Personal Hygiene Day!

Today basically everything I did was related to personal hygiene. So be warned, this might be a Too Much Info post.

Woke up at 8:00 this morning because I had gone to bed so early last night. I did the usual morning routine and gathered my stuff together to go to Kurama for the hot springs, which is located north of Kyōto, about two hours away total, including waiting for buses and such. The ride there was not a whole lot of fun; the train to Kyōto was packed and really hot, and by the time I had transferred to the small Eizan Line train, I was wondering if I should be getting out my little plastic bag for wet things in case I got sick. But my stomach settled and I didn't have any problems. I was really sleepy, though, and I dozed on the way. I feel so Japanese when I fall asleep on the trains.

Right as I arrived at the station, the free shuttle bus from the onsen arrived, so I hopped on that. The driver was really nice and gave me a brochure in English. ^_^ He took us up this crazy narrow residential street winding up the mountain. When we arrived at the resort, I was a bit disappointed. All the literature had made it look like this grand hotel affair, but it wasn't like that at all. It was a little gravel parking lot with some nondescript buildings. But the setting was beautiful: the mountains were so steep, and you could hear the sound of a waterfall nearby. It was really cool.

So I bought my ticket for the outdoor bath for ¥1100 and proceeded to the bath house. You had to walk up this pretty awesome stone staircase under the tallest cedar trees I've ever seen. Right next to the stairway there was a little stream rushing down to meet the big one with the waterfall, with these big ferns along its banks. And the forest smelled wonderful. I hadn't realized how much cleaner the air would seem even just this little bit away from the city. But it was a beautiful clear day, and with the nice fresh cedar smell and musty earth smell it was great.

This onsen was much, much different from the one I went to with Yukari. First, it's small. The outdoor bath is one pool, just the one you see in the pictures. And the shower area was small as well. But this was nice, because it wasn't at all crowded. This is what I had thought an onsen would be like. It was such a nice little rustic place. I mean, it's probably totally contrived as a tourist trap, but I sure fell for it. Beautiful.

The changing room wasn't heated, so I was careful to plan things so I'd spend as little time exposed to the November air as possible. After shoving my things into a little locker, I rushed outside and fumbled with the showers to get the water temperature hot enough. I washed, rinsed, and was totally ready to soak.

I stayed in the water for about 45 minutes, I think. Not 45 minutes straight, of course; it's much too hot for that. But I'd dip into the water for a while, then get out and sit on the side of the pool and just look around. It's peak leaf season here right now, but I was a bit disappointed because the cedar forest around the onsen was quite green. Still, the sun kept coming and going behind the clouds, and the mountains were beautiful. Plus, there was a small garden in the bath area, and the maple tree was a lovely red.

After a while I couldn't stand the heat and steam any more, so I got out and showered again, this time washing my hair. Then I got dressed quickly, used the blow drier, and left the onsen. I felt so refreshed!

I decided to walk back to the station instead of waiting for a bus. The weather was great: I was perfectly comfortable in my jacket and jeans, and sky was really interesting. There were those heavy grey clouds that look like snow, but the sun was also out. This made the fall colors even brighter than they would be normally. The road down the mountain followed the waterfall stream the whole way, so there were all those babbling brook sounds. And so I walked through a little neighborhood down the mountainside, taking lots of pictures of pretty scenery along the way. As I got close to the station, I stopped in some souvenir shops and picked up a few things. At that point it also started to drizzle, so I was glad to have beaten the rain.

On the ride back I stood by the window and watched the scenery. Absolutely gorgeous. It reminded me of the mountains in Kentucky, except that the forests were a mixture of cedars, deciduous trees, bamboo, and palm trees. I half expected to see a Totoro somewhere in those woods. At one point, the sun came out while it was still raining. In Japanese folklore, this means that the kitsune, or fox spirits, are having a wedding. I don't doubt it; Kurama is the kind of place where that could happen.

When I arrived back home smelling all nice from the bath, I did some laundry. Today I also clipped my fingernails, exercised, and did some eyebrow maintenaince, which makes it a Personal Hygiene Day.

And now, to continue the theme, I'm going to brush my teeth before bed. Goodnight.

Not much, again

I've had something of a headache for about the past two days, located above my right eye. It comes and goes, but this morning my vision was a little funny, so I think it's a mild migraine. I get those sometimes. Oh well.

Let's see, nothing spectacular happened in class today. Today the sky looked like snow, but of course it was too warm. We got a little bit of rain. I bought another bar of soap from the 7Eleven because my other one is getting small.

I have a lot of homework this weekend, but at the moment I have no motivation to do it. Hopefully by Sunday I'll feel a bit more inspired.

Tomorrow I'm going to go to an onsen north of Kyōto called Kurama Onsen. I'll go early and try to beat the crowds.

