Horpy Tor!*

All Nippon Ferris Wheel Tour:

Cosmo Clock 21 (Central Yokohama), 112.5m : check.
Hep Five Wheel (Central Osaka), 75m(?): check.
Tempozan Giant Wheel (Tempozan Harbor, Osaka), 112.5m: check.

Next up:
Daikanransha (Odaiba, Tokyo), 115m
Diamonds and Flowers Wheel (Edogawa, Tokyo), 117m


Also, Oosaka is fantastic!

Also, Merry Christmas, everyone! <#

*where Tor == your Christmas

Oosaka!

So, I've written a fair amount over the last week or so that I need to go through and post... But no time for that now!

At the last minute, it turns out that I'm going to Osaka for a few days (leaving in about five minutes, back on the evening of the 27th). I'm not sure if I'll have internet access there, so until then.

Merry Christmas!

"Did you go to that AIKOM Party?" "...Which one?"

Against all reason (considering the Japanese speech the next day), I agreed without hesitation to a nabe party this Thursday with a few AIKOMsei and Hana. I had just been thinking earlier today that I hadn't seen Hana in a while, and then, bam. There's no way I could say no. Should be great!

Some AIKOM friends are taking a day trip to Enoshima this weekend, but I can't go. But, that's because it's the same day as the Chabashira Christmas party, which I'm looking forward to. +D
...And I think I'll take a trip to Enoshima some time during the 2-week break, to make up for it, anyway. XD+

Classes end (with a bang in the form of an exam) on the afternoon of Tuesday the 22nd, a week from today.

Not yet completely sure what I'm doing on Christmas, but it will probably involve going to see Christmas lights and eating chicken with AIKOMsei and maybe some others who have no other plans. <#

The 27th is the Chabashira Bounenkai (end of the year party), which will, of course, be my first bounenkai (though I don't know how different it really is from a new year's party in the US XD).

The 28th-29th I'll be going with Joon Woo, Alden, Sarah, Wu Di, Chen Ken and Yang Rei to the touristy area near Mt. Fuji. I've yet to even see Mt. Fuji from a great distance, so I'm excited about just that. XD We'll stay overnight in a hotel/onsen resort near one of the five large lakes there, and tour around the town and maybe part of a tour of part of the famous forest there ("Sea of Trees"). Fff, awesome. First overnight travel~

In Japan, one officially comes of age and becomes an adult at age 20. But, the way it works, traditionally, is that you count your age on the new year. So, everyone who turned 20 this year (which includes many friends of mine here) has lots of special parties this time of the year, and then a special holiday, 成人の日 (Coming of Age Day) on the second Monday of the new year (the 11th of January, this time) for them... Of course, I turned 20 this year, but there's none of that for me, which I found a little sad. But yesterday I got an envelope from Mitaka City (where I live) congratulating me on my coming of age this year, and inviting me, as a resident of the city who turned 20 in the last lunar year, to participate in a ceremony on Coming of Age Day. Which I thought was really nice. Not sure if I'll go yet (maybe if I can get Miwa to come as my interpreter...?).


In the meantime, for this week, one paper down, two to go (both tomorrow - shouldn't be too hard) and another Japanese speech... Oh, TouDai.

"Now I can grow up and work for Karl Rove in peace."

It seems to me that my entries' contents and titles are getting further and further apart. In this case, there is no relationship.

Last night involved a nabe party out with Sarah, Joon Woo, Yisha, Zoe and Eriko and Ryoko of Chabishara. Sukiyaki and Shabu-shabu tabehoudai... Holy cats, so good. I have no idea when the last time I ate so much meat was. I barely touched my rice and ate a fairly minimum amount of vegetables... Ohh, so many tabehoudai meals. I'll definitely get fat in Tokyo if I'm not more careful.


