Last two weeks in Japan, first two weeks back in the US

Time to wrap things up in this blog, I guess. The first part of this is things I've written here and there complied.
This will probably be my last post on this blog.

1. Last two weeks in Japan

August 2nd-6th, I went to Aomori with Satoru and Etienne! The night bus there was painful, as night buses usually are for me, as I'm not very good at sleeping in general, and especially not on buses. But the city was quite nice, Satoru's family (mostly his mother, though talked with this brother and father a bit too) were totally awesome and lovely and generous. We participated in the Nebuta Matsuri, with costume, jumping for hours, and all, which was slightly embarrassing at first, but actually quite fun. The Nebuta are really awesome in person. We also went to the beach a couple times, went canoeing (!!), and enjoyed onsen each night. A really excellent trip! On the night bus back, maybe partly because my being sick was reaching a peak, I slept more than I've ever slept on a night bus before. Not enough to not sleep half the day when I got back, but enough to make the ride non-miserable. XD

Because of Obon and the dorm staff being quite 勝手, I had to get my room ready to check out of in five hours on the ninth. But I did it, somehow. 学んだことは：信じれば・・・何とかなる。ｗｗｗ I actually needed up moving out into the floor lounge for a little while. I was feeling homeless for a little while, but then I started getting offers to stay with people from mall sides, and realized I could never be homeless in Tokyo. <# I love those people so much. I did end up storing most of my luggage in Alden's room. XD

Went to Hana's family home in Kobe with him and Joon Woo. His mother showed us some sadou, Joon Woo and I walked around various areas of Kobe, the three of us when up into the mountains and played with sheep and cows before eating gyuudon, and I took a day trip from there to Hiroshima to see Miyajima and the Genbaku Dome.Kobe is such a nice city, I remember constantly thinking that I'd like to live there. I had very little time on my day trip to Hiroshima (partly due to taking the cheapest trains to get there, which take a very long time), but I really enjoyed that as well. Miyajima is really かっこいい, and the Peace Park was quite moving. And, of course, again Hana's family's generosity blew me away.

Went back to Tokyo Friday morning to wrap things up there.

Had a small farewell dinner Friday night with Etienne, Erika, Miyamoto, Alden, Ryuutarou and Chou, and then I saw Akabane and Taiga briefly afterward, which was really nice. +) But really hard to say goodbye.
Stayed up 'til around four re-packing, taking a package to to post office at two, feeling weird about leaving... And then got up, hurriedly got ready, got sent off by Aprille and Ayu, took a taxi to Kichijouji, a bus to Narita, and a plane to Detroit.

2. Since I've been back in the US.

When you sign up for study abroad at UofM (and probably at many other schools), you're required to attend a whole series of informational meetings and such. One of the big themes of them is about dealing wit culture shock and depression that can set in upon arrival.I was fortunate to never experience this in Japan. Not to say I didn't commit any faux pas or was never surprised, but there was never a sense of "shock," and certainly no depression. But, coming back to the US, there was some of both.

Now I suppose I'm mostly used to it again, though not quite entirely.

My sense of time is also a bit distorted. It's almost hard to conceptualize my time in Tokyo in-line with the rest of my life. Rather, they almost feel like two separate lives. I keep referring to two years ago (the 2008-09 school year) as "last year"... Or maybe I'm just in denial about my time on exchange being over and still want to call it "this year." +P

Besides people (and food, public transit, weather, Heiwa Nakajima, etc.), I really miss speaking in Japanese. More than I even thought I would, and I definitely thought I would. There's really no one around me right now who I can speak it with, though reading and playing on the internet in Japanese has helped. I need to find some Japanese people soon, though. Definitely looking into JSA as soon as I can.
besides general missing the language, I guess it's not surprising, but those things that I can't really say in English I really miss. Wanting to say 出た！ when Jason deployed his special technique in a game (which I'd heard of from others), and realizing I couldn't, and couldn't think of a good way to say it in English... Really made me miss Japan in general.
I think only twice so far have I actually accidentally said something in Japanese during an English conversation (where the other party doesn't speak any Japanese). One was searching for an English word and saying "何という," and the other, an example of something I can't think of a natural way to say in English, "いろんな意味で."

Though i will say that prices here, especially on food, are way cheaper. I didn't notice so much when I went to Tokyo, probably because I hadn't been shopping for myself much beforehand, but coming back the difference has been quite striking.

I'm sure this year will be tremendously fun and valuable, but I do really, really miss Japan.

To cover the events that were still in the future at last entry:

I finished my papers the day before yesterday! Yay, real summer break~
Kind of related, I also found out that Kage-sensei is taking a one-year sabattical at UofM next year! In the Political Science department and Center for Japanese Studies. Why, may major is poli sci, and my minor Japanese... I guess I'll see her there. XD

Kendo was fun, though kinda sad. I was also told that my tare is done (I don't actually remember ordering it or anything... But I'll totes be happy to get it), so I guess I'm definitely going next week to get it. XD

Yesterday was great fun, though definitely did renew my feeling of needing improve my listening comprehension. We bowled int he morning (Sakoya is so good fff), had Yakiniku for lunch (I am depressed that my body no longer is happy to eat a ton of meat with nothing else), bummed around for a while, went to karaoke, and finally izakaya. I'm sure it'll be the last time I see some of them before I go to the US... But hopefully not all of them. XD

Today I have many errands to do before boarding the night bus with Etienne and Satoru to Aomori this evening. I guess I should get out and do them~

富士山に登らぬ馬鹿、二度登る馬鹿

Uh oh, I haven't updated this blog in a while. Summary version, gogogo. To actually force myself to keep it short, I'm make everything into... Three sentences or less each!


July 15th: I went to beach with Erika, Etienne, Chen Ken, Yisha, Ayu, Trang, Mina, Francesco and Alden of AIKOM, as well as Ryuutaro and an Indonesian guy named Nugu who I net for the first time. Afterward some of us also went to Enoshima, where I'd never been, and it was beautiful. I especially enjoyed talking with Ryuutaro for the first time really since the Kii Peninsula trip, it was great meeting Nugu, and generally an excellent day. (Okay, those were some long sentences... >_>)

July 16th: The official AIKOM 15 Completion Ceremony, and campus farewell party. Practically everyone cried at the ceremony/reception, and then the nijikai afterward was twice as lively as usual. It was a really wonderful, and really heartbreaking night.

Sometime: I sent by sea-mail (the cheapest) a box to myself, since I have too much stuff to get back to carry to the airport. I'm gonna have to send another one or three yet, I think...

July 18th: I had a luncheon with Heiwa Nakajima Foundation, which was, as always very ritzy, with incredible catering. This was different from the normal meetings I have with them, in that some 40 of their ~100 scholarship recipients from across Japan gathered and basically socialized for a few hours. This included the lecture on some really academic topic in exceedingly difficult to understand old-man Japanese that comes with Heiwa Nakajima, and also a gift of necktie (the print is hard for someone under 40 to wear, I think).

July 18th (night): Although some AIKOMSei were gone to Okinawa, we wanted to do something that last night before the first AIKOMsei, Deww, really left Japan the next morning. The in-Tokyo AIKOMsei plus Takao brought a ton of food and sparklers, and it was quite a nice time, even if our nighttime picnic did get some strange looks. XD

July 19th: At the AIKOM completion ceremony, I'd remarked to Miwa that I'd found Japanese food saltier than food in the US, which shocked him. He decided (probably correctly) that this was probably because I never cook and, thus, living by myself, almost always buy prepared food in one form or another (bento, restaurant, etc). Since he lives with his family in Tokyo (Jiyuu Gaoka), invited me for dinner, and I went and enjoyed his mother's delicious cooking and fun conversation.

21 July: I ate Kobe Beef in Ginza with Trang, Shahenda, Stephan, Fujita (the restaurant was his recommendation), Matsunaka and Trang's tutor! I hadn't seen Matunaka (aka Oolong-cha-san) in ages, so that was especially nice. +D
Afterward we went to a cafe and sipped drinks and chatted for a while, and then to a 和紙（Japanese paper) shop, where I bought a couple souvenirs for peeps in the US.

21 July (night): Nomikai with Boccha-sensei and company. This night was particularly fun and memorable, and also ostensibly a send-off party for Stephan with that group. I especially enjoyed getting to talk to the group of Boccha's other's class that I got to know on the Yokohama trip in June.

22 July: Was a sort of Farewell dinner ("Last Supper") for Sebastian, Yang Rui and Trang (making them the second, third and fourth AIKOMsei to go) leaving for their home countries tomorrow. I'm pretty close with Sebastian and Yang Rui in particular, and lately with Trang too. Remarkably, as more and more people kept showing up, even with two AIKOMsei outside Japan and seven traveling outside Tokyo, we had, at the peak, 15 AIKOMsei, meaning more than half of everyone, and everyone who was in Tokyo but one (and she had a good reason) there in the Mitaka Gasuto (our true home). XD

23 July: Send-off party for Stephan that included a fishy ("atmospheric") izakaya in Shinjuku, a cockroach (very related to previous point), and karaoke.

