Midnight Tea

Japan #15

Fri, 14 Nov 2008 08:51:24 GMT

It has been quite a while since my last update, so here is a quick summary;

- Went to a maid cafe I hadn't visited before called Cafe With Cat. It's quite good, and the prices are reasonable. It's still not as good as Popopure in my eyes, since the maids there are the nicest and do the most for you. The outfits at Cafe With Cat are quite cute, and they have real food like curry and pasta.

- Classes are terrible, but I have to do well if I want to stay here for the next semester.

- Need to lose weight so I can buy awesome over-priced clothes from Shibuya and Harajuku.

I've been on a strict diet for 5 days now, and I've kept with it well. I was originally starving myself unintentionally, but after some consideration I think I'll raise the calories-per-day count from ~700 to ~1,100 and exercise three or four days a week. I found some foods that are really healthy which I can eat when I am starving. However, my stomach seems to have shrunk so I should be able to adjust to eating less often and less calories. Right now I'm drinking several liters of water and tea (karada meguri cha and bi cha) a day and taking vitamins along with eating low-calorie meals twice a day. So I'll probably add in breakfast of CalorieMate or SoyJoy bars to get my metabolism going in the morning. If I'm feeling adventurous I'll eat some nattou. I bought some today, and to be badass totally ate it as a snack. I couldn't eat it without the tiny packets of mustard and soy sauce, but I still did it which says something. I have tons of energy right now, maybe from all the healthy stuff I ate today like fruit and vegetables and nattou.

I've also been using more stuff from LUSH recently. I got some shaving cream (more of a lotion really) and this amazingly awesome smelling shower soap, I think the English name is Honey I washed the Kids. The Japanese title is "Mitsubachi Maachi" which is some kind of pun with honey and happiness and March or something. Hopefully my body will appreciate all the good I'm doing for it and fucking start losing weight and responding properly to good care.

Japan #14

Wed, 05 Nov 2008 12:54:27 GMT

Today was quite a day. I woke up late and eventually went to Akihabara with Jensen and our German friend Georg. We really wanted to go to Cafe With Cat (http://www.toranoana.jp/with_cat/) but it turns out that out of all days, today was a holiday for the place. So instead we went to my personal favorite of the ones I have visited, Popopure. It was really great with the very cute maids and cake and all that. Afterwards we went to a game center to play some Street Fighter and Lord of Vermillion, and then to a street vender selling kabob. It was awesome and fairly cheap considering the price of meat in Japan. While we were walking away we got interviewed by Fuji TV about Obama winning the election (woot!) so tomorrow morning I might be on Japanese TV. Jensen and I saw Georg off since he had to leave early and then we wandered around. We were still kind of hungry so we wandered around and there was a maid handing out flyers for a maid cafe we hadn't heard of called Cafe&Bar Vierge so we checked it out. Yes, that does indeed mean I went to two maid cafes in one night. This one was very different, it looked like a normal nice bar/cafe that just had girls in maid outfits added at some point. They had real food and I got a bacon, cheese, and avocado sandwich that was quite good. The place had a very strange atmosphere, kind of melancholy almost. Kind of difficult to explain, but it felt very unique and had a strange smell about it that reminded me of some random things from when I was younger. The maid that handed us the flyer came in later and talked to us about various things, so that was quite nice. I'll probably be visiting there again. Then we went to a guitar shop and I made a huge unplanned purchase of a practice amp, strap, strings, and guitar cable. Probably not the best financial decision, but having a guitar without an amp kind of makes you not want to play. Afterwards we headed home. I'm absolutely dreading school. I can't think of a way to spiritually steel myself against how draining and anger-inducing class is. Hopefully everyone else will be there so I don't feel quite as bad.

