flameraven | Entries tagged with japan

Talking about the creative process (although whenever I hear that I think of my useless Foundation class), I figured it was time for another art update, since not everybody watches my dA page, and lately I've been lazy about updating even that.

( Matcha )

Current Mood: artistic

So John came over tonight, and after a quick perusal of the theatres to see what was available (read: nothing besides Bond) we went to Blockbuster and rented terrible action movies instead.

First up was Equilibrium, which had Christian Bale and was like Fahrenheit 451 meets The Matrix, and is the movie that invented Gun Kata*. Christian Bale gets a puppy and goes from a badass unfeeling assassin to a badass feeling assassin who kicks much ass For Great Justice. (Remember kids, in this world feeling is a crime! Preventing us from having emotions will prevent us ever having wars again! No we're not making any parallels to Nazi Germany, we promise. Just ignore our dictator making speeches in front of a red and black flag. And ignore those clips of Hitler we showed right next to them.) It was actually a decent film, partly because Christian Bale is awesome and partly because Gun Kata rocks.

And then we watched... Sukiyaki Western Django. It's a western film full of Japanese people. Also Quentin Tarantino. The dialogue ranges from fairly well-said to full Engrish, and manages to hit just about every western and Japanese movie cliche that exists. Includes priceless gems of crack like:

"You are the second cunning wolf I have wanted to draw iron at."

And

"Have the roses bloomed yet?"
"What are they named?"
"Love."

And let's not forget

"This is sukiyaki, not a damned lollipop!"

The plot? Well, the plot is a "war of the roses" between two gangs, white and red (Heike and Genjis) over some gold/treasure. Both are led by a bishounen master (one of whom decides to be called Henry from Henry VI). Of course a mysterious stranger comes along to settle the difference. In the end the only one left alive is the half-breed boy Heihachi who's left alone with a huge treasure box of gold standing in the middle of a town buried under a foot of snow, as the Mysterious Stranger rides off. The credits tell us that Heihachi went to Italy and became ~~Batman~~ "a man named Django."

None of this movie makes any sense. However, because it's a Tarantino film there is unexpectedly pretty cinematography and actually a really nice soundtrack. Which I might have to acquire.

It is a total crack film and is also kind of brilliant. My mind was broken, but in a good way.

I rate this movie WRF. It is beyond even WTF and into pure craziness. Good craziness.

Clearly, I need to watch awful kung fu movies more often.

*Kung Fu, but with guns. LOTS OF GUNS.

Current Mood: amused

A fairly uneventful day yesterday. I went to practice, which was the last practice, sadly-- we don't have practice next week, since everybody is dealing with exams, although I'll see them again on Thursday for a post-finals mini-party and general hanging out.

After practice I went to the station and picked up a few more things I wanted to get before I went home, as well as a few groceries. It was when I was crossing the little alleyway to get to the grocery store that I realized it was pouring rain. Also, the sky was rather darker than it should be for only six o'clock.

It was, in fact, not just raining but actually storming, and a fairly decent storm at that. Most of the time the "storms" here are really pretty lame (at least when compared to those in Indiana). Tochigi is known for it's thunder, a rarity in the rest of Japan, but often there's just a few rumbles and nothing else. We've been having some lightning in the evening, but mostly just flashes in the clouds that could just as easily be mistaken for fireworks.

And naturally, the day when we had a real storm, I got stuck riding home in it.

It wasn't too bad, though... I got pretty soaked, but, well, that was basically inevitable. I got home without too much fuss besides that, and I was glad I did, because not long after that the real storm started kicking up. Even though I'd been planning on a shower, I ended up going out on my balcony and taking a bunch of pictures, because the sky was just really cool-looking. The clouds had cleared up in the west, so a bit of the sunset was coming through, and then to the south there was a huge blue-purple cloud and a ton of lightning. Several times there were actually waves of lightning, where there would be a flash and then half a dozen lines would crackle through the clouds all at once, across the whole sky. It was really cool.

Best of all, I am pretty damn sure the particularly tall mountain I could see in the distance was Mt. Fuji. I'd been told we could see it on clear days, but I was also told the sky is never that clear, except sometimes in winter.

The pictures are blurry, because my camera hates low-lighting conditions, but you get the idea.