24 July: I went to the Hanabi Taikai (Fireworks Festival) in Choufu-shi with Chabashira plus Wu Di and Chen Ken! It was really pretty and really fun to spend the evening with all of them.

25 July: instead of working on essays as originally scheduled, I went to Tokyo Disneyland with Hatakeyama! Getting up at five to get into the park when it opens at 8:30 am, staying until it closes at 10 pm, and getting back after midnight, combined with the (as always, since the rainy season ended) 35-degree temperatures totally wiped me out, but it was a blast. XD And he really did know the park cuh-razy well; as expected of the Disneyland-otaku with the one-year pass.

27-28 July: There is a saying in Japanese, "富士山に登らぬ馬鹿、二度登る馬鹿。" which means approximately "He who never climbs Mt. Fuji is a fool, as is he who climbs it twice." After climbing it all night, reaching the summit just before sunrise (~4:30), and getting back to the starting point around 10, this saying completely matches my feelings. Climbing Mt. Fuji was a beautiful, moving, fun, amazing experience, I am so glad I took the chance to go, and I definitely recommend that all of you definitely do it if you have the chance, but, never again. XD

29 July (today!): After sleeping about 16 consecutive hours after getting homef from Mt. Fuji, I went to campus and finished another paper, meaning I have just one more left! After that I met a small group (seven of us?) including Zoe and Takao, for a little last fun with Bastien, at another fairly nearby Hanabi Taikai (fireworks festival). This time wasn't so crowded (...still quite crowded though), and so a little less stressful, and great fun.

Tomorrow: Hopefully I'll finish my last essay! ...But we'll see. Also, send-off party for Zoe and Yisha (and Bastien?)! We're losing numbers fast...

Day after tomorrow: Kendo!

Two days after tomorrow: Fun with the group of Boccha students (but not Boccha himself) I first got to know on the June Yokohama trip! Quite looking forward to this!

Three days after tomorrow: Going to Aomori with Satoru for a ~3 day (plus 2 days of travel) homestay, including enjoying Nebuta Matsuri, one of the three biggest festivals in Japan, and canoeing!

A lot going on lately...

信じられないことに

Today was my last class of the semester, of my 3rd year of university, and my last class at TouDai.
(I still have four papers to write before I'm really done, though...)

Tomorrow I'm going to the beach with AIKOMsei and some other friends!

The day after tomorrow is the AIKOM completion ceremony, after which I'll be an AIKOM graduate, and AIKOM 15 will be officially over (AIKOM 16 begins, of course, on October 1st, or whatever the appointed day is for them).

On Monday, the first AIKOM-15-sei will return to her home country.

Exactly one month from today I will return to the US.

この最後に一ヶ月、存分楽しんで、学ぶようにする！

I'm sure my life will be quite different because of AIKOM.

送別会の季節が始まった

The season of Farewell Parties has begun.

Yesterday was the first, the Farewell Party for AIKOM at the dorm.
I couldn't take any pictures because I was wearing a kendougi and hakama (it was a costume party with the ビミョウ theme of "日本っぽい" ("Japan-ish")), but here are some stolen from Facebook (from Kouki and Wu Di).

It was really a fantastic time that involved sushi, dancing, singing ３月９日 (sort of the AIKOM 15 theme), a surprise break into a coordinated dance number by some of the other AIKOMsei, a costume contest, cake, a sideshow (ヤベェェェ), video messages from the AIKOM Office Staff (the reaction from everyone to Kimi-sensei's was priceless) and from Ryudo (in the US now), the distribution of the plaques with messages all we AIKOMsei wrote to each other, fireworks, and then a nijikai covered by the rich alums that come to dorm events once in a while. Tears were shed, a lot of hugging went on... Ahhh, I had such a good time, but I am going to miss these people so, so much.
Me (with sword borrowed from Kouki-senpai), facing off with Mina (as Kiki of Kiki's Delivery Service) and her 現代箒.


From left to right: William as a vampire, Akine without costume, myself with the temporary addition of Yamaji's cap, Yamaji as "party Ranger," but temporarily without his cap, Sho (mostly hidden), and Hana as "Modern man (ironic)."


Fiona as some kind of Gloomy monster, in line for curry.


...No caption I can think of really works, so I'll just let it go. Well, I will say that I pleasantly shocked to see Zhemin in any kind of costume, though I guess if MSC did it...



AND today was another farewell party, thrown by Chabashira. Pictures aren't on Facebook for me to steal yet, and the only couple I took are lame, so. +P But it was also fun, touching, and involved some tears. XD <# I'm really sad to part with these people.

私と漢字の物語

I ended up with a lot more time than I expected this evening. Unfortunately, I didn't really do anything productive with it at all. But I did write this.

私と日本語の漢字との関係を一言で説明すれば、「ストックホルム症候群」だ。
日本・日本語で、「ストックホルム症候群」はよく使われているだろうか？通じるだろうか？
ストックホルム症候群というのは、簡単にいうと、連れ去られた人が連れ去った人を愛するようになることだ。

実は英語で、ストックホルム症候群("Stockholm Syndrome"）はちょっとスラングのような使い方もある。

例えば、私と漢字との関係の話。

初めて漢字に会った時、どちらかというと、嫌いだった。韓国語のように、日本語を全て仮名にすればいいのにと思っていた。
漢字のない日本語が勉強したかった、でもそんなことはない。
漢字との時間は辛かった、でも逃れられなかった。
で、何十時間も漢字と過ごしたら、いつのまにか。。。
漢字が好きになった。

今なら、漢字のない日本語は想像できない・・・というか、想像したくない。

Translation:

If I were to sum up my relationship with Japanese Kanji [Chinese characters used in Japanese], it would be "Stockholm Syndrome."

In Japan/Japanese, is "Stockholm Syndrome" often used? Is it understood?
Stockholm syndrome is, to put it very simply, where someone who has been kidnapped comes comes to feel some kind of love for their kidnapper.

Actually, in English, "Stockholm Syndrome" also has a slang-like use.
For example, my relationship with kanji.

When I first met kanji, if I had tosay anything, I hated kanji. If only Japanese could switch to being written all in kana [phonetic characters] like Korean, I thought...
I wanted to study Japanese without kanji, but there was no such thing.
The time I spent with kanji was painful, but I couldn't escape.
And then, after spending some tens and tens of hours with kanji, before I knew it...
I liked kanji.

Now, I can't imagine Japanese without kanji... Or rather, I don't want to imagine it.

能力試験、終わった。

結局、I never really wrote an entry about the Kii Hantou trip. I guess what I said before, which is that was simply one of best weeks I hope to ever spend, is enough.

Highlights from June, based on other things I've been writing down:

• Saw the movie 告白 (Confessions) in theater. It was quite good! Though totally different from what I expected (I think the movie posters were intentionally misleading - but I think I like the kind of movie it was more than sort of thing it was advertised as, anyway). That I was able to understand it so well was even better.
• More earthquakes~
• Carpal tunnel auuugh studying hurts so many parts of my body
• After much sweating, as Yaguchi sensei didn't reply to my email, and still didn't, and still didn't, I finally ended up going with Robert (of Chicago, not of AIKOM) and his mother to Takayama for a couple days. Included were exciting times at Nagoya station, finding that the last direct train to Takayama had already left, three-story portable shrines, a Higurashi-esque village, a lot of cicadas actually crying, onsen, snow-capped mountains, wasabi-flavored soft-serve, the longest ropeway (cable car) in Japan (in Asia?), and much more.
• Robert then stayed in the dorm with me for six days or so! Highlights include karaoke (kind of a failure, but kind of a success), my (and his, I guess) first real venture to Akihabara (...kind of a failure, but kind of a success), a return to Kasai-Rinkai Kouen (and its Ferris Wheel), and spending, together, over 8000 yen at Book-Off.
• Getting a little more decisive about the future, and finding that law school is probably not where it's at.
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y77_v4WgAGk There's been a lot of talk about goodbye parties and the end of the AIKOM 15 exchange, etc. lately. Bawwwwww
• Heiwa Nakajima decided to give me another month of scholarship money, since I decided to stay until the middle of August. Unexpected 120000 yen? Yaaaaay~~
• It was kind of close (only a day or so to spare), but I met my goal of 2000 Anki cards (my main [and pretty much sole] engine of formalized Japanese study) by the end of June. +D
• Went with Chabashira to Kawagoe. +O It was... Not very impressive. XD+ I had a good time talking to people, though.
• Went with Bocca-sensei to Yokohama. Very much fun talking with people.
• Went with Boccha-sensei (actually my group was with Arai-san) on the "Magical Mystery Tour" yesterday, which turned out to be to list of sites in Shitamachi. The place Boccha-sensei recommended the most on our list of destinations was closed for renovations, but we got to eat local specialty cuisine, as well as popsicles in the park, so that was nice. Before this, I'd only ever really talked (or tried to talk, anyway) with Arai-san when he was drunk, and though he was still Arai-san when sober, I got to know a much more おとなしい side of him, which was nice. XD
  