Japan #13

Mon, 03 Nov 2008 13:20:23 GMT

I went to the Shiroganesai today, the festival held at my university. It wasn't terribly exciting, and all the people shouting was a bit annoying. I got roped into buying dango from my new buddy (Japanese students that help us foreigners out) and it was pretty gross. I am really not a fan of mochi. I bought some really crappy takoyaki too. Afterwards me and Jensen went to the arcade to play some Lord of Vermillion, but there were a bunch of jerks basically camped out at the machines so we didn't get to play. Tomorrow I'll be playing some D&D, so I'm pretty excited about that.

Japan #12

Sat, 01 Nov 2008 04:27:40 GMT

I have been in Japan for two months already. My health has been terrible as of late. I've been breaking out with horrible cold sores for almost two weeks when I didn't have a single one before that since I've been here, I'm fairly certain I've gained weight, and my eating habits have steadily gotten worse. I'm not sure why I was okay when I got here for about a month, maybe the wonder of being in a foreign country and constantly wanting to do stuff had a positive effect on me. I've mainly just been angry, depressed, or frustrated lately. Some good times for sure, but the stress is getting to me. It's mostly to do with classes since they are borderline worthless or in the case of my Japanese language course, actually harming my understanding of Japanese.

Some good things however. Yesterday was the Buddy Bus Trip. We went to a prefecture outside Tokyo near Mount Fuji to have a Japanese style BBQ. It was very tasty, and I loved getting into nature again after being in a city for two months straight. The bus ride was long and I was sick most of the time, but I got through it. Everyone was freezing the whole time, but I seemed to be okay thanks to my BURNING HEART OF PASSION and northern European heritage. I gave my fencing jacket to someone, and afterwards a few of the Japanese people were saying "Jason is such gentleman!" which was pretty amusing. We went to some lame souvenir shops and took a little boat ride around some lake and could see a really beautiful view of Fuji. It was cloudy, but still quite unique and impressive looking.

I bought a used PSP and modified it, so that has proven fruitful thus far. Might need a bigger memory stick eventually though, 2GB just isn't cutting it.

Today is the all you can drink for 2 hours Halloween party, so even though I look (and feel) like utter crap, I hope I can have a good time and get silly without reaching the POINT OF DIMINISHING RETURNS, as my dear UR health advice posters would put it.

Japan #11

Wed, 29 Oct 2008 05:09:41 GMT

Yesterday was quite an awesome day. I was woken up by a mail asking if I wanted to get Indian food. Of course I did, so we went to Gotanda and ate at a very nice Indian buffet-style place for only ¥995. The weather was absolutely perfect too. Afterwards me and Jensen hit up the Gotanda Book-Off to see if they had any good games and look at prices for stuff. We parted ways and then I prepared for the Panic Channel concert. I was going by myself so I looked up directions to the place in Shibuya, but I couldn't really find any useful directions. When I got there it was essentially an adventure since I asked like 8 people if they knew where Shibuya Club Crawl was, and none of them did. I finally went into a music shop and asked, and a cool guy looked it up on the computer for me. It still wasn't that useful, since I didn't know where the landmarks he was describing were. Still, I headed towards the general direction. I asked a bunch of girls standing outside another music shop and they didn't know, but this cool old guy helped me out. He didn't know the place, but he called the number that was on my ticket and got my directions. Through some strange twist of fate, I actually found it without fault. It was a tiny, tiny underground venue. As I was waiting outside I met some random German girls here on Vacation, but they were really strange and nearly impossible to talk to. Once I got in they gave me a Panic Channel comment CD and some flyers. The place was very American-style, unlike the other venues I've been to. I was chatting with the bar tender a little bit and got a "Cassis Grape" with my drink ticket which essentially tasted like grape juice. It turned out to be the vocalist's birthday, so a girl gave me one of those party popper things.

