こんにちわ！
Harry Potter was awesome. I think it's actually getting better now, rather than a huge disappointment. That's just me...
Anyways, we left class (we being me, Charlene, who got me the ticket, and Leslie, who got Charlene the tickets). Charlene's in C1 with me and Leslie's in C4 (higher class) and has been to Japan before, so we dutifully followed her lead. She led us to Rippongi, a mini city in Tokyo. It had a huge beautiful theatre, cool statues, expensive restaurants, real upper crust. We unfotunately didn't get time to explore, as we arrived at the theatre just in time to watch the cute 'don't talk on your mobile (lol), kick the seats, talk, litter, smoke, etc. video. Watching trailors for movies that I've already seen in America is bizarre. Watched the movie, la-di-da, nothing you couldn't imagine doing at home (excepting the Japanese subtitles of course, but those were easy to tune out).
We bounced right after, hoping to get to the dorms in time to make a quick meal, for me to get home and cram in a little more studying for the vocab quiz we had today before bed. Well, all of that worked out fine, though it was a little later than I had hoped. My goodness I can't seem to get much sleep around here with all the amazing things I have to do. Tuesday I attented a lecture on archeology at ICU (wrote about that last post), yesterday I wandered Rippongi and saw Harry Potter. Today of course, was the crowning glory of the week.
The Ghibli Museum.
Oh and was it ever fantastic! The buiding was relatively small, a short walk from the Mitaka train station. it was covered in vines and plants and looked just like a building from on of Miyazaki's films. there were cool swirly spire stairs and a giant totoro looking out from a window. I was only allowed to talk photos while outside, so I'll let them speak for themselves. The inside of course, was even more amazing. There were rooms filled with handrawn and painted sketches and scenes, from movies I knew, one I didn't (still haven't seen the new "Ponyo by the Sea" but I heard its wonderful), places I recognized and random doodles for inspiration. There was one room that had all sorts of displays that were intended to create illusions of movement. One was physical that spun with little sculptures all around so that when spinning and the light flashing it looked like the characters (from "My Neighbor Totoro") were moving. It was trippy, but awesome.
We wandered for a while and ended up outside to eats some (expensive) ice cream. The raspberry was great. Eventually we realized there were schedualed showings of a short film in another room that was included in the ticket price. We stumbled into the latest showing just in time and enjoyed an adorable film about a bunch of preschoolers pretending they were at sea in a fake boat. Of course in a Miyazaki world, the water became real and they sailed off and caught a whale, which ended up saving them from a storm and towing them back home, laughing the entire way (the whale that is). There was also a lovely garden outside with a water pump of all things. Got a few pics and a short video there. When Sayuri and I felt we had seen everything, we headed out back to Mitaka station, where I was going to catch a bus, and she a train home.
I ended up meeting with Leslie again (from the Harry Potter expidition) and stopped with her and her friends at a 99 yen store (like a 99 cent store) where I grabbed some rice crackers and cheap gloves for my Fuji hike. One less thing to worry about. We walked the rest of the way to campus (it's sooooo hot and humid), I said goodbye, got on my bike and headed home. I was back by 5:10ish. I studied and cooled off by my fan for an hour or two, and headed downstairs just in time for dinner. Today was this fish (dunno what kind) which was breaded with something like panko but more robust, some mushy potato like stuff with carrots and cucumbers mixed in, soup and rice of course, and some beans. It was fantastic. Probably my favorite meal I've had in the Kuzzuhara household so far. Not that I didn't like most of the others. Just wait Mom, I'm going to come home able to eat and enjoy anything you throw at me. Even. Lobster!! Dun Dun Duuuuuuuunnnnnn....
Dramatics aside (and do the Japanese ever love their soap opera dramas) life is great. Hmm, I just had something I wanted to include in the post... Ah well, I may remember it later, whatever. That's all for now. No real plans for tomorrow or the weekend, though something may come up. The world is an adventure right now, and its wonderful.
Man that sounded cheesy. I really should delete that....
さようなら！
Ah hah!, just remembered it. It was an observation that when I visited Germany the phrase I learned first, most and best was "ich bin mude" ('u' with an umlaut), meaning I am tired. Here, though that certainly applies maybe even more, the phrase that is number one is "atsui neh?" meaning, "it's hot, right?". Always atsui. Atsui, atsui, atsui...
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
More Stuffu!
こんにちわ！
Referring to the title, in Japan, there is only one consonant without a vowel after it (n). So 'stuff' would be pronounced 'stuffu'. Aaaanyway...
Sunday was spent recovering and studying. I had a test yesterday, and though I don't have it back, I did get a look at it partially graded after class when I had my once a week one-on-one required meeting with my sensei, Kojima-sensei. As far as I know I only got one or two wrong, which is pretty good for a big test like that. Today however, I believe we learned more than we have all of last week. Today was the start of, (dun dun dun) verbs.