• Talked a lot with Hatakeyama lately, and also made plans to go to Disney Land, about which he is apparently very 詳しい (he has a season pass +O )
• Was supposed to go Firefly viewing with Chabashira tonight, but it rained. D+

Also, today I wrote two short things in Japanese.
The first, written for fun (...holy cats, getting to a point where I can write for fun like this? FFFF)

先週、傘が壊れた。
友達が新しいのをくれたのに、
それも電車に忘れてきてしまった。
それから、試験の勉強で忙しくて、新しい傘を買い に行かなかった。
で、今日、
雨に降られた。

おわり。

Translated (needless to say, not as fun in translation, since nothing is):

Last week, my umbrella broke.
Although my friend gave me a new one,
I forgot that one on the train.
Since then, busy studying for a test, I didn't go to buy a new one.
And, today,
I got rained on.

The end.


And, second, about the test I took today that I've been studying for for so long...

今日、初めて日本語能力試験を受けた。気づいたらそんな公式な試験は４年ぶりだった。

いつも日本語で書かれている漫画を読んでいるおかげか、文章の理解はあまり難しくなかった。
よく日本人の友達・サークル のメンバーと飲み会に行っているおかげか、聴解も難しい問題はなくて済んだ。
でも文法・語彙はちょっと。。。　まじめな勉強は不足しているせいか な？笑

試験をとる前には、一番心配になっていたのは聴解だった。普段は読むことなどより、聞き取りが弱いと思うからだ。でも、取ったら、 逆に聴解は多分一番よくできたと思う。意外だったけど、文句はない。笑

多分（そんなに自信はないけど）合格ぐらいはできたと思うけど、合 格してないかもしれないし、合格だけじゃなく、点数も結構大事だそうだから、それはちょっと気になっている。でも、９月に結果がわかるから、その時まで、 今回の試験はともかく、勉強でがんばり続こう！

今日はN2（前の制度の２級とほぼ同じはずの）を取ったが、もし落ちても、１２月の試験 は、N1を狙おうと思っている！（間に合うかな？いや、信じればできるから。。。）

Translated:

Today, I took the Japanese Language Proficiency Test for the first time. Thinking about it, it was the first time in four years that I'd taken such an official test.

Perhaps it was thanks to the fact that I'm always reading manga in Japanese that the reading comprehension section wasn't too difficult.
Perhaps it was thanks to the fact that I often go drinking with Japanese friends and club members that I also managed the listening comprehension section without any great problems.
The grammar/vocabulary section, though... Perhaps because my "serious" study is lacking? XD

Before taking the test I was most worried about the listening comprehension. This was because, usually, I think that, more than reading and such, my listening skills are weaker. But, after taking it, I think that I probably did best on the listening comprehension section. Unexpected, but I'm not complaining. XD

Probably (although I'm not all that confident), I think I at least passed, but I may not have, and besides passing, I've heard that the actual score is also pretty important, so I'm somewhat concerned about that. But, I'll know the result in September, so until then, putting this time aside, I'll continue studying hard! [argh there is no non-weird way to translate this into English that I can think of]

Today I took N2 (which is supposed to be about the same as 2kyuu in the old system), but, even if I failed, I now want to aim for N1 in December. (I wonder if I'll make it in time... No, if you believe, you can do it!)

"But I DO 気にする!"

Back from Kii Hantou trip.

I can't describe how fantastic it was. I mean, really. I tried to make a short list of bullet points about it for now, until I write more about it, probably in a few days, but it didn't work at all. Suffice to say it was probably the best, most memorable week of my life so far.
For now, though, FIVE PHOTOS (which is to say, less than 1% of the photos I took).


The first morning (around 6 am, I think), after taking the bus all night from Tokyo to Ise. This is some AIKOMsei (plus Hana) at the beach at Futami Okitama Shrine (where the Meoto Iwa are).


Joon Woo in front of the highest waterfall in Japan.




Giovanni, Miwa, Alden, me, Yamaji, and Sho at Ooyanohara, in front of the largest Torii in Japan (and thus, the world).



My favorite picture of the trip from my camera! Mina, Yisha, me and Yamaji, at the hotel on the second (real) night.



Finally, although it doesn't show anything terribly related to the trip, because I like the photo, Mina with some carp. Taken in front of a museum we didn't go into, in Nara, on the last day.


Now I am effectively jet-lagged from not sleeping all week and then sleeping all day today. Though it's 1am now (I'm normally totally usuelss for schoolwork after liek, 9pm), maybe I'll start my Yaguchi essay, since I really don't want to do it tomorrow evening.

「妙にでかいね、小さな世界を照らす～」

Originally written (but not posted) last week (I'll set the date on the post appropriately):

-Being in two clubs with conflicting schedules really sucks. Splitting my time between them, I'm not really able to participate in either as much as I want... D+++ I like both so much, I can't quit...

-Although I couldn't really participate in very much of the actual 五月祭 (the school festival in May - at TouDai's other main campus [Hongo], and only two days long), the Chabashira uchiage afterward was a blast. So glad I went. <#

-Spitz has so many amazing little songs I keep discovering.

-Kii Hantou trip from Tuesday (the day after tomorrow) night! +DD

-My current pledge to not speak English except in class and in situations which particularly call for it expires tomorrow. Not sure what I'll do (extend?) after that. This last week was rather bad for Japanese, though, in that I didn't add nearly enough to my SRS, and also broke my pledge and spoke some considerable English... Uaahhh...

Mashup of things written since the last time I updated this:

I read The Little Prince in Japanese recently. I really, really liked it. Reading a whole book that's not manga (even if it is a children's novel) in Japanese for the first time was pretty cool.

Since then I've been reading a lot of manga. I discovered that the manga I had been reading was a lot harder to read than most manga. So now, I have more normal manga, and have been reading voraciously. It's slightly expensive (not too bad, since I buy it all used), but it's for ~study~...

Using monolingual dictionary was hard at first, but I'm starting to get quite convinced of its awesomeness. The one time it failed me so far (the difference between 解く／とく　and 解く／ほどく), Satoru kindly (and very throughly, with surprisingly good drawings and everything) explained to me.

I learned that おにぎり　=　お握り. Mind blown again. Japanese amazes me every day.

Recently, I keep having this strange experience where I look at a word that has multiple kanji (that I haven't known for years), and, without any effort or thought, and without parsing the characters individually, the meaning and reading (sounds/way to say it) comes to mind instantly, and I sort of feel like, "Whoa, how did I do that?"
Oh yeah, I guess there was a time when I looked at each letter in English, too...XD Practice, practice... For a while there I wasn't reading that much in Japanese for fun, but it's good that I am again.

Talking with Akabane-san and some people I met for the first time, middle names came up. As a habit carried over from high school (where there was another person with my first and last name in my year), I quite often write my middle initial on things, so they knew I had one. Akabane was saying how it'd be cool to have one, so I replied that, sure, a middle name is nice, but I wish I had a name that had kanji. At which they brainstormed together and finally gave me the kanji 小鈴　（コリン, Korin). (As a side note, I go by Korin more than Colin here, and exclusively by Korin to this group of people.)
It's a bit 可愛すぎる and 女の子の名みたい, but it's fun. XD
And, coincidentally, though when they gave it to me I knew 鈴 as "small bell" (via RTK) and the word suzu (鈴 - meaning, happily, "bell"), but just a few days later I encountered the word 風鈴 (fuurin - which, by its kanji and the context I saw it in, means, quite transparently, "wind chime"), which uses the "rin" reading of "Korin."

Today I finally decided not to got to Okinawa with AIKOM friends in late July, the period after classes end and before I go back tot he US. I really wanted to go; it seems like it'd be a really amazing last AIKOM memory... But, although I have enough money to go, I decided it'd be better use the money for other things.

Sunday was the Chabshira birthday outing for May! It was great fun. I was given a 扇子 (Japanese folding fan) by Chabashira, which was cool, some awesome 白虎 socks with metallic thread by Koyanagi, and free dessert by the restaurant. <### I also made a new friend who I really liked. I feel like I've been meeting a lot of awesome people lately, which is bittersweet since I'm only here a couple more months... It was actually my first time in an American chain restaurant in Japan, and it was totally surreal. Reverse-culture-shock or something. Finding I'm currently more used to Japanese restaurants than American ones is the weirdest feeling evrar.