First PANIC☆ch was up, the lighter side of the band. They opened up with one of my favorite songs "catch ~walk up to the continue~" so I was able to sing along. I was in the second row and the only white guy (actually only one of two guys, and the other was wearing a nurse costume) there so they all seemed to take notice of me. I was really happy to see all the members smiling at me and making eye contact when I looked at them, it really genuinely made me happy. It was a very surreal experience since I have liked Panic Channel since 2004 and they have almost broke up several times due to member changes. They are my favorite indies visual kei band, so actually seeing them so close to my (like 3 feet away) was just a dream-like experience. I didn't know the para para and stuff, and felt rather stupid doing it but I tried my best since when I didn't do it Meguru would point at me and do the motions. Kiri threw his pick into the audience and I could have kept it since I picked it up off the floor, but I gave it to the girl next to me since it kind of landed in front of her. The songs they played that I remember the names of were;

Catch ~walk up to the continue~
Date
829 Service
04 kimi to~[ ]~to
Pink Cherry
one's life
Together
Love Letter
The Last Tear
An acoustic medley of a few others

The acoustic medley was absolutely beautiful, I was almost entranced. The only song they didn't played I wanted to hear was Magical Dreamer. Next up was one of their roadie's bands. At first I was really confused because I didn't really register that Meguru said "Kiri's (the bass player) kohai and our roadie will be playing with his band in between our sets" and when this band came out I didn't know what to think. They were all in super crazy visual kei makeup and outfits, so I couldn't tell it wasn't Panic Channel until the bass player started talking about sharing a stage with Panic Channel and whatnot. They even covered a Panic Channel song first, furthering my confusion. Anyway, they weren't very good, but mainly because the guitar was so loud and grating that I can hardly hear anything today. Finally パニックちゃんねる came out. They were dressed in awesome white and red poofy dresses of various types, except Meguru who was dressed in an awesome black outfit. They looked really awesome, but not so hardcore visual kei since the dresses were quite pretty. The songs they played that I recall were;

Clear
Kodokou Mousou
Gemini
esa
Love Lorn a Rouge
Mujou Mayaku
in
Lots of their heavier songs strung together

There was lots of head-banging and such. They also did the weirdest thing I've ever seen at a concert. The girls in the front row would hurl their bodies against the railing so their butts are up in the air, and then people would throw themselves at them from behind. I didn't dare to that; first since I'm probably double their weight, and second since it would be downright sketchy for me to be doing flying humps at these girls. So during those parts I just rocked out solo style. Everyone acts as a group at Japanese concerts, but I did my own thing and moved with the beat when I wanted to. It was just plain weird to not be shouting and moving around, instead just remaining perfectly still during parts with no intended para para move. The only song they didn't play I wanted to hear was Knife. I had a great time, and it was very reminiscent of American shows since I smelled like smoke, couldn't hear a thing, and my neck hurts horribly from head-banging. At the end I caught one of Mayo's picks (he uses Fender Heavy) so that was cool. Despite being tired and beat, the trip home was pleasant. I saw some guys playing on the street so I stopped to listen, but almost immediately some cops came and told them to pack it up. I talked to them a little, their band is called Fresh Drop Spice. So I got their demo and I might check them out next month at a live. After that I grabbed some beer on the way home and hung out with Jensen until late. I'm in a lot of pain and can hardly hear, but in general it was an awesome day. It was the first time I had seen Panic Channel, but it most certainly will not be the last.