Annual Fellowship Party between Mitaka dorm residents (such as myself) and Mitaka city citizens this afternoon. I skipped the lecture given by a Toudai professor at the start (partly because it was in Japanese, so I'm not confident I could follow it, and partly because I didn't want to get out of bed). The party/reception afterward consisted of having food thrust upon me by the (senior-)citizens of Mitaka, going manically between three languages in order to chat with them, and being very thankful for nametags. There were also some performances, including, memorably, one by part of the Toudai Ouendan team. Ouendan is like Japanese cheerleading, only completely unlike cheerleading. Where cheerleading in the US is done pretty much exclusively by girls, Ooendan was the most over-the-top macho thing I've seen in Japan, by far. It was really something to see. I almost couldn't believe it was real. XD I also met several really nice Toudaisei I'd never met before, including a friend of Takafumi's and Miyamoto's, and one of the Ouendan guys. XD

Afterward, Sarah, Joon Woo, Wu (Kinoko) Di, Yang Rei and I went to karaoke (karaoke in the afternoon, as opposed to evening, is quite cheap), which was great fun. Wu Di and Yang Rei are really good, liek whoa. Not that the other two weren't, but I already knew that. As for me, I sang some Juanes, Masayoshi Yamazaki, and... Mariah Carey, since it's December 12th and someone has to sing All I Want for Christmas is You.
...No, that's untrue. I totally wanted to sing it. XD The whole afternoon was great fun.

And then, coincidentally, another nabe party, but this time in the MSC room. This was was low-budget, so it was almost all vegetables with minimal meat. So I guess it balances out. Stayed there until just before writing this.

This coming week will be another long, tough one, in terms of schoolwork. キモイ. I guess I'd better actually do some work tomorrow. I had so much fun playing all day today, though...

「なくした約束を星に～」

I'm a little worried that I'm not getting enough sleep lately.
...I write, at midnight, when I have to get up at seven tomorrow... >_>
I do think I need to make more of an effort to sleep properly, though. I don't generally feel too drowsy during the day, but I think that may just be because there's no time to be drowsy. I do feel kind of fuzzy, or more so than normal, and it's hard to concentrate. I took a nap today, which I think was very helpful to writing my paper later. Hm.

Anywho~

Reflecting on how successful our studying was in the cafe on Sunday, I decided to go to Gasuto to write my paper today. Gasuto is quite well suited to this for at least the following reasons.
1. Gasuto is a family restaurant, which in Japan means you stay as long as you like.
2. There's an "Grand Cafe" option, which is free-access (all you can drink) to the soft drink bar.
3. It's located very close to the dorm - an easy five-minute walk.
4. It's quite reasonably priced, and most importantly,
5. Because there's no internet access.

When I got there, it turned out that Erika and Etienne were already there, so I joined them. And, like magic, in just a few hours I got a draft of my paper for Asahi done, read the reading for Japanese... And also probably consumed 1500 calories of hot drinks, but that's another issue. It was excellent for my productivity, though. I'll have to do that kind thing more often.

On another note, yesterday I went into Book-Off (used media store) and picked up the first two volumes of the Honey and Clover (or rather, here, Hachimitsu to Kuroobaa) manga for a couple hundred yen. I've been a little unsatisfied with my "immersion" in Japanese language so far. That's in large part my own fault, though, so I thought reading manga in Japanese, especially manga I really want to read, would be a good way to try to work on it. Plus, when, for example, riding the train home in the evening, I'm generally too tired to have the will to get out my flashcards and study, but reading manga in Japanese (also a form of study, I'd argue), though challenging, is fun, so it's much more doable. And, extremely gratifyingly, I have been pretty much able to read it so far. Yesterday I was using my electronic dictionary a lot when reading it in the library, but today, reading it on the train, I didn't, and still didn't really have any problems.

Because of this, I thought about it, and realized it's been almost exactly four years since I first watched Honey and Clover. Four years in a couple weeks, I guess. High school and university, these four-year cycles... An entire one has passed. Four years is, I guess, in my consciousness now, a very meaningful amount of time. Perhaps the time it takes to grow up and go from one stage of life to another.
Yisha, the other H&C fan in AIKOM said, when we went on the Cosmo Clock 21 (the Ferris wheel in Yokohama that appears in H&C) that H&C is special in the way it stays relevant each time she revisits it. I guess I have the same experience. When I revisit other old favorites, I think I relate to them in a very different way than the first time. I see the work and enjoy it directly, but there's also a feeling of nostalgia, which brings with it a certain double vision. I'm reading or watching (or whatever) the work, but I'm also kind of watching the old me that absorbed and reacted to it last time. It's almost that who I was at the time I first took it in becomes forever attached to it in my mind, and really imprints it in my perception even much later. On a different point, I also think H&C has gotten, in some ways, closer to my heart, or at least stayed close because, in terms of viewing the world through art, which I suspect all or most people do, and I definitely almost always do, H&C is definitely one of the more major works to shape some of the lenses through which I see some things.
It's pretty cool that I'm reading the manga (which I've never read before) in the original Japanese exactly now.