I totes forgot until yesterday, but tomorrow we're going with Boccha-sensei on a bit of a field trip, to several places. +D One of them is Yasukuni Shrine (~controversial~). The really, really awesome part about this, though, is that thanks to Boccha-sensei's connections, we get to go into the inner shrine, which is normally closed to the public (liek, even several of the Japanese students, whose classes matter somewhat, are skipping their other classes to come, since it's a pretty unique opportunity). Excited~

And, of course, Kii peninsula trip from the first of June (a week from today). Week long trip with all of AIKOM, some of the senseis, and a few Japanese friends... Fuuuuuuuu so excited.

And Robert is coming not long after that!

最高の誕生日

So, Joon Woo asked me if I (as a native English speaker) would look over his paper that's due in Yaguchi-sensei's class (that we're both taking) tomorrow. Of course I said yes, so he said he'd come up to my room when he got back to the dorm. 全然あり得る。

But, actually, when I opened the door a group of seven of my closest friends of AIKOM surprised me and cheered and pressed sweets on me. And then we ate them together in my room.

<#####################forever 何 か、愛されていると分かった。凄く感動した！

My first earthquake.

A year ago today I found out that I'd gotten a place at TouDai in AIKOM, and that I'd gotten a scholarship that meant I could claim that place. <###
Of course, today I'm busy being depressed about how little time is left. XD

Not really. But I do increasingly feel like I need to try harder in the time that's left. Related, I've recently found some better Japanese radio online (the two stations I get on my actual radio are both pretty bad). Yaaaaay~ Not that it really relieves my withdrawals from US public radio (still off-limits, as it's in English)... But it's something. Seeing how I am at TouDai, there are probably people who know about good Japanese radio, if it's out there. I should ask around.

Tomorrow my 15-day (I think it was) pledge of speaking no English aloud whatsoever when outside of classes conducted in English will end. I think I'll renew it, until the end of the month, for now.

In other news, I felt an earthquake for the first time today! There've been a few that other people have said were feelable while I've been here, but I'd never noticed them. I was sitting in my chair, diligently studying, and actually felt my chair shake, looked around and saw the curtains swaying a bit, saw people on the street going about their business as normal... And eventually decided that it probably was an earthquake. It only lasted for, liek, ten seconds, tops, and nothing fell over in my room or anything, but it was kinda cool. A few minutes later people (in other areas of Tokyo) were posting about it on Facebook, so I was sure. Earthquakes are kinda scary... But I'm also kinda glad I got to feel one. XD

Also, I went back to Kendo yesterday after missing two practices in a row before that. <# Maybe it's just because I'm still recovering things I used to know/be able to do but lost, which is perhaps a much faster process than normal learning, but I really can feel some improvement at each practice, which is immensely gratifying, even if overall I'm still terrible. I even got really praised by one of the senpai I did "jigeiko" with(? This may have actually happened before... But anyway, it was certainly the first time I believed the senpai XD).

Some recent notable events:
Some time over Golden Week I went with Sarah, Joon Woo and Team China (including, somewhat unusually, Yu Chen) to 外延前, where we ate a pasta restaurant Sarah recommended. The sign read 生パスタ (nama pasuta - "fresh" or "raw" pasta) which at first bewildered those of us who had never been. Usually you see "nama" in front of "beer," meaning beer that's from a tap, not a bottle... And besides that, yeah, I only knew it as "raw," as in what sashimi typically is, or sometimes something like "plain," as in eating bread straight out of the bag. The restaurant was tiny, just one room (with kitchen area divided off by only a counter), so we got to watch them prepare our orders. The pasta came out of plastic packages, and was already soft-ish; not dried (though they did then cook it in hot water). So I guess that's what it meant. It was, by the way, the best pasta I've had in Japan, easily. Ffff so good.
After that treat we went to 自由ヶ丘, a neighborhood famous for its sweets shops. It has an annual Sweets Festival, which is, as it turns out, that week, and was in full-swing. And holy cats, there were a lot of sweets shops. Joon Woo took us to some famous ones, and I ate two deserts, which were both excellent.

Also, there was the Chabashira Golden Week BBQ, which was a blast, although it involved getting somewhat sunburned on my part. We went waaaay out to the countryside (well... By Tokyo standards, anyway), to a place on a river with tons of BBQers. Chatted, played with frisbees, waded across the river, cooked over fires, and had a good time. <#

「本当の自己紹介させていただきます！」

A week ago was the 新歓コンパ　for Kenyuukai, which... Wasn't that different from normal Saturday practice, in most ways. We practiced, then adjourned for food and drinking... Then 二次会 for more of the same, which is as normal. I managed to do the formal self-introduction correctly for the first time ever, (学生注目！　(何だ！）　わたくし、誠にせんえつながら自己紹介をさせていただきます！（お！）　Ａｎｄ　ｓｏ　ｏｎ）, although later in the evening I felt totally unable to communicate at all... Well, it comes and goes. I had a really good conversation with one other ichinensei, whose name I still cannot remember, got rained on heavily and hailed on painfully on the way to Shibuya, and was taught about 飲みニケーション　by my wonderful　Kamada-senpai, and had many other memorable experiences.

Perhaps most memorable, however, was a revelation. For the past three weeks or so, there's been a slightly shifting and changing group of ichinensei (newcomers to the club, basically), which I've been a part of. Maybe around eight or ten of us on any given day, and twenty altogether (at least, at the shinkan konpai). But... It turns out that two of them were actually third-year veterans of the kenyuukai, sent to infiltrate us/try to get us to join. XFD. One of them I'd never really talked to much, and actually didn't know who he was. But the other, Yamauchi, I'd talked to quite a decent amount. It was especially interesting for me, though. All the other ichinensei expressed a great deal of shock when they found out, and made him drink and such (as is, along with the infiltrating itself, apparently tradition of the club). But, though I certainly wasn't aware he was actually a 3rd year, I knew he wasn't a normal ichinensei, and wasn't very surprised at all at the revelation. My theory about this is that the strategies I've developed in my ~7 months in Japan so far for dealing with the language barrier allowed me to see through his facade to some extent. Since I can't understand what's being said, I rely much more than other people around me on learning things about what's going on at any given time by watching and observing in non-verbal ways. In this case, perhaps I was actually not blinded by his words the way the others were. ...Of course, this means that, in some way, I want to come to be able to deceived by the words as they were... XD Anyway, it was pretty funny.
(And then, perhaps I just wasn't as shocked because my poor Japanese leads me to talk pretty much the same way to anyone who isn't a teacher, so there was no "zomg I've been using such casual language with my senpai!")

Got kinda sick. Just in time for the start of Golden Week fuuuuuuuuuuuuu--
But, although I slept, liek, 18 hours on Thursday, I felt 90% normal yesterday and today, so maybe it's already mainly blown over. Because I still can't breath too intensely without starting to cough terribly, I decided that I needed to go to neither the Chabashira Oni Gokko game nor Kenyuukai practice today. Bawww, I wanted to go.

I registered for the JLPT (日本語能力試験), 2kyuu, for July. So, I've decided to start using the JLPT tango list again (which I was doing for a while, then quit). But, I'll use it with the AJATT sentence method, which will surely take a lot longer to input into SRS, but result in better learning. よし！絶対合格から！

I had my presentation for Kage-sensei's class (Aspects of Japanese Society - about pretty much that, social issues) today. Every student has to present over the course of the semester, and I just happened to be early on, so now I'm fairly in the clear.That class is, I think, da new bomb. Fascinating and satisfyingly academically meaty (some courses this semester I took because they promised to leave me with a lot of time to work on Japanese, and they do, so far, do that satisfactorily, but they are just not that stimulating).

Oh yeah, and on Monday I went to a circle (the name of which I still don't know) that discusses... World issues? I've actually been once before, when Zhemin randomly grabbed me (that time the topic was the movement of labor force in Asia). That first time I met a guy, whose name I also don't know (he's Chinese, so I can't even guess from the Kanji on my contacts list>_>), who invited me to this second one, on Monday, particularly because the topic was about US-China-Japan relations, and I'm, well, from the US. I couldn't actively participate much, but I understood pretty well, and it was pretty interesting. I may start attending these regularly, partly because it's all in Japanese, and partly because they have been so interesting.