Japan #10

Sun, 26 Oct 2008 14:32:02 GMT

I saw D in concert at Yokohama Blitz tonight. I was disappointed/annoyed with a few things, but in general it was really good. My friend and I showed up quite early and thought we were lining up for the concert, but in reality we were lining up for tour goods. So we each bought a really cool phone strap that I will post pictures of later. There was a pretty eccentric guy there who started talking to us about D and how he decided at the last minute to go, but I hardly understood him. He was nice though, just a little weird. Afterwards we found the real waiting place, and not before long a bunch of other Americans came up and waited with us. I started chatting with them and it turns out one of them is this girl I see all over Ontakesan (where I live) but never had a good opportunity to talk to. There was also some German girl dressed in lolita who had a ticket ahead of us so we got separated which was kind of a shame since she was cute and looked a bit lonely. I hate passing up the opportunity to meet new friends. We decided the cone labeled "Ticket number 201-400" was the "gaijin cone" since we all wound up in the same spot. We thought we would be far back, but we ended up right in the front. They of course made us buy a 5 dollar drink ticket. A lot of people there were dressed really beautifully so it made me feel kind of lame. D is fantastic live, and I was especially impressed by how much Asagi's voice has improved since the 2006 concert DVD I saw. The whole stage was covered with roses and playing cards (a sort of gothic romance Alice in Wonderland motif) and the band was dressed in their "Yami no Kuni no Alice" outfits. They didn't play quite a few songs I wanted to hear, but it was great regardless. I will certainly be seeing them again given the chance. We lost track of the girls we had met after the concert, but since the one girl lives around here I'm sure it won't be the last time I see them. The only real complaint I had about the concert proper aside from the lack of my favorite songs was this girl behind me who kept grabbing my back during the head banging parts and digging her claw-like nails into me. She also kept pulling my hair and making it go all over the place. I was really close to turning around and smacking her in the face, but my better judgement told me to let it go. Anyway, I'm going to see Panic Channel on Tuesday, so that should be tons of fun. Dreading class tomorrow...

Japan #9

Sun, 12 Oct 2008 08:27:19 GMT

I went to a Battle Spirits promotional event today. It was kind of far away and hard to find, and once Jensen and I finally found the place they didn't treat us very well. At that point everyone else there were kids and the people running the booth wouldn't even really answer questions about the game even though that was the point of the event. The deck I made turned out to be awful, so after Jensen and I played a few games I took out some unnecessary cards from my deck and waited for the tournament to start. Luckily I wasn't the only older person entering, as there were at least six or seven other guys ranging from 16-40 years old. I got matched up against a cool-looking guy who appeared to be in his early 30's. It was a close match, but in the end he beat me and I was eliminated. I still got a promotional card and some other stuff though. I was pretty nervous since it was intense and I got flustered not being able to speak Japanese well. He said that he goes to tournaments a lot and that he hopes we'll meet up again. I think that would be cool, even if the chances are slim. Afterwards I got a wicked headache that hasn't got away even after some Motrin, rest, and plenty of water. Tonight it's homework and potentially working on a new Battle Spirits deck. There is a tournament very close by tomorrow so I might enter it. It's serious business though, so I'm not sure.

Japan #8

Sat, 11 Oct 2008 09:34:13 GMT

I had a good day today. I went to Ochanomizu with Jensen and my Japanese friend Hide. I played a lot of really nice guitars like the artist models of Sakito and Hitsugi from Nightmare. My favorite guitar was this;

http://www.espguitars.co.jp/edwards/frgt/E-FR-130GT.html

The only problem is that it costs about $1,000. It's worth it though, plays like a dream. My favorite bass was a similar model;

http://www.espguitars.co.jp/original/forest/index.htm

It's wonderful, especially for slap and that punchy visual kei tone most basses have a hard time producing. I'm probably going to get the guitar used at some point, though there is always the possibility of me going off the deep end and buying it new once I get the money. If I did that I would sell my old one back home and take the Edwards back with me. Eventually I'd probably have some EMGs put in. My Japanese is getting slightly better, but I need to study really hard to get over this plateau I seem to have reached. I'm eating way too much McDonalds.

MEME!

Tue, 07 Oct 2008 11:36:44 GMT

I always like doing this meme. It's the "Soundtrack to Your Life" one. Here goes...

Opening Credits
Obsession (Version 2.0) - Collide (Creepy...)

Waking Up
Song of Roland - Kamelot (I do try to start my days feeling like an epic hero)

First Day At School
EMI - Sex Pistols (Don't take shit from the man!)

Falling In love
Hey Dude - Kula Shaker (Uh oh...)

Fight Song
Champagne Bath (live) - Sonata Arctica (I guess SA will be there cheering me on)

Breaking Up
Cheer Up - Reel Big Fish (Obviously)

Prom:
Bloody Tears - Castlevania (GOTH PROM)

Life's OK
Half The Man - Jamiroquai (That's depressing that "OK" means I'm half the man I used to be...)

