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...