( Lightning flashes across the sky, east to west, do or die )

Today was our trip to Tokyo! A few weeks back I was talking to Kyuu, and she asked if I'd ever gone to Ueno or Utsunomiya Zoo and done sketches like I'd been planning to. I said that I had gone to Ueno, but I didn't end up sketching (because I ended up feeling quite ill and going home miserable-- I think I may possibly have gotten a touch of heat exhaustion or something). She said that she wanted to go to the zoo at Ueno, but nobody else would go with her, because they thought the zoo was boring, and she didn't want to go alone. So I offered to go with her and check it out, and we set up a date.

( Cut for pictures; lots of pictures )

Current Location: "Can't Repeat" -The Offspring

Much like last week, I'd originally planned to go to Oarai today-- it was supposed to be warm and sunny, and this week it's Marine Day, so what better way to spend it than on the beach? However, I really should've known better to attempt planning anything on the day after a matsuri. I woke up today after eleven hours of sleep and was still stiff and sore all over; I didn't really want to do much more than sit and not move.

So I picked up breakfast and headed over to school to use the internet, but the school, alas, was locked. Instead, I went and camped out in the park next to the river and leeched internet from there. I might not have bothered, but my connection at home has been less reliable lately, and besides... they aired the two-hour series finale of Avatar: the Last Airbender on Saturday. If I was going to sit around all day and not do anything, I wanted to watch Avatar. So I stayed on long enough to procure my episodes and check some of my sites, and then, with my battery running low and the sky starting to drizzle a bit, I headed home.

It turned out, of course, that my internet was actually fairly stable at home today, and although it was slow, the connection was decent enough that I was able to spend a fair portion of the afternoon online, reading through my old journal entries from my first trip to Japan. I actually found a few interesting tidbits, and kinda wish I had read this before.

March 13th, 2004

So our tests were okay, the first test came 20 minutes late, because the teacher didn`t show up, and then we called down to the office, and finally Naoshi came by and handed us a test, and, since it was completely different from what Oomori sensei told us to study, and more difficult besides, Mia and I agree that they probably just grabbed the closest test they could find and gave us that, which was rather disappointing.

The second test, from Sayuri sensei, was rather easy. I actually studied for it, too, which makes me slightly annoyed. The problem with Sayuri is that you never know exactly what kind of test she`s going to give you. One week she had us study these incredibly complicated kanji and the specific names for each kind of injury and it`s corresponding hospital, and quizzed us on them for weeks afterwards (much to my annoyance, as I threw the sheet out after the first lesson because I found the information irrelevant). The next time, she tried to teach us family member terms ("mother", "father", etc.), when we had obviously learned and been using said terms for the previous 6 months. So you never know with her. 0.o

So it turns out that I had the same situation in Sendai that I do here: the classes are either stupid easy or ridiculously hard. I mean, I remember that I hated school at Tokiwagi, but I hadn't remembered any details about classes or why I hated it. It was really a shame I didn't read this before-- If I had, I might've been remembered my conclusion (all Japanese schools suck) earlier, and not spent the first few months of this trip flailing about in frustration because our classes were totally pointless.

Maybe it's just because this time I came in with expectations. The first time I really knew so little, that learning anything was helpful. This time, I came in with specific goals and ideas about what we'd be learning (I foolishly assumed it would be a continuation of what we'd studied at IUPUI), and was all the more disappointed when those were not met, or even attempted. Well. It's still disappointing, but it's done now. Of course, I still intend to talk to Miller and Usui about it before I leave, and if anybody asks at IUPUI... I'll be honest.

There was another snippet that I found particularly funny:

This is how the Rotary works: "Okay, you have to be at Sendai Eki at 1:00 to meet. We won’t tell you who’s going, where you’re going, how you’re going to get there, when you’re going to be back, what you need to bring, or really anything at all, you just need to be there. See you then!"

The above was in response to the hotel we stayed at for a retreat, which had baths but no towels, and of course, nobody brought towels, because we didn't know we'd need them. I couldn't help but be reminded of our recent trip to Yokohama, and how our "hotel" turned out to be a rather dingy community hall (which honestly looked like the set of cheap horror movies), and how there, while they had towels, there were not nearly enough for everybody. (We had thirty to forty people; the hotel had ten towels. Fail.) And of course, on the more recent trip there was also the problem that the Hawaiian students were not going to do the public bath thing; the whole "getting naked with everyone" really wigged them out. They wanted showers or nothing. (I think I was the only one of us gaijin who went to the ofuro downstairs; everyone else waited in line for the few showers.)