Mental Breakdown
This Celluloid Dream - AFI

Driving:
Fast To Madness - Blind Guardian (Which exit is Madness?)

Flashback
Death in Fire - Amon Amarth (That's pretty unpleasant)

Getting Back Together:
Miss Murder - AFI (Here goes all the depressing/bittersweet romance songs)

Wedding
I Don't Want To Lose Her - Rick Astley (I knew Rick had to show up on this list)

Birth of Child
Silhouette - Opeth (Holy crap! Has anyone heard this song? Is it going to be stillborn or something?)

Final Battle
Drunk Again - Reel Big Fish (That's not very epic...)

Death Scene
Falling Up - Collide (I guess I'll be tripping balls when I die)

Funeral Song
Feeling Fine - L'arc~en~Ciel (Nobody will mourn me I suppose)

End Credits
The Power of One - Sonata Arctica (Now THAT is epic)

Japan #7

Sun, 05 Oct 2008 03:11:00 GMT

Haven't updated in ages. Things have been up and down, but aside from looking (and feeling) like I got in a fight and lost I'm alright. I have a lot of reading to do for classes and some Japanese homework. Some of my classes involve no work whatsoever and some are actually fairly challenging and require me to do things like read difficult manga where almost everything is written in kanji with no furigana. I have been going to Akihabara a lot these days and it is quickly becoming my favorite spot in Tokyo. I also started playing a new trading card game called Battle Spirits that I have become obsessed with. There is also a manga and TV anime based off of it. I woke up at 6:55 AM this morning so I could watch the show, and it kind of felt like watching Saturday morning cartoons as a kid except I wasn't simply awake already due to hyperactivity. I also picked up an issue of Kero Kero Ace, the children's manga magazine that serializes Battle Spirits so I could get the promo card. If my university has a scanner I am going to start scanning my cards and manga and translating them since there is no information about any part of the franchise available in English on the web except for the news that it exists. It's all fairly simple so even with my limited proficiency in Japanese I can accurately translate it with some time. I can understand almost everything in the TV show (no subs obviously) but apparently subbing anime is really hard. Next week I should be going to a promotion event in Chiba with Jensen. Well, today I need to do homework and laundry and shower. Maybe I'll be a little less intentionally avoiding stepping outside tomorrow.

Japan #6

Wed, 17 Sep 2008 12:47:15 GMT

I haven't been sleeping enough because I have to wake up at 7 AM in order to get to school on time. I'm going to attempt to get to bed early tonight, but I wanted to update since it's been a few days. I went to Odaiba a few days ago, it was pretty amazing but I had an anxiety attack that lasted at least 3 hours so I couldn't enjoy it and I don't think anyone really understood why I was trailing behind and keeping to myself. Classes have been long and kind of frustrating since they are 3 hours long and not a word of English is spoken. I had a big party over the weekend and invited everyone, it went well and everyone seemed to have a good time except one girl who threw up. I went to Akihabara today with a few people and we ended up going to a maid cafe. It was a small and non-sketchy one that didn't have a table or time charge. It was very simple and the cake was pretty good, so I might go back. I also found a retro game store that has all kinds of cool stuff, and I might end up buying a Famicon and some classic games like Rock Man 2 and Castlevania 3. Feeling strange in general, and rather unhealthy. I'm thinking about staying another semester, but I'm not sure if it would be good for me. I guess I should find out if it's a possibility anyway.

Japan #5

Tue, 09 Sep 2008 15:37:28 GMT

Lots to update about, but I will keep it brief as I should be sleeping.