Sounds innocuous right? Well not so my friend. There are apparently three kinds of verbs (vowel, consonant, and irregular) and though there are rules that tell which are which, there are of course exceptions (always exceptions, sigh). Each kind has a different postulate in a sentance, and there are all sorts of little bits that go between different words. You have to put 'ni' after a time, but not a general time like 'morning'. You have to put this after that and that after this, it's confusing so far. I'm slowly getting it, but today I have no idea why, I was just exhausted. I got enough sleep, but I just couldn't focus. That resulted in several times me just blanking out while trying to say something to a classmate, and looking like a space case. As such, I'm going to sleep earlier tonight. Maybe I'll be better tomorrow.
Speaking of tomorrow!!! I got a ticket to go see Harry Potter here! I don't know where the theatre is, I got the ticket with some friends, and we're going after class tomorrow. So exciting! Also, since it's so new, it'll be in English with Japanese subtitles so I'll be able to understand it still. Yay!
Ok, I needed to get that out. Back to the last couple of days. Today after class there was a voluntary lecture on archeology at ICU. Apparently, the land the campus is on has been inhabited for like, 300,000 years or something rediculous like that. According to the professor, he has found in his 15 years at ICU, 500,000 artifacts, meaning pottery pieces, arrowheads, knives, fire pits etc. It was a very interesting lecture. Afterwards, we headed out to one of the current dig sites on campus and dug up some stuff. Once again, pics on flickr maybe tomorrow.
As for small random things that have happened, tonight for dinner we went and got food from a 7-11 because Kuzuhara-san was too tired to cook. 7-11's are all over the place here, and though I haven't really been to one in the states, it seems that many people legitimately get quick food there to bring home at night. I generally don't do that at home, but maybe to most Americans that's not so strange. Also for dessert yesterday and today we had grapes. They were smaller and sweeter maybe? I don't know, just different. But good! The skins were really thick, so apparently you suck the insides out and leave the skin behind. It was fun, they kind of popped out. Also Kuzuhara-san brought home an 'apple pie' on Sunday. It was ok as pies go. I liked it though, anything to taste even remotly like something from home.
Other than all of that, I've been just weathering the heat (lol), and working on my Japanese. Oh! I officially signed up for the Mt. Fuji hike. Thats right, on August 2nd, I'm going to hike up Mt. Fuji at midnight so we can watch the sun rise from the top. Scary, neh? (Neh= Japanese expression as a sort of questioning sound, where one is looking for confirmation or just making it sound questioning). Thursday is Ghibli Museum! And then, who knows! Sometimes it's scary, especially at first, and it would be so easy to say "going to Harajuku all alone trying to meet people with no cell phone to call them is too hard, I'll just stay home" but I have been making an effort to not only say yes to any and all invitations on adventures, but also seek them out. When Charlene said she was going to see Harry Potter, I immediately asked if I could buya ticket and tag along. That was of course ok, and here I am, going to see Harry Potter probably in Shinjuku. Man. Alright, that's it for now.
さようなら！
Referring to the title, in Japan, there is only one consonant without a vowel after it (n). So 'stuff' would be pronounced 'stuffu'. Aaaanyway...
Sunday was spent recovering and studying. I had a test yesterday, and though I don't have it back, I did get a look at it partially graded after class when I had my once a week one-on-one required meeting with my sensei, Kojima-sensei. As far as I know I only got one or two wrong, which is pretty good for a big test like that. Today however, I believe we learned more than we have all of last week. Today was the start of, (dun dun dun) verbs.
Sounds innocuous right? Well not so my friend. There are apparently three kinds of verbs (vowel, consonant, and irregular) and though there are rules that tell which are which, there are of course exceptions (always exceptions, sigh). Each kind has a different postulate in a sentance, and there are all sorts of little bits that go between different words. You have to put 'ni' after a time, but not a general time like 'morning'. You have to put this after that and that after this, it's confusing so far. I'm slowly getting it, but today I have no idea why, I was just exhausted. I got enough sleep, but I just couldn't focus. That resulted in several times me just blanking out while trying to say something to a classmate, and looking like a space case. As such, I'm going to sleep earlier tonight. Maybe I'll be better tomorrow.
Speaking of tomorrow!!! I got a ticket to go see Harry Potter here! I don't know where the theatre is, I got the ticket with some friends, and we're going after class tomorrow. So exciting! Also, since it's so new, it'll be in English with Japanese subtitles so I'll be able to understand it still. Yay!
Ok, I needed to get that out. Back to the last couple of days. Today after class there was a voluntary lecture on archeology at ICU. Apparently, the land the campus is on has been inhabited for like, 300,000 years or something rediculous like that. According to the professor, he has found in his 15 years at ICU, 500,000 artifacts, meaning pottery pieces, arrowheads, knives, fire pits etc. It was a very interesting lecture. Afterwards, we headed out to one of the current dig sites on campus and dug up some stuff. Once again, pics on flickr maybe tomorrow.