Also related to pursuing topics of interests while working on Japanese, I bought a gardening magazine the other day. I am such a middle-aged auntie at heart, the way my heart melts at vegetative propagation of ornamental plants. It's surprisingly easy to read, so far. Actually, though the Japanese is at that perfect level that's just a little challenging, a lot of the actual content is, dare I say, a bit below my level? Maybe because I come from a place where things don't actually grow for half the year, or maybe because I'm a student and it's how I often approach things, I've spent perhaps as many hours reading about plants and their maintenance/upbringing as actually working with them. So maybe I've already covered too much ground for my own good. Anyway, I've learned lots of useful words from it, as well as Japanese plant names, which now enable me to talk about this hobby in Japanese much better.

｢学生注目！」

Kendo's been pretty great. I'm getting back the feel for it a little. Yesterday I think I even understood something new that I never had before (though I can't say with total certainty, since I've forgotten so much). And, besides the kendo itself, I really like the club/social aspect. Nomikai after Saturday's practice was a blast.

I went to kabuki for the first time yesterday, at the Kabukiza in Ginza. Normally one has to line up well in advance, but since there were only 13 days left until the current Kabukiza (dating from 1924/1950) closes, to be demolished and rebuilt over a few years, it was more severe than normal. We left the dorm around 6:30 am and still lined up for close to three hours... But, we did get (sitting) seats (the number of available seats was cuh-razy low - liek, 60 sitting plus 40 standing), so it was worth it. Of course, the imminent closure of Kabukiza is the greatest reason we went all of a sudden.
As for the actual performances, there were three in the "morning" portion, which we saw. The first was a special one written for the losing of Kabukiza, and was pretty enjoyable. The second, longest one, was the story of this warrior who was ordered to take the head of a prince, in battle, but can't, because he owes a debt to the prince's mother, and instead kills his own son (plus a lot of other complications). It was pretty boring. The third was a dance, with a short (quite funny) kyogen in the middle, which was my favorite. All in all, though, a decidedly good time. The Japanese throughout, spoken in a very stylized way, was exceedingly difficult to understand (or even hear, in our 4th-floor rafter seats), but I did my best.
Also, I bought opera glasses, which are so much fun.

I need to find new reading material in Japanese now that I've finished H&C. Hm. Not sure what that'll be yet, but I'll find something soon.

Golden Week is coming up . I think I am too poor (after sending more and more of my scholarship money to the US to pay for school, plus anticipating the costs of about three remaining trips starting in June) to do any serious travel then, so I'm thinking it'd be good to take the opportunity to see more of the things around Tokyo I still haven't seen/want to see. Hopefully the roses here will start blooming around then (seems like the timing should be about right) - there are a lot of famous gardens in and around Tokyo I'd like to see.

Also, I cannot believe that school year in Michigan is ending. What. My semester just started. XD

Now I think I'll continue the battle to change my flight, then go to Kichijouji to eat some kind of donburi for dinner and rent more CD's. Oh, Sunday~

On Thursday I wrote:
今日、財布を忘 れた。これで２度目。でも、ポケットに硬貨があったから、 定期券を持っていなくても電車に乗れたし、 学校にも遅刻せずに来られた。教室に着 いたら、鉛筆も忘れたと気づいた。で も、友達は貸してくれた から、別に問題にならなかった。普段は、その授業は１０：４０に始まるけど、１０：５０になっ ても、学生は6 人しかいなくて、教授もいなくて、そ のときようやく今日は休校だったと思い出した！
信じられない、今日の自分・・・今朝何もできなかったけど、結局何もな かったから、大丈夫だった。まぁ、そんな日もあるな。＾＾；
Translated:
Today, I forgot my wallet. That makes this the second time. But, I had some change in my pocket, so even though I didn't have my railway pass, I was able to take the train, and wasn't late to school. When I got to the classroom, I realized that I'd also forgotten my pencil. But, a friend loaned me one, so it wasn't really a problem. Normally that class starts at 10:40, but by 10:50 as there were only six students, and the professor wasn't there, we finally remembered that the class was canceled today! XD
I really can't believe myself today... I couldn't do anything this morning, but, in the end, nothing happened, so it was okay. I guess this kind of day sometimes happens. ^^;;

I should be able to finalize which classes I'm taking by tonight. If not, then certainly by tomorrow night.

• Failed to find a dougu store in Ikebukuro that I'd found online on Thursday; walked around for about an hour, looking for it... Which wasn't so bad, as it was my first time exploring Ikebukuro at all.

• Went, the next day, to a store in Ueno. Chatted and conducted business in Japanese, got what I needed, awesome.
• More classes... They were okay. Hopefully Monday and Tuesday will prove more inspiring. They at include have Boccha-sensei and Yaguchi-sensei's classes, which are sure winners.
• No internet at home again. Probably my fault this time. Not all bad.
• A hectic and memorable incident on Friday wherein, trying to get a student rail pass (some 13000 yen cheaper than the normal one) which students with special status (like me) aren't normally allowed to get, we raced against the clock, scouring the campus and our mobile phones' contact lists in order to outwit the authorities of TouDai and take advantage of the (temporary - hence the racing) security gaps of the rail company. In the end, we got them~ It feels so good not to pay to go between Kichijouji and KomabaTouDai Mae again (I also managed to get one last semester, though it was a lot easier, since the various officials weren't as well-informed about the rules back then).
• Went to the kendo circle on Saturday. Today, everything is still sore. XD I'm sure I was a nuisance to everyone, not understanding the commands in Japanese... But it was fun, and good, anyway. It's hard to believe that it's been about a year since I went to a kendo practice, except that I was so much worse than normal/before. XD Afterward was nomikai, which was quite enjoyable. I only remember a few names, after many, many introductions, but that's alright. As one kind of amazing side note, one of the girls I met is a graduate of the very high school I went and talked at last month. +O My only complaint was that Ralf, who also went, stuck so close to me all the time. He's a nice and interesting guy, but I want to talk in Japanese, and to the Kenyuukai members~ Anyway, I was nervous before, but now I'm really excited about it. :D
• Rental CDs banzai!
  May Tsutaya live for 1000 years.
  I rented five CDs (Suga Shikao, Spitz, Angela Aki, Core of Soul and Exile) for 1050 yen. +D
  It's terrible/great. They rent them for such a short time - there's no question if you're just going to rip them (like I did). They even sell MP3 players there in the rental store, next to the rental CDs.
• Also, I bought some kinako spread last week, forgot about it, and finally tried it yesterday. Fffffff so good. This makes up for the lack of good peanut butter in Japan.
• Today I got to campus around 10:30, thinking I'd study Japanese (i.e. read manga in Japanese and occasionally input things from it into SRS), and then go to fourth and fifth periods, the only classes I have (or might have, anyway) on Monday. There weren't many people walking around... But it was raining, so it wasn't too surprising... And then weirdly few people in the information technology building... And then building one seemed empty? What? And then I finally realized, around 2:30, that today is TouDai's entrance ceremony, and there are no classes. Hooray, more Japanese time for me~
  

On Saturday I wrote, very fast:

今日（しかも今から十分後に）一年ぶりに剣道の修行に行ってみる。日本では、新しい学年が始まったばかりだか ら、今こそ大学の剣道サークルに入るチャンスだと思っているんだ。

自分の国で一年間大学の剣道部で修行していたけれ ど・・・その大学の学年が去年の四月に終わってから、ずっと練習していない。

ここの剣道サークルの部員は英語ができない ということは、日本語の勉強という点から考えればいいことだけれど、私、ちゃんとコミュ二ケーションできるのかな？！

何 か緊張するなぁ！

Translated:
Today (actually, in ten minutes), for the first time in a year I'm going to go to a kendo practice. Japan's school year has just begun, so I'm thinking it's a good chance to join a club.

In the US I practiced kendo for [about] a year, but... Ever since the school year of my school there ended in April, I haven't practiced at all. The members of the kendo circle here don't speak English, which, considering it from the point of view of Japanese language study, is good, but I wonder if I'll be able to communicate well with them. ;;
For some reason I'm really nervous!

(Varyingly) big decisions: day 2.

1.　この曲も好き！
2. 　昨日、日本語が分からなくて落ち込んでいて、授業が始まる前に日本語能力試験の二級の

単語リストを全て覚えると決めた。実はもうそのリストの ５分の４を覚えたけど、今日またAJATTを読んで、リストを止めることにした。昨日リストを覚えると決めたばっかなのにな。でも、あのカツモ トさんが言ってることは多分本当だ思う。そこで、今から、前と同じで、日本語が進歩するようにするけど、さらに、もっと楽しくようにする！

Right now, what I want more than anything is to speak better Japanese. In my frenzy for better Japanese, I've been studying 5-10 hours per day for most of this break.
But, right now, I am pretty convinced that taking J6 (the highest level AIKOM Japanese course, which I was scheduled to take) won't be particularly useful toward that aim (of speaking good Japanese). And besides being fairly useless in itself, J5 was by far the biggest time drain last semester, which means it'll take a lot of time away from more meaningful work on Japanese on my own. This is not due to any particular fault with the course or instructors, which have been very satisfactory for what they are.
I've been hesitating for a long time, not really committed to taking it or not, but now... If I can fill my schedule without it (should be simple), I've decided to do so. Not looking forward to defending my decision to the teachers when they ask me (especially the nice ones, who I'll totally feel guilty whenever I see, I'm sure), but, for my Japanese I think it's the only decision.