Harajuku
I went to Harajuku twice over the last few days, and I was terribly disenchanted with it. The visual kei and lolita fashion is only in a small part and not a single article of clothing will fit me. The one exception is a place called Yellow House that carries some XXXXL sizes for people of my stature (read: Not Japanese) for a very hefty price. I was considering buying from the woman, but she was such a heinous bitch to me that I will never step foot in the cramped store again. She just kept bragging that all these famous people have come to her shop in the 26 years she has been operating it, and kind of ignored the fact that musicians probably shop at all the stores in Harajuku and not just hers. She kept saying I was fat and needed to go on a diet, and said I needed to change my shoulders. NEWS FLASH, YOU CAN'T CHANGE YOUR BONE STRUCTURE YOU DUMB BITCH. Anyway, she was a whore so I'm probably going to get something made by Fanplusfriend who custom sizes for free, is reasonably priced, and ships for cheap to Japan. The one good place was a CD shop called Closet Child that sells used visual kei CDs. I got D's Tafel Anatomy album+photobook brand new for 2,800 yen which is an awesome price.

Akihabara
Went there with Jensen and a few of the girls. It was noisy and smelly. However, it had lots of cool used electronics shops and an 8-floor anime/manga shop called Gamers and was awesome. I bought the first volume of Vampire Knight in Japanese for 390 yen (about $3.50) and looked around a lot. One of the only things in Japan that is awesomely cheap is manga. We tried to find a maid cafe, but the only ones we saw were near the station and very expensive (2,000 yen for 40 minutes just to sit, food and drinks are extra and very expensive) so we decided to wait. We played some arcades and then left. Jensen and I plan to go back later and get a feel for the place.

DaizyStripper
I went and saw DaizyStripper at the Area [Cross] in Takadonababa. It was a lot of fun, but I found out that it doesn't matter how early you arrive at the venue but instead how early you purchase your tickets. So we got in fairly close to the back, but it didn't matter since it was a small venue and we still had a great view. The only thing that annoyed me was that they force you to buy a 500 yen drink ticket. I ended up just getting a Pepsi, essentially paying 5 bucks for a soda. That aside the live was lots of fun and the band was great, especially the drummer and vocalist. It was the second time I had seen them, but at Otakon they only performed 4 or 5 songs. I was especially touched by the acoustic version of Farewell Rain. I was getting chills and almost welled up some tears towards the end. I will probably see them again next month. Afterwards we got the train home and said goodbye to Christina at her stop and then me and Jensen went to Gotanda to get food and find an ATM that accepts my card. The only place that accepts it is Citibank, and I had to use another card to get into the little ATM place. We ended up at this little bar/restaurant that was filled with smoke and kind of rough. It turned out to be fun (at least for Jensen) since this Japanese guy started talking to Jensen and ended up asking him for English lessons. The bar owner was very nice too and gave us some weird plant called "sea grapes" that are apparently a rare food from Okinawa. They also have a deal that the first beer is free. The food was expensive, but we might go back if we can find it.

In general it was a great day, but I'm having the same problems as usual. I can't feel anything or truly experience it. And I go from having positive thoughts like "(as I'm watching the live) I will without a doubt be doing that not before long, no matter what anyone says." to thinking about horrible things and experiencing suicidal thoughts when I see my reflection. I can't explain it, but I hope I can find some way to experience the world in vivid colors again. I have to wake up at 7 for class, so it's off to bed for me.