As for small random things that have happened, tonight for dinner we went and got food from a 7-11 because Kuzuhara-san was too tired to cook. 7-11's are all over the place here, and though I haven't really been to one in the states, it seems that many people legitimately get quick food there to bring home at night. I generally don't do that at home, but maybe to most Americans that's not so strange. Also for dessert yesterday and today we had grapes. They were smaller and sweeter maybe? I don't know, just different. But good! The skins were really thick, so apparently you suck the insides out and leave the skin behind. It was fun, they kind of popped out. Also Kuzuhara-san brought home an 'apple pie' on Sunday. It was ok as pies go. I liked it though, anything to taste even remotly like something from home.
Other than all of that, I've been just weathering the heat (lol), and working on my Japanese. Oh! I officially signed up for the Mt. Fuji hike. Thats right, on August 2nd, I'm going to hike up Mt. Fuji at midnight so we can watch the sun rise from the top. Scary, neh? (Neh= Japanese expression as a sort of questioning sound, where one is looking for confirmation or just making it sound questioning). Thursday is Ghibli Museum! And then, who knows! Sometimes it's scary, especially at first, and it would be so easy to say "going to Harajuku all alone trying to meet people with no cell phone to call them is too hard, I'll just stay home" but I have been making an effort to not only say yes to any and all invitations on adventures, but also seek them out. When Charlene said she was going to see Harry Potter, I immediately asked if I could buya ticket and tag along. That was of course ok, and here I am, going to see Harry Potter probably in Shinjuku. Man. Alright, that's it for now.
さようなら！
Sunday, July 12, 2009
Harajuku and Shibuya!
こんにちわ！
Today went much better than yesterday I’m happy to say. Once again, I write this on Saturday to post on Sunday. I’ve got some studying to do tomorrow, so no going out for me.
So. I got up at a leisurely 10:30, typed up my last post, showered, breakfasted, and headed out with Kuzuhara-san, who was going to show me how to get to the bus station. I got on the #52 bus, paid my ¥210 (approx $2.10), and took off for Mitaka station. We were to meet at 2pm. I got to Shinjuku where I would transfer to another line (whose name I forget) and get to Harajuku station, only two stops away. I had to adjust my ticket when I got there because I hadn’t known how much it would cost when I first got it. Basically there are kiosks to buy tickets and you look at a map to find out how much it’ll cost to go to a specific station. When you enter the station then, you stick the ticket in a slot and get it again as you go through the thing (I don’t know how to describe it. Kinda like a toll gate for people?). at the other end when you’ve reached your destination, you exit through those toll things by sticking your ticket in again, only this time the machine eats it and you’re done. If you didn’t get the correct ticket price to begin with you have to go to a ticket adjustment kiosk and pay the difference and get a new ticket to exit the station with. Extremely efficient and easy to use, though most Japanese have cards they put money on and just pass over a sensor without taking them out of their wallets even, which is even easier. I may get one at some point.
I got there early and waited a little and the group was assembled. There were 11 of us total. Now, Harajuku is the fashion district. It’s a few streets in particular that are lined with the craziest stores I have ever seen. If ever you were to check out my flickr account it’s now. I’ll get those pics up as soon as I can. There was a huge forever 21 that had opened just a month ago and had a line to get in, there were Lolita shops with the most amazing dresses, there was a goth clothing shop that would make Hot Topic look like Aeropostale (I don’t have pics of that, there was a sign saying “no pictures” and then insulted me. Sorry I can’t type inappropriate messages in mixed company). It was just overwhelming.
Oh right, before we shopped we had a late lunch at a small restaurant nearby that was really pretty from the outside (again, flickr). I had yakisoba, which is soba that you cook yourself on the grill in the middle of the table (I think anyway. That’s what I did so I guess its just that). It was all very delicious. Then we split into groups, and shopped. I only got one shirt, but it was really cool and 40 bucks, so I didn’t want to get much more. It was all pretty expensive stuff. The funny thing is that the girls fashion scared me and I was traveling with 3 guys, so I never got a chance to check out the chick stuff specifically. As such, the shirt I got was from a store called Nudy Boy (lol), that was all mens clothing. It looks pretty sweet on me tho. All the stuff in that store was awesome, and all four of us got something there.