(Also, the H&C manga in Japanese, which I've been reading a lot more/faster, is so good.)

拝啓なこの手紙読んでいる貴方はどこで何をしているのだろう

• 先学期の成績が出された。全部Ａだったけど、一つの問題があるかも、で、月曜日に君先生に相談しに行く。
• この 曲好き！
• 新しい学期は七日からだ。まだ授業選んでないけど　（まだ選べないの）。
• 経済的にできれば、ＪＥＴを申し込むつもりだと思う。「今日決め た」というより、今日気づいた。ずっと考えてたかな。日本での生活は最近ちょっと前より大変で、楽じゃないけど、八月に国に帰った後、絶対 戻って来たい。だから、ＡＩＫＯＭの残っている四ヶ月のためだけじゃなく、ＪＥＴのためにも、もっと日本語の勉強で頑張りたい。
• 今、 来年の授業も選ばなくちゃ。つまり、卒業までの計画を立てる。信じられないな・・・
• これから、前よりちょっと日記を少なくすると思う。時間がないし、もっと日本語と今の日本にいる時について考えるべきからだ。

• Last semester's grades are out! All A's... But there seems to be a problem with my transcript, so I'll go to ask on Monday.
• If it's financially reasonable, I think I'm going to apply to JET for the year after I graduate. More than I decided today, I realized it today. The possibility has been in my mind for a long time.
• I'm now trying to plan my classes for next year (I register in a week or so, so I need to decide by then, and because of this year abroad I have a lot of graduation requirements left that need to be carefully fitted in together). What that means is, in fact, planning out the rest of my courses until I graduate. Unreal.
  

Terry Gross, Robert Seigal, Melissa Block, Dick Gordon, Ira Glassssssssssssss

Auuugh, I so miss NPR. In the US I listened to it constantly. In Japan I streamed it online regularly until fairly recently, when I pledged to listen to only Japanese audio.

...But Japanese radio culture is, so far, just not very good. I mean, I'm in Tokyo and get only two stations? Wtf is that.

Strength, Colin. Japanese isn't going to master itself.

A short book about my trip to Kyoto.

I have various things I want to write about!
But for now I will restrain myself and write about my trip to Kyoto. *cracks knuckles*

I did add a lot of pictures, so most people (*cough* everyone but me) can just look at those and skip the text if they feel so inclined. I hope you're not using dial-up~


On the night of the 22nd Miyamoto (who recently moved out of the dorm) came to the dorm, we talked for a little while, and then he went and spent the night in the MSC room. The next morning we set off.
As previously mentioned, we were using the Seishun Tickets, which are basically unlimited-riding passes for 24-hours on JR lines (but only the two slowest classes of these). For ￥2300 each, they are the cheapest way to travel between Tokyo and Kansai this time of year.
So, we had a laid-back eight hours or so sitting on trains, reading, chatting, dozing, eating 駅弁 (my first time eating on a train), and getting off to change trains every couple hours or so.
The last stretch, the hour and half or so outside Kyoto, was my favorite. The forecast had said rain, but it had been clear most of the day, and we were hoping the whole time that it wouldn't start, but, finally, as we got into Kansai, it did. The sky was gray but not dark, and the clouds scattered and blurred the light so that it didn't seem to be coming from any distinct angle. Also, that train was one with many small benches for two that face one another, rather than the two long benches alone the sides of the car and standing room between, as I usually ride in Tokyo. Because of that, maybe, and because there were fewer doors, which were spaced further apart (also a consequence of the train being used in a different way - not as much need to get so many people on and off quickly), there was a lot of window area, and the inside of the car seemed unusually bright. The scenery was also particularly nice. It was peaceful and very non-Tokyo as the train cut across the rice fields there, with just a little bit of rain on the windows.

One unexpected moment for me was when I heard the conductor announce that the next stop was Hikone. Hikone (not to be confused with Hakone, where I took a trip with AIKOM and a bunch of TouDaiSei and sensei last month) is a sister-city of Ann Arbor, my home town. I applied for an exchange program there when I was in middle school (though I probably never got very close to going). It's also where one of the UM programs is, and where I think a casual friend of mine from high school (and a couple classes my first year of uni) is studying right now. It was kind of strange to watch the town go by and try to imagine what it would have been like to be there instead of Tokyo.

When we got into Kyoto we bought umbrellas, and then Miyamoto went to stop by Tou-ji (one of the bigger tourist temples in the city, a world heritage site, which the high school he went to is inside of), to see if he could get in (it was almost 5 - pretty late for temples) and see anyone he knew. I went off to look for hotel. At first I didn't see it, but I did come upon a temple that was very impressive from the outside. It turned out to be Higashi-Hongan-ji, but it was closed for the day, so I just walked around outside the outer walls a bit, looking. I then went back and did find my hotel, but it was almost time to meet Joon Woo and Miyamoto for dinner, so I went back to the station. Another curious thing happened somewhere in there, however. While consulting the map of Kyoto that Miyamoto and I had gotten at the tourist information center in the station, I happened to see, because it was very near where I thought my hotel was supposed to be, marked on it (very small, and among a thousand other things), the Consortium of Universities in Kyoto Campus Plaza. If I didn't get into TouDai, that was where I almost certainly would have gone. It was my second choice, and where, for the space of an afternoon or so last year, I thought I would be going after getting a confusing email. So that was a little weird, right after Hikone. All these could-have-beens I didn't expect to encounter. Of course, Kyoto was in fact my second choice, and TouDai my first, so it's not a regret at all, just kind of curious. And though Hikone is great for people like the friend I mentioned who's there, who don't speak Japanese, it wasn't what I wanted whatsoever. For that matter, I can't even say Hikone in Japanese; it always comes out jumbled or as Hikoni on my first try.

We had dinner at a restaurant in the station complex, which was very enjoyable, and even included some (a little) "Kyoto food". Afterward we split up and I went to my hotel. I checked in, and was shown to my capsule. I have to say, I liked it. At maybe ￥500 more per night than an average hostel, I had a locker and a personal space (well, a screen that completely closed me off visually, if not audibly). It was really as much space as I needed. And, no surprise, although the "room" was not more comfortable than my room in Mitaka Dorm, the bed (...which pretty much was the room, anyway) was much more comfortable than my bed in Mitaka Dorm. It was still not very late, so I had some time. I finished the manga I'd brought with me (it ended on a cliffhanger, too - why didn't I buy more before leaving? D+) and started on the copy of The Little Prince (in Japanese, so actually 星の王子様） which was hard and involved a lot of dictionary action (I was shocked by how many non-common-use kanji were in this ~children's novel), but was entertaining nonetheless. I slept deeply.

Kyoto Tower

A small gate of Higashi-Hongan-Ji

Inside the capsule, looking toward my feet

...And looking the other way.

The next morning I got into contact with Wu Di, who, with Chen Ken and Yang Rui, got into Tokyo on the night bus around seven am. They were exhausted and went to rest, however. Miyamoto had gone to his home near Osaka for the night, so took some time to get back to Kyoto, and then went to his high school again for a couple hours. I ate a konbini breakfast and set out for some nearby landmarks that I could reach on foot, the nearest being two world heritage sites, Nishi-Hongan-Ji and Tou-Ji. It was still raining steadily.

Nishi-Hongan-Ji was first. My basic impression of it was that it was デカイ. Big. Like Higashi-Hongan-Ji (to which it's closely related), it takes up more than half a block, with walls and a small moat all around the perimeter of the temple complex. But more than that, the main buildings were just enormous. There wasn't really that much to see, some of it was being worked on, and there was some kind of private event in one of the main buildings, so I couldn't enter. Still, there was very impressive atmosphere about the place. Old, and silent, and not the most popular among tourists, I guess, as there were about five people in the whole, enormous area. The rain was also keeping some people away, I guess.

Outer wall and moat of Nishi-Hongan-Ji

Half of one of the main halls

A roofed passage connecting buildings

I liked the guys holding up this water basin.

When I'd had my fill, I went off to the more famous Tou-Ji, with it's five-storied pagoda. As Wikipedia says,

The pagoda of Tō-ji stands 54.8 m high, and is the tallest wooden tower in Japan. It dates from the Edo Period, when it was rebuilt by order of the thir Tokugawa Shogun Iemitsu. The pagoda has been, and continues to be, a symbol of Kyoto.