Blah. I want to come home. Three more weeks.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! Few people here seem to care about the holiday, strangely. I mean, I didn't expect the Japanese to be serving turkey sushi or anything, but I was amazed at how many people had never even heard of it. Yesterday I had to totally explain it to Yukari, who seemed completely amazed. And the seminar house Otōsan had never heard of it, either. A large portion of the Americans, too, didn't realize that today was the day. I got a lot of, "Oh, is that today?" responses in class today when I mentioned Thanksgiving. I guess it's easy to lose track of time.

For lunch, though, some of my friends from the seminar house and I went to the campus McDonald's and binged on fried things. Yum! Oh, and Mom made me some cookies that arrived in the mail today, so I've been celebrating with those.

Anyway, classes today were nice and nondescript. Afterward, I went to tutor the kids in English. Again, it was a blast. I wasn't looking forward to skipping my afternoon nap, especially because I'm still exhausted from the onsen. But once I was there and teaching, I had a great time. Tomoko, the lady who runs the school, even gave us mochi (sweet rice cakes, basically) to snack on because today's topic was food likes and dislikes. Yum! Mmm, hot tea and freshly warmed mochi really do hit the spot on a cold, dreary day like today. It's the Japanese equivalent of cookies and milk, I'd have to say. The teaching was fun and the kids were amusing, as usual. They were amazed that I don't like sushi, and they had trouble wrapping their minds around the fact that the English language word for "okonomiyaki" is, actually, "okonomiyaki."

I got home kind of late and was wet from the rain that surprised me on the bike ride home, so I decided not to particpate in our makeshift Thanksgiving meal. A bunch of the Americans in the dorm pooled their monetary and culinary resources to cook things like a glazed chicken and apple pie. It looked really good, but I decided not to have any because I didn't contribute anything, and besides I was quite content with my potstickers. Sounds like a terrible Thanksgiving, probably, but it wasn't. I had a good day.

Like I said, I'm totally beat. So now it's bed time, and I hope tomorrow won't be as draining.

Kristen and the Miracle of Onsens

Today I went to an onsen with Yukari, my speaking partner. From now on, every bath I will ever take is hereby declared a disappointment in comparison to today’s. It was totally sweet.

We took a bus from school to Hirakata-shi Eki, then another bus to Ibaraki-shi Eki, then another bus, this one a private shuttle, directly to Sumireno-yu baths. The building looked like a standard, boxy building. But you walk inside and everything was suddenly very posh. It was amazing, a two-story affair with a restaurant, massage parlor, and sauna-type things on the first floor. The second floor had a snack bar, library, and men’s and women’s baths.

Now, the Japanese word for bath, “ofuro,” can basically be a play on the word for “twenty-six,” so apparently on the 26th of each month they have special deals. That was a nice surprise. So we got a discount, and they gave us bottled water when we entered. For two hours, my grand total came to ¥1000—about $10. Not bad at all for two hours of anything, really; just wait and hear all the great stuff I got to do for those ten bucks! In America, those two hours would have cost me probably $200 at a spa, I bet.

We had left our shoes in a little lock box in the entranceway and got our little ID bracelets, towels, robes, and the bottled water from the lady at the desk. We went upstairs and got other lockers, where we left all of our things. And by all I do mean all. I was left with a hand towel, my glasses (I forgot to put my contact lenses in this morning, which was unfortunate because the glasses kept fogging up), and a bar of soap. Totally naked in front of God and everybody, including some very old women who may well have been animated prunes for all their wrinkles, a little girl probably about six years old who kept staring at me as the lone white person in the place, and my beautiful little waif of a speaking partner. Yes, the awkward turtles were spawning.

Okay, I make it sound terrible. It wasn’t a big deal at all. After living in a dorm for two and a half years, you really do become indifferent on some level to people seeing you naked. I think Yukari was a bit shy about things, actually, but I sure wasn’t. Dang it, I don’t get to frolic around naked from pool to pool very often, and I was going to enjoy it. Plus, my glasses were so foggy that I eventually took them off, so I really couldn’t see anybody else, which made things considerably more comfortable, I think. Anyway, it’s kinda fun to stand naked outside in winter. I’ve never done it before.

So, my Witt friends, anyone up for streaking the Hollow, followed by a nice bath?

Anyway, we rinsed off before getting into the baths. You are supposed to be clean before you enter the water, so it’s not like you’re actually sitting in anyone’s filth, which is much better than one can say about American baths. Really, sitting in a bubble bath is just a “you soup” when you think about it…gross. But this was freakin’ awesome.

