photos to come.
• It's extraordinarily quiet here. People speak in very hushed voices, and the neighborhoods, at least, are silent. This is because Japanese houses don't have insulation, so if you're not quiet you'll really bother the neighbors.
• I would kill to eat something fried at the moment, that isn't octopus.
• My clothes here look really dorky. All the Japanese girls have such fashionable clothes. They're very trendy, though, and I don't want to spend that much money on something I can't reasonably wear back home. Also, they all walk around in long sleeves and leggings, which would make me melt in this heat.
• Japanese soap is weird. It doesn't foam a lot, so I never know if it's working right.
• The toilets are kinda strange. The stalls are totally closed in, so it's like peeing in a closet. There are seat warmers on all the toilets I've encountered so far. Some also have the Oto-hime ("Sound Princess") system, which simulates convenient flushing sounds as you use the toilet to cover up any embarrassing sounds. Some toilets have the option of big flush or little flush, so you don't waste unnecessary water. I have only found one confusing toilet with lots of buttons.
• The sun comes up super early here. I woke up at 6AM this morning to go to the bathroom, and it was fully light outside, about like 10AM at home. It gets dark around 6:00 here, too. I wonder why....

First glimpse of Kyoto

Today I went to Kyoto with a tour organized by the school. I met with my speaking partner just before the tour and I thought we'd be together, but instead they separated us and assigned us other Japanese students. So William, April, and I went to Kyoto with three Japanese girls we just met. I'll try to upload pictures of the whole thing later.

We walked to a bus stop near Kansai Gaidai's campus, then took a bus to the train station. We rode the express train from Hirakatashi Station to Kyoto, and walked from there to Yasaka Jinja. There we all (including the Japanese girls, who apparently had never done it before) learned how to do the ritual washing before entering. You hold the water dipper in your right hand and pour water over your left hand, then you do the opposite. Next you put some more water in your left hand and put it to your mouth. (Are you supposed to drink? I don't know. Anyone know the answer?) Then you rinse your left hand again, and you're good to go. It was very cool.

We walked all around the shrine and talked to the merchants, which was cool. Also, I got to go to the main area and do the standard prayer procedure. You throw a coin into the offering place, and pull on this big cord that rings a bell. You clap your hands twice, bow twice, silently make your petition, and then bow again. It was pretty cool.

After that we walked 3 kilometers to Kiyomizudera. The name means basically "Clear water temple," and it was gorgeous. You have to walk up this busy touristy street to get to the temple high up the mountain. It was like the Short North or Bardstown Road just happened to have an ancient temple at one end. I bought a few souveniers for people. The views were spectacular, and it was much cooler and less humid that high up the mountain. Very comfortable.

My favorite thing there was the spring that you can drink from. There were these three little almost gutter-like chutes that shot out this great water (hence the temple's name). They provided cups on the end of poles, and you could reach out and collect the water and drink it for good fortune. Very, very cool. At that point I was super thirsty, too, so the timing was great.

After Kiyomizudera, we walked a bit around the Higashiyama district and got a little lost. After two buses and two trains, though, we were home safely. Kyoto was absolutely amazing, and I want to go back soon. The mix of modern and traditional was really cool. We saw a couple of maiko (apprentice geisha). I have this great picture of a woman in kimono making her way across the street without getting hit by cars. Very neat place.

I'm totally wiped out from the day, so I've got to call it quits now. But I'll work on uploading the pictures at a time that I'm not falling asleep on you.

I'm here

I arrived here at about 6PM local time on Tuesday--5AM Tuesday morning for most of you. The whole process of getting here was quite an adventure, and I'll write about it at length later. For now, though, just know that Japan is really hot and humid at the moment; it makes August in Louisville downright cool. Everything is going according to plan, and I'll update with more details later.

I've got all my stuff packed and ready. I'm sleepy and ready for bed, but I have a feeling that even if I lay down I wouldn't be able to sleep. Besides, I need to talk to David tonight anyway.

My flight doesn't leave until 10:00 tomorrow morning, but I have to wake up at 5:45 because I'm flying out of Lexington, so we've got a bit of a drive. Yuck. I'll just sleep on the plane.

So since I'll be far away, I've been eating lots of comfort foods. Chocolate cake, pizza, Tumbleweed, Subway, ice cream, etc. I've probably gained like ten pounds in the last week. >.< Oh well; a diet of rice and fish combined with lots of biking will take care of that. Maybe I should have built up my blubber reserves some more...I'm so like a whale sometimes.

Speaking of which, I think I want to try eating some whale in Japan. My Fern Gully-watching, recycling Nazi self is screaming in opposition, but how often will I have this chance? I dunno. Just a thought.

My next update will probably be from Japan. See you then.