The grounds were quite nice as well, and my favorite was two halls from the 14th century housing bronze statues from the 8th and 9th centuries. Tokyo just kept burning down over time, notably burning pretty much entirely in WWII, so there aren't a lot of actual old buildings here, though the old temples were rebuilt on the same ancient sites. So Kyoto, which has seen relatively little fire, was very impressive in that regard (of course, it goes without saying that I've never seen a lot of very old things or buildings in the US). In the case of Tou-Ji too, of course, the temple was actually established in 796, apparently near were Rashou-mon stood.

Tou-ji pagoda from afar.

Pagoda with sakura.

One of the 14th-century lecture halls

After that, I met up with Miyamoto, and we set about finding lunch. We went looking for an obanzai buffet we'd heard of. Obanzai being traditional home food of the area, it seemed like a very appropriate thing to do while visiting. When we got there we found that they were closed every Wednesday and Thursday (wat), and since it was a Wednesday, we were out of luck. However, decently nearby was another obanzai buffet, which we ate at, and which was excellent.
After that, we headed toward Kiyomizu-dera, another very famous temple and world heritage site. The way up to it was quite interesting, lined with tons of little shops up the sloping street. Kyoto is pretty much surrounded on all sides by mountains, and many of the temples, including Kiyomizu, are on the slopes of the mountains facing the city. Kiyomizu-dera itself was (and remains) the most memorable temple I've been to. The buildings were beautiful, the view back over the city was great, the sakura were starting to bloom (although it was still raining, of course)... We even drank water from "one of the most famous springs in Japan" from silver cups. The entire complex was just gorgeous.

Me in front of Kiyomiza-dera's second gate

Miyamoto on the way up the steps to the temple

Looking back at the main building and the city below

Looking up from near the spring we drank from

Afterward we walked back down the street, eating free samples of yatsuhashi (a famous food product of Kyoto, sold absolutely everywhere there might be tourists, which is everywhere) and drinking free tea along the way, which was pleasantly warm in the cold damp weather. We sort of wandered north a bit, considering going to Koudai-ji, but eventually stopping by Yasaka-Jinja instead. It was there, at that fairly pretty and large shrine, that Miyamoto taught me (when I asked) the word 朱色 (something like "vermilion"), which became my favorite word (saying something, since I'm studying a lot of words per day right now). It's the name of the color of the red-orange color so prominent on many shrines and temples, the usual color of torii, the red gates at shrines, and a color I've really liked since coming to Japan.

Afterward we were contemplating where to go (so different from Joon Woo and his finely-detailed battle plan of a daily schedule, checking off destinations as he goes), and decided on Sanjuusangen-dou, which was one of a handful of places I definitely wanted to go in Kyoto this time, no matter what. So, we walked across Gion to a station, and went down to it.

Sanjuusangen-dou was another of my favorite places. I don't know if there's much to see at the temple besides the main attraction, but we didn't really look. The main attraction is a very large sculpture of the Thousand-armed Kannon, and, surrounding it, 28 statues that are all national treasures of Japan of other dieties, as well as one thousand life-sized sculptures of the Thousand-Armed Kannon. A thousand. Life-sized. All carved from wood (and covered with metal) by hand in the 11th and 12th centuries. And all with differing facial expression and hand gestures. They were lined up all along this huge hall... It was really stunning. In fact, when after a huge section of them that went on and on, I thought we'd gone past them all when we got to the main single sculpture (much bigger than life-size), and I realized we were only halfway.
It was of course forbidden to take photos inside, but I yanked some from the internet (that I'm using without permission, in the spirit of completeness).

Plaza at Yasaka-Jinja

At Sanjuusangen-dou: To give a sense of scale, the statues on the sides are larger than life-sized. .

A thousand life-sized, hand-made, unique statues

After that, Miyamoto went back to his home in Osaka. He'd come home from Tokyo in large part, I guess, to guide us (or at least me) in our/my tourism, but was apparently told to eat at home with his family at least one night. XD Reasonable enough.
I walked down shijou from around the middle of the city toward Gion. I ended up with some extra time before I was to meet Joon Woo and Team China for dinner, so I walked to the nearby Kennin-ji, mostly because it was nearby. I didn't know it until I got there, but it was (or claims to be) the oldest Zen Buddhist temple in Kyoto, founded by Eisai, who is said to have introduced Zen to Japan. It was very pretty and atmospheric, and also pretty deserted. Kennin-ji and Nishi-Hongan-Ji were really the only places I visited that weren't swarming with tourists (aside from a small amount of swarming I did myself). The buildings were all closed for the day, but the grounds were open, so I wandered around, and also up a neat little street to a five (?) storied pagoda that seemed nearly as large as Tou-Ji's, but which I'm not 100% sure belonged to Tennin-ji (pretty sure, though).

After we all met up, we found ourselves between Gion, a very expensive but historic and interesting district, and a cheaper district with an atmosphere more like, as Joon-Woo put it, "around kichijouji station." We decided to try our luck with Gion. The weird thing in Gion was that the streets were really empty. Perhaps because most the restaurants serve only a couple customers per night. We did see what was probably a bonified geisha walking down the street, though (Gion is known for being the place to go to maybe see them). Finally we found a fairly reasonably-priced restaurant that Joon-Woo had even heard of in his famous-foods-of-Kyoto research, so we went there and has the unagi, which it was (apparently... maybe) known for, and it was pretty good.
After that it was back to the capsule, and this time almost straight to sleep.

A deserted path at Kennin-ji

Street leading up to Kennin-ji's (?) pagoda

A pretty spot in Gion: a canal crossed by little bridges and flanked by sakura and restaurants.

The next day I was to meet Team China at Kinkaku-ji first thing int he morning, with Miyamoto joining us just a little later (since it takes a while to get to Kyoto, especially northern Kyoto, from his home). At this point it had not yet ceased to rain the entire trip, and this day was colder, though Miyamoto said in a text that it was supposed to stop raining later. I had another konbini breakfast, eating it while hiding from the rain under a ledge at the entrance to Kinkaku-ji while waiting for the girls. When they arrived, we went in.
It was fairly impressive. I should say, Kinkaku-ji literally means something like "Temple of the Golden Pavillion," and is the temple's popular name, not its official name. As that name suggests, the temple is famous for its pavilion that is coated entirely in gold leaf. In the rain it was pretty, though there was some sense that it might be better to see it shining in the sun. The grounds were also among the nicest I've been to.

Kinkaku-ji and its pond.

A bowl (filled with rainwater) at Kinkaku-ji that people tried to throw coins into.

Yang Rui trying her best.

After that, we went to the nearby Ryouan-ji, where we met with Miyamoto. Ryouan-ji is most famous for its rock garden, built/arranged in the 15th century. Again, being from the non-East-Coast-US, where there aren't exactly a ton of things very old and continuous (that is, still on their original site, and, as in the case of the rock garden and its walls, not even particularly restored), it was pretty interesting. We sat and pondered it for a little while, then walked around the grounds, which were, again, quite beautiful, including a large pond and a lot of really pretty landscaping.

Walking on the grounds of Ryouan-ji.

Part of the famous rock garden.

More Ryouan-ji grounds.

Pond at Ryouan-ji

We then had lunch at the obanzai buffet that was closed the day before (I don't know why it was open this day), which was alright, though not as good as the previous day's, I think. Afterward we headed to the opposite end of the city to see Fushimi-Inari-Taisha, which is famous not for the shrine itself, but for the mountain behind the shrine, on which are thousands and thousands of torii (the vermilion gates at shrines I mentioned before), all gifts from individuals and businesses around Japan.
We didn't have time for the full course up the mountain behind the shrine, through the winding tunnels of torii, but we went up a little ways. It certainly made quite an impression. In the cold, misty weather (it did finally stop raining by this point), it was even a little creepy sometimes in those long tunnels. Definitely another place I really liked and want to go back to with more time when I get the chance.

The entrance to the torii passages

Miyamoto and Chen Ken inside a torii tunnel.

On these ema you could not only write on one side, but draw a fox face on the other.

A torii tunnel from the outside.

Finally we headed to Nijou-jou, to see it at night, because it was in the middle of a special light-up event lasting a few weeks. It was fun to go with everyone, and we all drank hot vending-machine drinks and looked at the sparsely-blooming sakura (still too early, there), but it wasn't too impressive. The area within the inner moat was entirely closed off, so we pretty much just saw the grounds, which were alright but not exceptional. At the end there was a little area with vendors' booths set up, where Miyamoto and I sampled sake (I always feel awkward accepting samples when I know I won't buy, but not Miyamoto, I guess XD) and the girls bought soba-flavored ice cream, despite the cold.