First, we went to the outdoor section. It was surrounded by a high wall and had some very nice little garden plants. There was even a plasma screen TV showing the news, so you can sit and soak and get your weather forecast all in one. There were also lounge chairs that would be lovely in the summer, and a nice canopy covering the pools. The water was hot, though no hotter than a hot tub. They had thermometers set up at each pool so you knew what you were getting into; most of the ones we used were about 40°C (104°F). The cold outside air made the water steam, which was pretty cool. Anyway, after chilling (well, I guess “warming” would be a better term) in the main pool, we got into these really cool big urns that were overflowing with water. It was really cool, like swimming in an ancient fountain or something. It also reminded me of that story called “Two of Everything” where an old couple finds a big pot that doubles anything you put into it, which is great when you put in money but bad when you accidentally fall in.

Then we went inside and sat for a while in the bubbly pool, which was basically like a regular hot tub. We also tried the steam sauna, which I didn’t like too terribly much. It was just hard to breathe and kinda smelled funny, and I don’t like being sweaty anyway so saunas are lousy for me. Oh, by the way, none of the waters here smelled like sulfur or anything; some of them did have a bit of a smell, but it was pleasant. After that we decided we wanted to do some non-water things, so we washed off at the shower stations and put on our nice pink robes. I say robes, but they were really capri and tunic sets, I guess. Very comfy cotton, though.

We went downstairs, and it was nice to be fully clothed, I have to say. It was weird seeing the men walk around in their orange robe sets; I had rather forgotten that there was a whole other half of the building that I couldn’t enter because it’s men only at the moment!

Okay, we’ve all heard about Japan’s capsule hotels, right? Those places where you basically rent a drawer to sleep in for the night? The concept might have come from an onsen, really! There was this wonderful, wonderful room that I want to recreate in my sprawling, creepy mansion when I become a billionaire eccentric who frightens small children. You enter and it’s hot—again, about 40°C (100°F)—and very quiet, and fairly dark. There’s a wooden walkway leading through the room, and the floor around the walkway is covered with smooth, dark stones like the ones they put in those nice calming nature-sound fountains at stores like Brookstone. And there are these small dividers every few feet creating little cubicle or stall areas. What you do is take your onsen-provided towel, lay it down on the black rocks, which are heated from below, lie down on top of it with your head on the little wooden pillow they give you, and take a nap! All the while it’s warm and comfy, and there’s water rushing just under your head so it sounds very pleasant. It was great. Any place that actually provides a designated napping area is automatically amazing.

Unfortunately, the heat was too extreme for me to actually fall asleep. Still, it was a great concept, and if I could have turned the temperature down a bit you liketa died getting me out of that place. Then we went into the cold room, which was like an anti-sauna. It was fabulous, with these walls with a thin layer of bubbling water behind them, so it was like being in an aquarium. A pleasantly cold aquarium. Next we sat on these little hexagonal stools that I think were supposed to warm your butt, but I don’t think mine was working. I was underwhelmed, in any case.

And imagine this: You know those ball pool things they have at places like Chuck E. Cheese and places? Okay, imagine that scaled down, with a nice ledge to sit on on the side. And the balls aren’t germ-covered plastic things, but heavy, round pebbles in the colors of your standard Dippin’ Dots ice cream (probably also covered in germs, but I don’t think about that). And the Dippin’ Dots ball pool is heated from below, and you put your feet in and wiggle your toes under the rocks and it’s a lot of fun.

One thing I didn’t really like, though, was this suspiciously oven-like device that made me feel like Gretel in the witch’s house. It was this dark little one person-sized domed structure that you crawled into and lay down on the ground. And then there was this heat lamp shining down on me, and I felt a bit like a forgotten French fry stuck between double cheeseburgers at a McDonald’s. I didn’t stay in there long. It was just weird.

Then we went back to the bath area, did the outside thing, did the inside thing, and took showers. We got dressed, and used the really nice vanity area to blow dry our hair, and Yukari did her makeup again. I was amazed at how much planning they put into this place’s design: they provided everything you could need, from canned Cokes to Q-tips. (You had to pay for the drinks; the Q-tips were free.)

And then we were done, and we took the buses back to Ibaraki-shi Eki. Then Yukari suggested we do purikura, so we did. Purikura is basically this photo booth that Japanese young people tend to go nuts over. And it’s really fun, actually; much better than those American photo booths at amusement parks where it draws you in grayscale and charges you like $17. (Not that I’ve ever actually used one of those; Mom and Dad had the good sense to convince me early on that they are a waste of money, and I still hold to that. But I digress.) So you go in and it’s this fairly large space with nice lighting, and you put in your ¥400 (so it only cost me ¥200 because we were sharing). You use a touch screen to choose the different frames you want, then the insanely peppy teenage girl voice encourages you to strike different poses and it takes pictures of you goofing off.