We then all met up at 6, and started walking to Shibuya. Shibuya is more comparable to New York than Harajuku is. When you see images of Tokyo and that one intersection where like a bajillion people are crossing the road, that’s in Shibuya. Andrew told me that something like 1000 people cross that intersection a minute. So it had giant department stores, karaoke bars every 10 feet, stores of every type imaginable, and all HUGE. It was overwhelming again. I unfortunately had limited time, as the last bus from Mitaka station to my house was at 9:30 and I did NOT want a repeat of the last night, especially as I did not know how to get from Mitaka station to my house by foot. So I accompanied the group to karaoke, we awkwardly figured out the songs, all sang at the same time and generally enjoyed ourselves. I’ll have to go again sometime, when I can enjoy myself more without worrying about trains.
Ended up no problem. I left at 8pm, found the train station easy, found the JR Yamanote line which goes to Shinjuku, got the appropriate priced ticket this time (¥290), and listened to Miike Snow on the way. Waited a bit for my bus and got home around 8:45-9. That’s about when I posted my last post btw, but I was too tired, and had other things to do while I was connected to the internet to write this post then, so I’m writing it now and will post tomorrow sometime. But yeah, I’ll check out Shibuya again sometime, when I have more time. Pics will appear sometime too.
さよなら！
Today went much better than yesterday I’m happy to say. Once again, I write this on Saturday to post on Sunday. I’ve got some studying to do tomorrow, so no going out for me.
So. I got up at a leisurely 10:30, typed up my last post, showered, breakfasted, and headed out with Kuzuhara-san, who was going to show me how to get to the bus station. I got on the #52 bus, paid my ¥210 (approx $2.10), and took off for Mitaka station. We were to meet at 2pm. I got to Shinjuku where I would transfer to another line (whose name I forget) and get to Harajuku station, only two stops away. I had to adjust my ticket when I got there because I hadn’t known how much it would cost when I first got it. Basically there are kiosks to buy tickets and you look at a map to find out how much it’ll cost to go to a specific station. When you enter the station then, you stick the ticket in a slot and get it again as you go through the thing (I don’t know how to describe it. Kinda like a toll gate for people?). at the other end when you’ve reached your destination, you exit through those toll things by sticking your ticket in again, only this time the machine eats it and you’re done. If you didn’t get the correct ticket price to begin with you have to go to a ticket adjustment kiosk and pay the difference and get a new ticket to exit the station with. Extremely efficient and easy to use, though most Japanese have cards they put money on and just pass over a sensor without taking them out of their wallets even, which is even easier. I may get one at some point.
I got there early and waited a little and the group was assembled. There were 11 of us total. Now, Harajuku is the fashion district. It’s a few streets in particular that are lined with the craziest stores I have ever seen. If ever you were to check out my flickr account it’s now. I’ll get those pics up as soon as I can. There was a huge forever 21 that had opened just a month ago and had a line to get in, there were Lolita shops with the most amazing dresses, there was a goth clothing shop that would make Hot Topic look like Aeropostale (I don’t have pics of that, there was a sign saying “no pictures” and then insulted me. Sorry I can’t type inappropriate messages in mixed company). It was just overwhelming.
Oh right, before we shopped we had a late lunch at a small restaurant nearby that was really pretty from the outside (again, flickr). I had yakisoba, which is soba that you cook yourself on the grill in the middle of the table (I think anyway. That’s what I did so I guess its just that). It was all very delicious. Then we split into groups, and shopped. I only got one shirt, but it was really cool and 40 bucks, so I didn’t want to get much more. It was all pretty expensive stuff. The funny thing is that the girls fashion scared me and I was traveling with 3 guys, so I never got a chance to check out the chick stuff specifically. As such, the shirt I got was from a store called Nudy Boy (lol), that was all mens clothing. It looks pretty sweet on me tho. All the stuff in that store was awesome, and all four of us got something there.
We then all met up at 6, and started walking to Shibuya. Shibuya is more comparable to New York than Harajuku is. When you see images of Tokyo and that one intersection where like a bajillion people are crossing the road, that’s in Shibuya. Andrew told me that something like 1000 people cross that intersection a minute. So it had giant department stores, karaoke bars every 10 feet, stores of every type imaginable, and all HUGE. It was overwhelming again. I unfortunately had limited time, as the last bus from Mitaka station to my house was at 9:30 and I did NOT want a repeat of the last night, especially as I did not know how to get from Mitaka station to my house by foot. So I accompanied the group to karaoke, we awkwardly figured out the songs, all sang at the same time and generally enjoyed ourselves. I’ll have to go again sometime, when I can enjoy myself more without worrying about trains.
Ended up no problem. I left at 8pm, found the train station easy, found the JR Yamanote line which goes to Shinjuku, got the appropriate priced ticket this time (¥290), and listened to Miike Snow on the way. Waited a bit for my bus and got home around 8:45-9. That’s about when I posted my last post btw, but I was too tired, and had other things to do while I was connected to the internet to write this post then, so I’m writing it now and will post tomorrow sometime. But yeah, I’ll check out Shibuya again sometime, when I have more time. Pics will appear sometime too.
さよなら！
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