It was quite interesting, seeing these entries from the first time... I really have changed a lot these past five years, something I don't always realize. It's good to get that perspective, I think... it lets me see the differences between the trips more clearly. I still feel like the Rotary's approach (staying in several host families, more trips) was better overall-- certainly I traveled to far more places than I could have ever managed on my own; more places than a lot of the Japanese I met here have, even. And as difficult as some of the families were last time, I would've preferred a host family again this time, I think. But at the same time... the Japanese college experience is a part of life here, too, and I've learned some things from that. If nothing else it did remind me that I do sometimes enjoy living alone, and being accountable to absolutely no one.

So... it was something to ponder. I only read about four months of the entries, though, and so haven't gotten to the last few months, and my thoughts then. I'll have to read those later, and see what other differences I find.

I couldn't get too absorbed in these thoughts, though, because the rest of the afternoon and evening was spent watching Avatar. Hee. Oh, it was good. I shall leave my spazzing for my other journal, but I was geeking out as I haven't in awhile. I will probably be rewatching it several times in the days to come, it was just that awesome.

...somehow after all that it ended up being 7:30, and I had to go in search of food. I went out to the sushi-place again, and had much delicious fish (although the squid dish I tried this time was really kind of gross, and the eggplant, while edible, was also kinda weird). On the way home I stopped at the vending machines to get some pop to fuel the crazy crazy writing I plan to do tonight, and was delighted to see a bunch of teeny little frogs climbing up the machine. They were all less than an inch long, and so cute! So that was a sort of cheerful end to the evening.

And now-- to write! I've got a short story that I really should've written days ago for the challenge that I'm running, and then various RP posts to catch up on.

Current Mood: thoughtful

(This entry is SO backdated, because I was nowhere near coherent enough to write anything when I finally got home yesterday.)

It was pointed out to me that I wasn't very clear with Friday's post, partly because it was just a stream of consciousness list, and also because that list was half in Japanese. (This is, however, basically how I think; in a mix of Japanese and English. It is probably the reason why I also end up rambling in Japanese on the rare occasions I get drunk.)

So for those of you who don't understand Japanese, a quick summary of what all those incomplete thoughts were about:

( Read more... )

Sunday was even more intense. As the schedule said, I showed up at campus around two, and we did our stretches and practiced the formation for "Matcha," which we'd finally be performing in front of actual people. The formation was a bit different than we usually do, and the stereo cut out halfway through the song, so we had to be a bit creative and finish things up by singing. We took a break after that, and everyone finished getting into costume and started work on face paint and such. I painted fireworks that matched the design on our happi. :3

Of course this didn't take very long, so I actually sat around a lot while everyone else was fixing their hair and whatnot. Everyone commented on how quickly I'd gotten ready, but... well, what else did I have to do? My hair fixes itself; it's not like I have to do anything to it. That's what I like about my hair.

Anyway, we headed off from school and got to the festival around... three-thirty or four, I think. It turned out that I was right and this was the festival I'd seen advertised on the poster, taking place around Oyama station. It was Oyama's version of the Gion Matsuri, which is really famous in Kyoto. (I looked it up on wiki later; apparently Gion Matsuri started out as a religious thing, to drive off plagues, earthquakes, fire, and general badness. It turned into an annual event and ran for hundreds of years, until eventually the shogunate decided to stop all the religious stuff. The people got upset and basically said "fine, we'll ditch the rituals, but we're gonna keep the parade," which lead to the current form of the festival.) So there were little mini-shrines (omikoshi) being carried through the streets, and taiko drums, and big waving banners, and then dancers, of course-- including us.

We stopped and rested in a little alcove for a bit (where someone noticed a poster up for the Yosakoi Dance Festival in Nikko-- and Mugen was featured on the poster), and then everyone headed for a toilet break. I mention this only because during said break, myself, Mai, Kazue, Nozomi, and another girl got separated from the rest of the group. This lead to a rather confusing (and exhausting) fifteen minutes or so while we ran through the crowded festival streets, trying to figure out where everyone else was. We did eventually find them, after another guy pointed us in the right direction; they had joined up with some of the other dance groups that we've met at other festivals (who are always very nice and bringing food for us) and were helping in those groups' dances.