When you’re finished, it asks you to go to another section of the photo booth (perhaps it should be called a photo mansion, really), where you doctor the photos. You can digitally write things on them, add effects like sparkles and hearts, and even give yourself princess crowns. You choose the size of the pictures, and it prints them out in sticker form so you can post obnoxious photos of yourself surrounded by dancing mushroom people anywhere you please. It was a total blast! My favorite picture, actually, is one that makes me look really, really awful, like a confused hybrid of a pig and a turtle. But I ran with it, and now there are some really funny comments, and a little mushroom man sitting on Yukari’s head. It’s one of those “you had to be there” things.

I was very pleased that Yukari and I were able to find enough conversation to fill most of the day. That had worried me more that anything, honestly. Still, I was nice to be on my own after the draining day of new experiences. When I got back to Hirakatashi, for supper I had a chicken sandwich from Mos Burger, which was delicious but overpriced. And I came home and wrote this monster entry, which has sapped what little energy I had after the onsen.

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving, and I am a little bit sad. I want to be home with my family eating hamburger dressing and going to see some terrible movie that no one actually wants to watch, just because it’s tradition that we go to the movies. But that’s okay, if missing this one meal is my greatest worry in life, I figure I’m doing pretty good. Anyway, I’ll be celebrating in my own way. I’m going to McDonald’s and buying all the stuff I want and not feeling guilty about it. And I will eat as many chicken nuggets and cheeseburgers and fries as I want, and if the Makudo workers look at me funny, whatever. It’s Thanksgiving, and I’m going to celebrate.

Also tomorrow I go to tutor for the last time. It should be fun, but I’m so tired right now that I’m not looking forward to it.

Excuses, excuses

Sorry I didn't update yesterday! At about 4PM the Internet went down in the dorms, and it didn't get working again until sometime after I went to bed.

What to say about yesterday, then? No classes, because it was a national holiday (Labor Thanksgiving Day, I think). It was really terribly rainy and dreary, so I stayed in, napped, and read.

Today, though, the weather is beautiful and the Internet is working. It's been a great day. I woke up to find confirmation in my email inbox that I got a single in Polis to live in for the spring! I'm so, so excited. I've never had my own room before, unless you count my nursery before Erin was born. Also, I got two Thanksgiving cards in the mail today: one from Aunt Louise and her family, and one from Grandma and Grandpa. Thanks, everyone!

It's going to be a crazy busy week, so I've got a lot of homework to do tonight, probably. But for now I'm going to take a much needed nap. I haven't had a lot of energy lately. But that's okay, because sleeping is fun.

Cool Art and Another Rant

For as unsure of what to do with myself as I was last night, when I woke up at 7:30 this morning to go to the bathroom I sure had some plans. So, according to the schedule I had apparently set in my head in my sleep, I went back to bed until 10:30, when I woke up, set up my computer in the downstairs lounge, and made some curry rice for brunch. I ate that during a nice, long Skype date with David. Then, about 2:00, I left the seminar house to go to the Kyōto National Museum.

I timed the trip just right. I entered the museum with two hours to explore before it closed, and it was exactly the right amount of time. The museum is really, really cool. I was amazed at how much super-famous stuff they had. My favorite room was the first one, which contained prehistoric artifacts all the way up through the Kofun Period. Several of the pieces on display were things we had studied in art history, so that was cool. I also got to see this incredibly famous—and way cooler in real life than in pictures—Portrait of Minamoto no Yoritomo. I think I’ll be writing my next art history paper on this work. And I was fascinated by the display of works by Qi Baishi, a Chinese artist I had never heard of before. His paintings are amazing; I love their sense of humor. They’re all very clever, and one of my favorites was this Song Style Landscape. I love it. Also, there was a really cool display of swords and samurai armor. It was super awesome to get to see the armor up close. I had no idea how many knots there were in those suits! Crazy. Really, really intricate stuff. Anyway, I finished looking around right at 5:00 when the museum closed.

Okay, everything below this should probably be considered rated R, and some of the links might be Not Safe For Work, just so you know. Really, it's probably not that bad, but this is more explicit than the stuff I usually write about, so I thought I should warn you.

One observation: a lot of stuff that’s totally permissible here would be completely scandalous back at home. I don’t know, maybe we’re prudes in the States. But my Catholic school alumna, never kissed anybody but my boyfriend, Bible Belt-born self is just amazed sometimes. The extreme shortness of girls’ skirts and the extreme highness of the boots they wear with them, porn shops lining the streets of Den Den Town, the mere existence of maid cafes and host clubs, teenagers wearing t-shirts with sayings in English that you don’t hear on cable at 3AM, pachinko parlors with barely-dressed cartoon women on their advertisements, gachapon machines in toy stores selling teeny sexy naked dolls, chikan, love hotels everywhere. It’s very different.

I know in America a lot of people—me included—like to worry about the increasing sexualization of our culture and stuff. But I don’t think I’ll complain as much anymore after Japan. There are some things that the Japanese are totally chill about that I think we should be too. And there are some things that make me think, “Wow, Paris Hilton really isn’t that extreme.”