Japan #4

Fri, 05 Sep 2008 16:05:17 GMT

Today wasn't very good. I woke up feeling very strange and rather depressed, partially due to some unfortunate dreams but otherwise it looked to be just one of those days. I was frustrated because my clothes simply wouldn't dry outside because it was too humid and inside they wouldn't dry because the washing machine left them too wet. Japan doesn't really understand how to easily and thoroughly clean and dry clothes, but at least they are conserving energy. The only good part of the day was going to karaoke. In Japan, karaoke is a very different experience. We paid 800 yen each for three hours of having a private room with a very loud and nice sound system and access to midi versions of pretty much any song you could want. They had Korpiklaani and Children of Bodom for Christ's sake. I was nervous since I don't usually sing without the vocal track present and almost never to midi versions. I started out a bit shaky in my opinion, but everyone was surprised when I started singing Blurry Eyes by L'arc~en~Ciel. I don't think I'm any good, but everyone told me they loved my rendition of "Bara wa Utsushiku Chiru" which is the opening to Rose of Versailles. It made me feel nice I guess, but I just can't believe anyone when they compliment me. I also Rick Roll'd everyone, which was hilarious. Afterwards we went to Outback Steakhouse for dinner. It was okay, but the portions were small and it was expensive. In Japan everyone shares everything so even though I wanted the burger I ordered to myself one of the Japanese guys insisted we split everything evenly including the bill. It only ended up costing 1,000 yen each, but I was kind of unsatisfied. Then we went to Shibuya to meet up with some people and drink. We went to an absolutely horrible bar that was filled with smoke, terrible music, dirty foreigners, and sketchy foreign owners. It was like a slice of America right there. It put me in a bad mood so instead of going to some dance club I went home with a few people. I'm exhausted, frustrated, and restless so I am just going to try and sleep. I'm going to Harajuku for the first time tomorrow so I think that will be fun.

Japan #3

Wed, 03 Sep 2008 14:08:19 GMT

Today was awesome. I had to wake up early so we could go to Meiji Gakuin for our orientation. It was a long trip and the walk was awful because of how hot it was, but I talked to one of the German students along the way and got to know him better. Orientation was boring, but seeing the campus was nice. We got lunch and were taught how to order and such, and then went to the bank to open accounts. I didn't need one so me and a few others went to a coffee shop to chat. Then we went and got our rail passes so we can travel between the station near the school and the one near our apartment as much as we want. After all that me and a few other guys went to Shibuya to check out some arcades, look around, and get food. We spent hours there, and aside from being totally exhausted I'm pretty happy. I played Street Fighter 4 in the arcades and didn't lose a single match against the CPU or against any of the Japanese guys who challenged me until this one guy beat me with Bison (Balrog in America) right as I was about to fight Gouki (Akuma in America) in the extra stage after the boss fight. I felt amazing though since everyone was cheering me on and I was doing great as Ken. I also played some Silent Hill arcade shooter that was fun, especially since it was all like a bad trip and had pyramid head. I spent 300 yen (about 3 dollars) for at least 45 minutes of fun and had an awesome time. Then we wandered around and looked at stores before finally finding a little and super cheap place to eat and drink. I had 3 mugs of really weak (but pretty tasty) Japanese beer and tons of various foods that I will probably never know the names of. The two Japanese guys who took us out told me that in the last three days my Japanese has improved a lot and they are proud. It made me happy to know they are actually paying attention and seem to want to see me improve. We walked back to the station and on the way spoke almost entirely in Japanese, but I was so tired and kind of buzzed so I was getting very sloppy. Tomorrow it's off to Akihabara! I sent a long mail in Japanese to my buddy about going with us since she expressed interest before, but she said she had another plan. It's okay though, I'll see her plenty. Time for bed after the first truly enjoyable day in a very long time.

Japan #2

Tue, 02 Sep 2008 11:47:53 GMT

Today I woke up at 5:45 AM because I am still kind of jet lagged, but I was able to fall back asleep until 8. I got up, showered, and then got breakfast with Jensen. We went to the ward office to get our alien registration cards, then to get national health insurance, and finally to a mall in Kawasaki to get mobile phones. It was a nightmare, and let me tell you first hand that you will never find more expensive cell phone plans than the ones in Japan. For the most basic service you need to pay a flat fee of about 35 dollars, then additional 3-5 dollar charges for things like insurance, mail, mandatory reduced rate to 3 friends, and a few other things. You get 25 minutes a month that are free, and everything after that costs 40 cents a minute. Sending mails (like a text message) is cheap in comparison, about 6 cents per message. There is also a 30 dollar activation fee and a 210 dollar cancellation fee I will have to pay. I did this because the pre-paid cell phones are even more expensive. Each mail costs about 1 dollar and calls are 90 cents a minute. The phone also costs 100 dollars. It was horrible, but there was a really, really nice salesman who looked like he was about to cry with all the foreigners who don't speak Japanese trying to buy phones at the same time. Kawasaki mall was absolutely beautiful, I'd love to go back to look around more. I met my Meiji Gakuin buddy, Maki. She is really nice and doesn't speak very good English so hopefully I'll get better at Japanese by hanging out with her. We met up with the girls today, they are all pretty nice and cute. There's one girl from Australia who was especially nice and talkative. A certain someone (you know who you are!) told everyone about me apparently so she was asking about my religion and whatnot.

