Ok, so its already week 4, and almost not even that anymore. Goodness gracious me! This week has been reletively low key (compared to action packed week 2) but still fun. Monday I went to the library to study and talk to Chris Morrison on AIM (Hi Chris!). Unfortunately it started raining before I left. So I waited as long as I could until I deemed it to be the lightest rain it would be. I attempted to ride my bike and hold my umbrella, but my umbrella was too light and kept getting blown around, not to mention the hole biking with only one hand thing. So I succumbed to having wet clothing when I get home. No big deal, I just changed. Fortunately my backpack is water resistant, and all my stuff was unharmed.
Tuesday however, was a surprise awesome day. Charlene asked me during class if I wanted to go to Akihabara and I was like "heck yeah! When?" and she was like "after class." After about 2 seconds thought I agreed and it was settled. After class we headed to lunch, then each went to our individual sessions with our sensei's (which we had schedualed for that day). We then swung over to Charlenes dorm so I could drop off the heavier stuff in my bag and we were finally off. hopped on a train, transfered at Shinjuku onto the Chuo line heading for Akihabara and after about 45-60 minutes we were there.
It was pretty sweet. There were anime billboards, restaraunt ads with anime-style drawings, girls dressed up as maids promoting the bajillion maid cafes that were there (Seriously, on one small stretch of road there were three different cafes each with girls standing outside handing out ads). There were tons of interesting stores too. We first stopped at Sofmap, a huge electonics store. There were 7 levels, and we later found out that there were more than one Sofmap on that one street (we didn't have time or energy to venture much futher than what seemed to be the main drag).
We then wandered around looking for the Tokyo Anime Center which was described in Charlenes guide book. We got there and were a little dissappointed. It was a one room affair with some merchandise and statues and old pokemon stuff on display but that was it. There was however some live show going on in a sound room there. My guess is that it was either a demonstration of an anime voice acting session, a radio show (maybe with anime voice actors as guests) or some other kind of performance. They weren't dressed up or doing anything, just talking. As I was unable to understand them, we didn't hang around for long.
Next we wandered in the direction of an interesting anime merchandise store we had passed earlier. We soon found that the 7 floor format was widely used, and each floor had different stuff. There was manga, CDs, DVDs, action figures, and all sorts of other completely useless anime stuff from anime I had either heard of or not (though Gundam and especially Evengelion were everywhere. Seriously, I see figures and pictures of Rei in the most random places in Tokyo). While I was there I bought a little Full Metal Alchemist action figure (about an inch and a half tall) that was packaged in a very popular way here. There are many little series of figures in boxes that don't reveal which one you got, leaving you to pick one at random and hope that it's the figure you want or like. You can see the possible figures it could be though, they're not completely heartless. Mine ended up being a little chibi Ed with an angry face. Though if he asks, I didn't call him little, chibi, or a shrimp you can't even see with a microscope. (Anime fans should lol now).
We then ventured on, now with thoughts of dinner. We stopped at various other stores as we searched, me with a new quest. I wanted an action figure of LeLouch from Code Geass. And gosh darn it I was going to find one. Though the female characters from Code Geass seemed much more abundant. I finally found one and I think it's pretty rocking. Not too expensive either!
Finally we found a suitable eatery (I wanted to go to a ramen place specifically because I had yet to eat ramen in Japan) and took a seat. I got Chicken Teriyaki ramen (ramen with chicken teriyki in it instead of the standard extremely fatty piece of pork). It was amazing! One ittadakimasu later and I was chowing down greatfully (I was very hungry and tired). We quietly mocked a few other Americans who based off their loud conversation made it seem like they were in Japan simply to shop for stuff, paid our bill, said gochisousama deshita and departed.We stopped at a few more stores, including this game arcade that had different levels of stuff (of course) though we only explored two. The first was entirely machines with grabbers where instead of picking things up the goal is to maneuver them into little holes. Kind of a rip off, but fun to play a bit of. Like gambling, just keep a budget and expect to lose all of your money (thanks Dad for that bit of wisdom).
It was 7:45 so we headed home (I told my host mother I'd be home by 9ish). We got back to the dorm, I got my stuff and biked leisurely down the hill home. I was in the door by 9:03.
Wednesday was also fun. I had signed up for the recent cultural activity. Rythmic Sho. Sho is the art of writing kanji, not to be mistaken for calligraphy. The point is to move your whole body and attempt to show expression in the piece. It was amazing to watch and so much fun to do! I would love it if I could get a chance to practice more and actually do it right.
We wrote the character for 'big' (大) many times, and then were encouraged to pick our favorite to do on the boards they gave us. We got to get two of them officially stamped (one of them 'big' the other one your choice). I chose for my other one 'yama' or mountain (which we had just learned in class) (山).That lasted me a while and then I headed home for some benkyou shimasu (studying). Now I'm here, anxious about my huge test tomorrow, getting psyched up to study. Fuji-san is Saturday and Sunday!!!! I have all the details like schedule and stuff, but I'll post it tomorrow. I've got to get to work!
じゃまた！