Take the love hotels, for instance. They’re not all that sleazy here; they’re clean, safe places where couples go. It’s not like some creepy back alley pay by the hour and bring your own hooker place like we have at home. Not that I’ve been to such places either in the US or Japan; this is all hearsay and my own imagination. But when you can see from the train station a neon pink high-rise love hotel called "Hotel Chapel Coconuts" and their employees hand out discount coupons on the street corners, you know there’s a certain attitude of acceptance about the whole thing. My friends tell me they even have things like arcades and karaoke and stuff at love hotels. A very interesting idea, I think. If such places were to become widespread and acceptable in the US, I imagine the average germ content of the back seats of many American cars would drastically decrease, in any case. Think about that next time you rent a car.

Some of Japan’s sexual stuff, though, just absolutely needs to stop. Really. Like, right now. I am all for cultural diversity and political correctness and all—just ask Mom, she’ll tell you how much fun it is to get me started at the dinner table. But honestly, Japan, this chikan thing has got to stop NOW. A chikan is, basically, the term for a pervert. Specifically, it refers to men who grope people on crowded trains. When your language has to FREAKING CREATE A WORD FOR “MEN WHO GROPE PEOPLE ON CROWDED TRAINS” you know you have a problem. But don’t get me going on my chikan rant; that’s a whole entry of its own.

Anyway, it’s been interesting seeing things from a different point of view. In Film and Literature we’ve talked about how the chivalrous, self-congratulatory West likes to see Japan as a country of sexually deviant heathens who don’t know how to treat women properly. I don’t want to perpetuate that at all. Okay, so Japanese people don’t generally freak out about nudity. That’s cool. And really, if Japan is okay with having a major chikan problem, whatever. Just make sure I can get a spot on the Women Only train car during the morning commute.

What to do?

Today I did absolutely nothing. Slept in, surfed the Internet, napped, ate when necessary, showered, and that's about it. It was glorious.

Except that when the people got back from the Mount Hiei hike, I was really sad that I hadn't gone with them. Turns out that just about all of my friends had gone, which would have made it really fun. They're all excited now about being warrior monks and all. They all talked about it in awe and said it was beautiful, and from the pictures I've seen it seems so. I really do feel like I missed out.

But they also said it was really strenuous and some of the hiking points were actually really dangerous to get around. I heard about numb toes and slipping on rocks. They all looked exhausted, so I know I made the right choice not to go. Still, I'm a little disappointed.

I'm thinking of going by myself maybe on Monday and taking the cable car up the mountain. I don't know.

I'm not really sure what to do with this weekend. The trees are beautiful so I feel like I should go do sightseeing. But the rest of Japan has the same idea, so everywhere is really crowded this time of year. We have Monday off and I have little homework, so I think I should get out and about. I just don't feel like it, though, honestly. I've been thoroughly enjoying my naps. I had wanted to go to Spa World on Monday, but after reading their rules and regulations it looks like I'll have to wait a few days before I'm allowed in the water. So, I've just kinda been hanging around, which is fine, I guess. This is going to be a very busy week for me, so it's nice to rest up.

I forgot to mention the other day that I saw Gackt on TV! There's this really funny show I watch when I can where this group of four comedians in drag and one guest celebrity try to pick out which items on a table are worth ¥100 and which are ridiculously expensive although you'd never know it. The other day, Gackt was the special guest. He's so pretty...too bad his age is starting to show, and badly. He's looking a bit Botoxed, unfortunately. But for someone who claims to be over 200 years old, I suppose that's expected.

This morning I walked to school instead of biking, and on the way chatted with Olga, my friend from the seminar house and speaking class. That was a lot of fun; she's really sweet, and I love her accent. She's from Ossetia, which is cool.

Today I had lunch with Jacinthe, Jessica, and Shane from psych class. We had some conversations that were...interesting. I learned some new words in Japanese, although I can't repeat them here. ^_^ Should come in handy, though.

In Film and Lit today we watched a Shirley MacLaine movie from the 60s called My Geisha. Kind of offensive in that you had this white woman with her eyes taped back talking about "honorable palents," but kind of really cute and romantic too.

I have decided that I will not be hiking up Mount Hiei tomorrow. The cold and strain probably would not do me good. I'm not sure what I'll do intead; perhaps Arashiyama. This is probably the peak leaf color weekend, so I feel like I should go to Kyōto, definitely. I'm just not sure what to do there yet. I don't know. In a few minutes I'm leaving to have dinner and go to the izakaya with some friends, which should be fun; we'll see how I'm feeling about sightseeing tomorrow at the end of the night.

Three Weird Classes and Some Complaints

I leave to come home one month from today.

Classes today were kind of unusal. In Reading/Writing we did a practice version of the Level 3 Japanese test that they use in things like grad school placement and job interviews and stuff. It wasn't nearly as bad as I expected it to be. I wonder how I'd do on the Level 2, which is the next level up.