Finally, we met up with Joon Woo and, surprisingly, Keisuke, who had gotten in from Tokyo just before (his hometown being Kobe, which is fairly nearby to Kyoto). We all had shabu-shabu/sukiyaki (my favorite of all Japanese cuisine). Because it was all-you can eat, we ate mostly meat, of course. XD It was pretty fantastic. I can't remember too much of dinner conversation, except to say that Joon Woo talks and talks like none other when he's had a drink, and my listening comprehension of his Korean-accented Japanese only goes down. XD It was a great meal, though. If I had more money I would eat sukiyaki so often, and get all kinds of cancer and salmonella from red meat and raw eggs. It would be worth it.

A pretty gate at Nijou-jou

Nijou-jou inner moat

Getting ready for sukiyaki and shabushabu

Afterward I had a somewhat hurried trip to the station (I didn't realize how far we were, I guess). And... Well, see the previous entry.

When I realized that another seishun ticket (riding trains all day for dirt cheap) wasn't going to work, I contemplated staying in Kyoto for the day and getting a night bus back to Tokyo (a cheap hotel room and another night bus ticket would probably not be more expensive than a shinkansen ticket). But, by that point it was very late, which meant finding accommodation (this is Japan) would be hard, and I also did kind of want to get back to Tokyo to study, lame though that is. So, the next day, feeling pretty terrible from having gotten no sleep, I investigated options for getting back to Tokyo, but ultimately just bought a shinkansen ticket, despite the price. Getting to my bed (hard though it is) in Mitaka at 9:30 am, was worth it.

A few closing remarks, since I don't think I've really worked these in elsewhere:
- Kyoto is a much easier city to navigate than Tokyo!
- Kyoto has an amazing number of foreigners (presumably mostly tourists)! It makes me more aware of how few there are even in Tokyo.
- Going with Miyamoto was great! Besides very materially guiding me around, as in showing me the way and helping me navigate, he constantly told me all kinds of things about the area and stories and history connected to it. And, more than anything else, despite his high level of English, he patiently talked with me in Japanese the whole time. Despite my constant difficulty in understanding and difficultly in saying what I wanted to say. In that, he was a true saint.

My first time in a 漫画喫茶

It is 2:33 am, and I am sitting in an internet/manga cafe across the road to the south of Kyoto station.

How I got here:
With help from way-too-gracious Keisuke, I reached the station about fifteen minutes before the night bus I had booked to take back to Tokyo was to leave (at 11:00 pm). Unfortunately, I then misunderstood the way it worked, and figured it out at 10:58, which was apparently slightly too late to get on my bus. I asked, but there the rest of the buses for the night were booked full. Being 11 pm, hopping on a shinkansen for a big gob of money was not an option, which left me definitely stuck in Kansai (and pretty much stuck in Kyoto) for the night.
Which left the question of what to do until morning. I thought about walking back to the capsule hotel I stayed in the last two nights, which is closeby, but, it being already 11pm, I remembered that, even if they had vacancies, which I didn't think they did, the reception was already closed.
So, I figured I'd go find a Gasuto or something, a 24-hour McDonald's a the least, and just chill until morning. And then, lo, right across the street from the station (south side - facing away from town) I saw a "24時間" sign, and then saw that it also advertised manga and internet. This is actually my first time in a manga/internet cafe, but I'd heard from many people about staying overnight in them, so it seemed like a good idea.

What a manga/internet cafe is:
Normally open 24 hours, a place where you pay a certain amount of money for access to whatever library of manga (Japanese comics) they have, and a cubicle of your own. In an internet cafe there is also in the cubicle a computer with an internet connection. And, as I'm told is common, there is also, at this particular location, an all-you-can-drink softdrink bar (in the US free refills on many softdrinks are a matter of course, but not so in Japan). You can pay by the hour, but I chose a night pass, which gives me the above-listed amenities for 1500 yen (about $16 USD) for seven hours, which is all I need to get me to the first train.

It's pretty embarassing to have missed my bus, and getting back to Tokyo is gonna be a lot more expensive now (probably around 8000 yen, plus the 4000 I already paid for the bus, fff), but it's been interesting, anyway.

京都へ行ってきます！Off to Kyoto for a few days.

The last two days have been really fun, though I didn't really get much studying done. I somehow kept up with my SRS (review), though, so it's tolerable. I haven't studied much today, either, but I will next after this.

To keep it short (maybe):
Two days ago I went to Shinjuku Gyouen (a really famous and really nice large park near, yes, Shinjuku)　with Joon Woo, Team China (Yang Rui, Wu Di, Chen Ken and Yu Chen), Francesco and Etienne of AIKOM 15, plus Sarah and Park. The idea was for it to be half "welcome back to Japan" picnic for Sarah and half hanami (kinda hard to succinctly explain, but basically a very common annual Japanese pastime of picnicing under the blooming cherry trees [sakura] and enjoying the view [hanami literally means "flower viewing]). The sakura weren't blooming all that much yet, but here and there there were some nicely pink trees. We were really lucky in that we got an usually warm day. It's been usually around 13° or so most days recently, which is nice, but it was more like 20 that day; I didn't even wear a jacket. Anyway, that was glorious fun.
After that I went to a Chabashira-organized birthday get-together. Originally it was "the March birthdays," but it ended up being just Koyanagi who had a March birthday and could make it. There were only five of us (Koyanagi, Misato, Patrick, Tore, and myself) but I had a really great time. At the risk of sounding like I'm using people for their language abilities, it was especially good to spend time with Koyanagi, who doesn't speak much English (though I have made it my new policy recently to be more predatory in my attitude about Japanese, and take what others know). He even deliberately taught me a few words... But, they're rather colorful words, which I will probably (hopefully) not have occasion to use. XD+
Eventually Tore had to leave, but Akabane joined us, and we went to another izakaya. All in all, a very fun day.
(By the way, 非公式 is such confusing kanji. I was all, "uh, does that mean I should ask permission to go?" before I entered it into the dictionary, just in case, and found out that it means not, as the kanji would lead one to believe, "non-public" but "informal").

And yesterday~
Mara, my senpai from Michigan (that is, the person from UofM who went on AIKOM last year), arrived in Tokyo apparently the day before yesterday. She's just visiting for now, and only here for a couple weeks. I don't know about last year, but this year really only Joon Woo and I of AIKOM 15 participate in Chabashira. Mara, however, also did, last year, so we have many mutual friends and acquaintances there. As a result, not just from the few AIKOM 14sei I've met, but also from Chabashira, I've always been hearing about Mara... But I had never actually met her. XD We'd talked a little through Facebook, but that was all.
Anyway, yesterday I had dinner with Taiga, Akabane and Kenji, and then Kenji took me to meet Mara. She even had homemade chocolate chip cookies from the US, a kind of cookie that does not really exist in Japan (but is the cookie by which all other cookies are to be judged). We talked for a bit where they were having dinner, and then went to karaoke, which was great fun. Karaoke in a group of about that size (five people) is perfect. I'll definitely have to spend more time with her before she goes back.


The next three days, however, I will not meet Mara, nor will I be studying, because I'm going to Kyoto　(and maybe a little bit of Osaka, etc.) with Miyamoto!
It had seemed that there would be others, but I think it's just us, for the most part. Joon Woo and Team China are also thereabouts somewhere, but I'm sure how much we'll see of them. Anyway, with just Miyamoto and I it'll be very easy, I think, so I'm quite happy. (And to return to the slightly uncomfortable theme of talking to Japanese natives for personal gain, Miyamoto is great because he patiently speaks Japanese with me even though his English is pretty good).

Tomorrow Miyamoto and I will use Youth JR Rail passes to go to Kyoto. This means being on the train for eight hours or so, but it's the cheapest way to go. I actually kind of like long rides (see: driving around the perimeter of the eastern continental US a few years ago; me being a little disappointed at how fast the shinkansen was on the way to Osaka), at least on the way to someplace (not as much coming home), so I'm looking forward to it. Miyamoto will be fun company, there'll be various scenery, and the train probably won't be very full most of the way.

Originally Joon Woo and I were thinking of staying at a hostel or a Korean-operated guest house together, but in the end we didn't. As a result I'm staying in, yes, a capsule hotel. ...Sort of. Not exactly the 本物, made for salarymen who can't get home for the night and sometimes used by low-budget travelers, but rather a quasi-hotel built to imitate those, geared toward foreign tourism. Still, I'm looking forward to it; it should be novel. XD It was slightly cheaper than any of the hostels with space I could find (with sakura blooming and many Japanese schools on break right now, it's peak season for Kyoto), and looks nicer (if perhaps less interesting) than a normal capsule hotel for the same price, so~

Anyway. I should probably talk about that more after I get back, rather than before I go (although we know how that turned out with Hokkaido... and Hakone...)