After we finished and left the girls we went back to our station and got stopped in the 100 yen shop and the super market. I went to McDonalds to see what it was like, very limited choices but generally alright food. They made the "chips" fresh for me. I'm totally gross since Tokyo is the most humid place I've been and exhausted from walking around all day, so it's shower and bedtime for me. I have to wake up early and go see the campus!

Side notes: The program director Joe is the coolest guy ever. I suck at Japanese and it's frustrating.

Japan #1

Mon, 01 Sep 2008 14:20:17 GMT

Greetings everyone! I arrived in Japan yesterday. I am going to use this LJ account to keep tabs on my experience here, and hopefully create a nice scrapbook of sorts in the process of doing so. Once I procure a camera I will be taking plenty of photos. I am going to be brief in my description of the things that have happened thus far since I am totally exhausted. Maybe I'll come back later and edit to to include more detail.

The flight was awful. I was sitting next to a very large, albeit friendly, Brazilian man. Between the two of us we took up more room than the small economy seats of the Japan Airlines jet could offer. It was boring, the food was mediocre, the movies were dubbed over in Japanese poorly, there wasn't a plug for my laptop, and I couldn't sleep at all. I was absolutely disgusting and tired after I got off the plane. It took me a while to find my baggage, but customs was a breeze. I caught the shuttle over to the hotel after wandering around the airport a bit and waited for my room to become available. It was nice due to the yukata available to wear, but I had to pay for internet access and get a special adaptor for my laptop AC adaptor. Jensen ended up not making it to my hotel, so I stayed by myself. There was a program on TV about seriously mentally and physically handicapped kids being taught a song by the cast of the television show Gokusen. It was inspiring in a sense but just so incredibly depressing I was crying throughout the entire thing. I went to bed at 9 because I was so tired, and woke up at 5. After finding out the gym cost money and that "People in poor physical condition will not be permitted to enter." I decided to just do some stretches and sit-ups in my room. I went to the airport to check out the mall and do some shopping and found some cool stores. They had a LUSH store so I bought some Angels on Bare Skin, or as they call it here "Tenshi no Yasashisa (The Gentleness of Angels) and some other random things. I was able to communicate with the cute girl working the LUSH store, but I felt dumb anyway. I had a wonderful meal of takoyaki and shrimp mayonnaise sushi.

As I was walking towards the meeting area for my school I heard my name called. It turned out to be Joe, the international student adviser. He's really awesome and we share similar tastes in music and anime. There were a few other international students waiting, including some very cute girls from all over and cool guys from Germany. We split up according to gender and headed off to our respective dorms. The apartment is incredible, I will provide pictures once I get a camera. It's not a dorm, but instead a fully furnished apartment complete with futon and washing machine. It's really great, me and Jensen were ecstatic. After some general stuff me and Jensen decided to head off to walk around Kugahara. We found the business district which is really great, lots of unique shops and even a shady pachinko bar! We came back and I started to unpack. I'm pretty much done since I hardly brought anything, but I need to purchase a few items once I get myself together. I've had a world of trouble with the financial aspect of this trip, so hopefully things will work out after I contact everyone I need to fix it. For now I am going to sleep as tomorrow morning is orientation. Hopefully this futon won't tear up my back too badly. It might even fix it, who knows.

For once I am actually content and at times today I was almost happy. I've long forgotten what it feels like to be genuinely happy, but my new life experience is rejuvenating my soul a bit.