In Speaking we got our tests back. Turns out I didn't bomb! In fact, I pulled off a low A. >.< Often, when I say that I think I did poorly on a test, it's a lot out of modesty, but I really and truly thought that I failed this one. It was a nice surprise to get the friendly bunny stamp and some swirls of approval/votices of manly accomplishment on my test. That class was fun today, too, because since we've finished our textbook we'll be doing new and interesting things. Today we had a bunch of Japanese students come in, we broke up into pairs, and just chatted with them for the whole class. It was a lot of fun, and I exchanged email addresses with Chiaki, the girl I talked to the most.

In Psych today we learned about Jung and his fascination with mandalas. We even got to draw our own mandalas, which was great! I love coloring, and getting to sit for half an hour in a usually frustrating class and color was awesome. My mandala doesn't look like the example ones, but I guess that's okay. We're going to discuss them next week, so maybe I'll figure out all its deep meanings then.

Tomorrow is Friday, which means that I'll have lunch with Jacinthe and the girls from Witt, and I'm going back to the izakaya with William in the evening. But this time we're going earlier, so I'll be able to take the proper bus back home.

Tomorrow is also supposed to be a bit warmer, which is good because it's really, really cold even inside the buildings here. Remember how I said that they don't have air conditioning in the hallways of buildings? Apparently they don't have heat either. Every time I go down the hall to the bathroom I have to put a cardigan on and run down the hallway before I get frostbite or something. Okay, it's not frostbite bad, but it is lousy when you have to put on a jacket to go pee. Oh well. I'll pretend I'm Laura Ingalls Wilder or something and it's a grand outhouse adventure.

So Japan, here is what I say to you: Either freaking use technology or don't. You're giving me Oto-Himes and Warmlets (heated toilet seats) in the toilet and eraser vacuums in classrooms, but there's no wireless Internet or heated hallways. WTF? Are we super high-tech or really archaic? Pick one.

Technology

It got cold. Like, actually cold. Like, I don't want to ride my bike in 40 degree weather with a strong headwind. ::sigh:: Oh well. At least we haven't had a killing frost yet. Still, even though it's Wednesday and I have a four hour break, there's no way I'm biking back home for Skype today. My ears might fall off or something.

So, something that's been bothering me since the beginning of the year was these little boxes at the front of all our classrooms. They are about the size of a breadbox, light brown, and plug into the wall. I didn't know what they were for until yesterday. Turns out they clean the dust off erasers. You flip a switch and it starts a vaccuum thingy on the top, and you run the blackboard eraser over it and it cleans it for you. It was a lot of fun to play with.

Still, I'm concerned that no one gets the class job of having to go outside at the end of the day and clap the erasers together. I have so many memories of choking on dust in the third grade, or writing my name in chalk dust on the side of the school building.

It's interesting, I think, how we find little devices to do small tasks for us. Like this chalk dust vacuum; do we really need that? How much money and time do we spend producing these things, when we could just as easily whack two erasers together, get some exercise and fresh (though chalky) air, and save all that metal and plastic. Same thing with Oto-Hime. I love the things, but I wonder how bad our carbon emissions are because we're producing them. And I wonder what experiences like eraser-cleaning I'm missing because I let machines do it for me.

Just something to think about.

This is My 100th Blog Post

In the morning I have a test in Speaking class over chapters 22 and 23 of our Genki textbook. These are the last chapters. I have completed elementary Japanese. Yay!

Yay? There’s still so far to go, so much I don’t know! There are many things that Genki doesn’t include, and I certainly don’t know the Genki content nearly as well as I should. I’ve just scratched the surface, and it was, sometimes, a halfhearted scratch at that.

Sometimes I wonder if I want to keep studying Japanese or not. It’s a beautiful language, but it’s really, really hard. I think about how well I could communicate in Spanish by the end of high school, and this seems really pointless. I can’t even read simple children’s books in Japanese; I just don’t have the vocabulary to understand them. Why should I spend so much time on a language when I’ll probably never even be able to read a newspaper article? It’s frustrating. And having been here and used what skills I have, it would be lovely to go home and never utter another te-form verb again.

Of course I won’t quit. I really, really love Imai-sensei’s class. It makes me work and makes me think in fun new ways, Sensei is brilliant, and the people in it are so much fun. Kanji is so much fun to practice, too. I could sit down with a nice gel pen and paper in front of a movie and practice kanji for hours. And the sociological applications of the language are cool beyond cool.

I think I’m just a bit burned out from the whole Japan thing. It’s occupied so much of my life for the last two and a half years, since I started at Witt. Now I’m here in Japan, surrounded by Japanese people, taking five classes about Japan, using Japanese toilets, watching Japanese TV, eating Japanese food, and going to an hour of Japanese conversation practice every morning. It’s overkill. It’s been great, but I’m totally ready to go back to being an American in America. Dang it, I want my Taco Bell and South Park.