"Harajuku girls know how I feel."

I had lots of plans of Friday afternoon (usually the best block of free time I have on weekdays), but I actually just stayed in most of the afternoon, because it was chilly outside.

Friday evening, though, was the "International Cuisine Potluck" organized mostly by Alden. It was more AIKOM than not, but, besides Sarah, several awesome Japanese students (Marie, Takao, Yamaji, Mikito, Keisuke, Shun and Miyamoto, as far as I remember) came out, most of them not even Mitaka dorm residents. And holy cats, the food was so good. It ended up being the second day in a row of tabehoudai food paradise... In fact, it was such a success that we decided to do it every month!
This time I made a big bowl of guacamole, presented with a bowl of corn chips and a jar of salsa. Most of the Japanese students I've talked to had/have never had guacamole. Shock. So, though it wasn't strictly the cuisine of my country, I figured I was one of only three representatives of the New World, anyway (the other two being from Seattle and Toronto). Amusingly, though, Erika (the other American, from Seattle) and I did not consult with each other ahead of time, and both ended up making/bringing almost the same thing.
After eating until we could eat no more, we played Charades for a while, which was uniquely challenging with a group from so many different countries and languages, but very fun. And then cards and chatting and such in the MSC room until pretty late... A great night.

On Saturday a few of us had arranged to go somewhere (not entirely decided where) together, but when we met at the decided time of twelve o'clock, rain that was forecast to last, liek, eighteen hours was just setting in and so, since the forecast for Sunday was sunny, we decided to postpone our day out. I think the idea was for us to get our homework done on Saturday so that we'd have Sunday free, but... Ah, well, it's just hard to actually do work on Saturday, even if it's a lazy, rainy Saturday in.

On Sunday, however, I went with a pretty altered group from the day before of Yisha, Fiona and Joon Woo to Harajuku. I'd actually never been to the famous area of Harajuku, so it was an interesting experience, though we didn't spend a lot of time there; just had lunch. Sunday is supposedly when all the famed harajuku girls in their cuh-razy fashion come out, but because of some figure-skating event, apparently, the area was extremely crowded, and they all stayed in. I only saw one person in an elaborate Goth-Loli dress, and it was a man, so that was a slight let-down.
We had lunch, met Zhemin briefly, then walked back to Shibuya. I also bought Andrew's Christmas gift, fufufu. Fiona left from Harajuku station with Zhemin, so Yisha, Joon-woo and I went to Shimokita-zawa and went to a little second-floor French (or at least French-themed) cafe to do so schoolwork. It was quite expensive, but quite charming, and actually had the perfect atmosphere for studying. Quiet French music playing in the background and not at all crowded, so there was no pressure to leave... So we stayed for a couple hours. I, at least, got a pretty good amount done. We had dinner afterward elsewhere blahblahblah, but that was the most notable part. I think the AIKOMsei, myself definitely included, are taking quite a shine to Shimokita-zawa. <#

Sweets Paradise

On Thursday I woke up when the alarm on my phone went off. As usual, the room was rather cold, though my bed was very warm. I thought about facing the morning rush and oppressively crowded train that goes with having class first period, and about having class fifth period, which ends long after the sun has gone down. I hadn't really gotten enough sleep, and it was very hard indeed to get up. But then I thought, "hey, I already wrote all three of my essays, and took my exam. The hard part of this week is already over." And it became noticeably easier. XD

What I didn't know was how hard it is to go to "Sweets Paradise" and then come home to Japanese homework, for that was yet to come.

Thursday evening, as mentioned a in my last entry, I went to a restaurant in Shibuya called "Sweets Paradise" with a big group of friends (about 30 all together, I think!). The name of the restaurant gives a hint, but at this restaurant, for about 1500 yen (around $17 USD, at current rates) you get all you can eat and drink for 90 minutes. There is also some real food (rice, curry, pasta), but most of it is sweets, especially cake. Normally cake in Japan in very expansive, so it's quite a treat. And, I must say, though simple, these were some really good cakes and tarts and such. We tested our limits and ate until we could eat no more.