｢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.