In other news, I have been sleeping a lot better lately, though I’m still having some weird dreams. Last night I dreamt that I was supposed to take Erin to school at AHS, except that we were on Witt’s campus. We were about to leave when the Isings arrived to drive us there, just like when they would take me to school. Except Mr. Ising was driving this car that was kind of like a hayride wagon and kind of like the Cat Bus from My Neighbor Totoro. Very strange.

Now I’m a bit chilly and tired, so I think I’ll be off to bed early tonight. Maybe I’ll dream about the Cat Bus again.

Weird teachers, crêpes, and leaves

I had a test in Reading/Writing this morning, and I think it went really well. In Speaking class we watched a few commercials online. You have got to check out these hilarious Fanta ads; it’s okay if you don’t know any Japanese, they’re still funny. Reminds me of those kids’ books The Bailey School Kids, where this class has all these teachers who may or may not be werewolves, vampires, mummies, Big Foot, etc.

After my morning classes I was able to Skype with David and Nikki, clean my room, and take a nap. It was cold this morning, but the afternoon was beautiful and I enjoyed leaving the balcony door open. It was a good day.

For supper, I was supposed to meet William and his friends at Makino to go to a Mexican restaurant there. But his friend—the only one who knew where the place was—couldn’t come today, so we decided to do it next week. That put me in a bit of a spot for supper, because I had very little food. But I made some grilled cheese, and worked on a crossword puzzle with my dorm friends while I ate. That was fun; as college kids we can make anything infinitely more interesting than it normally should be. Let’s just say that there was much inappropriate discussion about what could be a four letter word for “balls.” (The answer? “Orbs.”)

Afterward, Jamie wanted to go to Fresco to buy crêpes from the people who set up their little stands outside the store. Since I needed to do grocery shopping anyway, I went along with him. Crêpe man wasn’t there this evening, so Jamie got these little donuts from a different vendor. I got a lot of shopping done for very cheap, and I should be set through the weekend.

Speaking of the weekend, I’m still deciding if I should go on my art history class’s field trip to Mt. Hiei. It’s a really famous and beautiful mountain outside of Kyōto, and I would absolutely love to go. The only problem is that we’re hiking up one side and down the other. The first two and a half hours would be strictly uphill hiking, plus there would be the hike down as well as the commute to and from the site, which would be exhausting in itself. Having not been able to bike to Hirakata last weekend, I think that might be too much of a strain on my body. But I really, really want to be able to say I’ve hiked up one side of Mt. Hiei and down the other. I’d be able to see Lake Biwa, too. I don’t know. If I don’t go to Mt. Hiei, I’ll go to the Monkey Park at Arashiyama, which will be awesome!

The leaves on campus have started to fall. They were very beautiful coming down in the wind today. But they’re so good about sweeping up the leaves and garbage and debris every day that there’s no way the leaves will collect enough to get a good crunch. What a shame; sometimes it’s good to be tidy, but I rather pity these Japanese kids who are so used to these immaculate yards and parks and don’t get to trudge through crunchy leaves.

Sunday, Boring Sunday

Today was gloriously uneventful. Slept in, ate lunch, did homework, napped, read for fun, ate supper, showered, studied, snacked. That's been my day. Not much else to say about that.

Last night I dreamt about getting all my stuff packed to go home. I guess that's a reminder for me to be confirming my flights and looking into weight limits and such. Yuck; I'm not looking forward to all that. Still, it's exciting to plan for going home.

Tomorrow I have a lesson test in Reading/Writing. Also, I'm going out for Mexican food with some friends, which should be fun.

Osaka's Entertainment Districts in a Day

Last night was a bit rough. Remember that plum wine? Delicious. Absolutely delicious. Also really, really messed with me several hours after I drank it, although I only had two glasses all night. When I got up to use the bathroom at about 4AM I kinda stumbled my way down the hall. It was weird; I just had no balance. So I’ll be more careful with the plum wine next time if I have any at all.

This morning I met a bunch of the Seminar House 2 people for an excursion to Den Den Town. This is Osaka’s big electronics, porn, and anime district, and I was very excited to see it even though I have little appreciation for such things.

There were nine of us, and we all rode our bikes down to Hirakatashi-eki rather than take the bus. This was not my decision. The bike ride was terrible. I couldn’t keep up with the rest of the group, and before long I had lost sight of them completely. I was worried that they’d forget me and leave without me. I was really going as fast as I could, though. Luckily, Martyn, Jacob, and Tammy had sent the others ahead and were waiting for me to catch up, which was nice. We finally arrived at the station and met up with the others. My face was beet red and I was dripping with sweat and quite embarrassed for having slowed everyone down.

You know, I think there’s something wrong with me energy- and strength-wise, really. I have been having more and more trouble just making it up the little hill to campus on my bike. I’ve been eating more fruits and veggies in hopes that it was just a vitamin deficiency, but it hasn’t helped. I get sleepy and bodily tired so, so easily. It’s a bit worrisome. I hadn’t thought much of it until today, but the fact that I was red-faced, sweating, and breathless, getting left in the dust, by eight other people, two of whom are very overweight, seems to be a sign that there may be a problem.

Anyway, we finally got to Den Den Town. Honestly, I was disappointed. I had expected a sprawling, glittering expanse of electronics stores. Instead, it was a kinda standard Osaka city street, except that all the shops, instead of being clothing stores or restaurants, were selling electronics or used video games. It probably would have been more impressive if I knew a good digital camera from a bad one, but since I don’t it was a big, “So what?” moment. Still, it’s one of those things that you’d like if you’re the kind of person who likes that kind of thing, and some of the people I had come with split off from the group and ended up staying until about 9PM! Anyway, we spent some time hunting around used video game stores, and I saw so many old game and game systems that I had forgotten about. Diddy Kong Racing for N64, for instance. Blast from the past, right?

Also saw a bunch of maid cafés, arcades, konbinis, takoyaki stands, and “used book stores” (which generally have obnoxious orange signs and are obviously highly questionable porno shops). I actually really want to go into a maid café, but they’re expensive and I’d be terribly embarrassed.

After having a delicious and filling lunch at a place specializing in gyōza, my group was ready to leave, being the less electronically-minded people of the original traveling group. We decided to go shopping in another Osaka district, and the most convenient subway stop was Nanba. So we went there and quickly found ourselves in Shinsaibashi, the place I had gone shopping with Saho. After wandering around there for a while we found ourselves in Amerika-Mura.

I really enjoyed Ame-Mura. I had heard that it was not at all like America, but I don’t think that’s the case. True, it’s definitely at Japanese shopping district; the sidewalks, street signs and lack thereof, storefronts, etc. are all Japanese. But the shops were playing American music, and I saw more SpongeBob there than I ever needed to. It was cool. There was also a small Statue of Liberty on top of a building, and lots of American flags. Apparently the district originally had a bunch of American shops that are now gone, but they kept the theme going.

At that point I was tired and ready to go home, so our group split up further and I headed back to Hirakata with Jamie and Daniel. The bike ride home was not fun, although not a complete fiasco like the earlier one. I still couldn’t make it up even the smallest hill, so I felt really bad for slowing the boys down. But we eventually made it home safely, and after a shower I was feeling much better. Still, I’m exhausted and plan to go to bed early.

We watched The Princess Bride this evening in the dorm lounge, which was a lot of fun. Joanne, who is from France, had never seen it before (inconceivable, I know), and she really got a kick out of it. It was fun watching with a first-timer.

Tomorrow will be a lazy homework day, I think. We also get to change our bed linens, which always makes me happy.

Oh, and Corinne, today I got you Rurouni Kenshin volume 1 in Japanese. It’s really nice, with the proper coloring and all. I've been attempting to read it, and it's so cool to get Kenshin's speech style in the original Japanese de gozaru! I think you’ll like it; can it be your souvenir/Christmas present/birthday present/welcome home present?

Stuck at the bus stop

I'm really sleepy and I've got to get up at a decent hour tomorrow to go to Den Den Town, so I'll keep it short.

Classes today were fine, though I wasn't happy to have to go to reading/writing. The weather was lovely, too. Took a nice nap this afternoon when I got home.

This evening I went to the izakaya in Hirakata with William. We sat there for about three hours drinking, eating, and gossiping. It was a lot of fun talking about the things we miss at Witt. I also discovered the most delicious plum wine. It was like drinking liquid candy, and I wish I could have had more, but that would have been a Bad Thing. It was nice to be out of the house but still doing something chill.

By the time I headed home, the last bus had already left, so I was stuck at the station. I panicked at first because I didn't want to walk home alone in the dark, but then I realized that I could either take a taxi home or try to find another bus route that would work. Luckily there was another bus coming that wouldn't be as convenient as my normal one, but it would work. So I rode that home with a bunch of office workers coming home after a long week.

Seriously, everything here closes so early. Groceries close at about 7:00. The last bus home on a Friday night leaves at 10:58. Restaurants are closed by 9:00 unless they're bars. I mean really, in the US if a restaurant closed at 9PM on a weekend, it wouldn't last a month. It's just a very different time schedule, I guess. I don't like it. I want my 2AM Taco Bell.

And now I'm tired and going to bed.

Oh, but an update on the burns: My fingers are totally fine now. They stopped hurting last night, actually. The burn wouldn't have been painful at all, probably, if it hadn't been directly on my fingertips.