These dances lean a little more towards the traditional Obon and other dances, and are less like street dancing than ours (the less athletic moves are understandable; most of the people in the other groups tend to be women or men in their forties or fifties); they also use the noroko(?)--little shaky wooden clappers-- more than we usually do. We followed them in several numbers, and it was more than a little chaotic, as none of us really knew the moves and we were trying to watch the other people ahead of us (while a guy waved a giant flag in the way...) It was fun anyway, though.

We finally took a break after maybe an hour of this; we stopped outside a store that had a little purification fountain next to it (with a ladle and everything), and everyone descended on the fountain, muttering "Nomimono! Nomimono!" (Drinks! Drinks!) and started drinking from there before they could get out the drinks we'd brought with us.

After about three ladles of water and a good few handfuls dumped on my neck and arms, I was feeling slightly less sticky and gross. It also helped that we got to sit down and rest. Once I was feeling better, I took out my phone and started getting snapshots of everybody sitting around, and a bit of the floats going by, although the quality was pretty bad so I couldn't get anything too detailed (this included the guy doing the flag waving, which was unfortunate, because he was amazing). Apparently, we did have time then to walk around and buy food and such, but I didn't find this out until later, alas. I really would've liked to get ahold of some of their snowcone/slushy things.

When the break was over, we finally got to do our dances! Well, we danced with the other group for a bit first, but then it was our turn. We had a whole ring of people around us at this point, lining up on both sides of the street. We did "Matcha" first, and I got a bit confused and ended up out of position, but still did pretty well, I think, and everybody clapped really loudly when we were done, which was quite gratifying. Then we did "Yocchore," which was a bit less organized since it had been awhile since I did it, and several of other new people (like Kazue) didn't know it at all, but it was still fun. And then we went on to the next song... and "Yocchore" started playing again. There was a pause, while they sorted out the sound system again. And then the music came back, and it was... "Yocchore." Yes.

So we ended up doing "Yocchore" not once but three times. Which was... eheh. Well. "Yocchore" is the most physically demanding song, I find, because there's a lot of jumping around, and I still have trouble pulling some of it off. By the third time, most of us weren't even trying very hard, we were all so tired, and some of the people had started to leave. By the time we finished the third round and all attacked the water fountain again, most of the people had left. It had gotten cooler and darker anyway, and a lot cloudier. It looked like it was going to rain, actually, though there wasn't much chance of it in the forecast. When we looked at the street again, most of the people had gone, and we ended up leaving soon after that.

We went back to the school parking lot, and said goodbye to those who had to go home for one reason or another, and I (quite reluctantly) returned my happi to Kimura-san. I'm really going to have to ask Rika later if I can keep one of them and take it back with me. They're just so damn cool-looking. I figure I can wear it to conventions if nothing else. Gotta figure out the right way to ask, though.

Afterwards we went to the onsen (I remembered to bring my towel this time!) and I ended up trying a number of the baths I hadn't before, including some of the really weird ones like the rock salt (?) bath, and the sauna, where we rubbed some kind of salt on our skin-- with Techi, Nozomi, and Mai. A little weird, but so relaxing after an entire day of dancing.

Of course, being exhausted and hungry and then taking a hot bath meant that I was just about falling asleep on my feet when I got out. I managed to stay awake long enough to go and get some dinner (at the same cafeteria place we went before), but after that, exhausted and fed, I was pretty ready to crash. Techi was talking about going someplace after that and hanging out some more, but she didn't know where, and while I wanted to do more, everything was calling for me to sleep, so in the end I just got a ride home.

Mind you, I still stayed up until after midnight, poking at the internet and such, but even that was kind of a struggle. I finally just gave up (since the internet was being very dodgy anyway) and collapsed into sleeeep.

Still. It was an awesome, awesome festival. Pure chaos, of course, with tons of people and little shops and music and shrines... several streets were taken up by the festivities, and even though these were streets I ride on or past every day, I absolutely could not have told you where we were at any one time. But the craziness is most of what I love about matsuri; everybody just goes wild and has fun. None of the strict social heirarchy or frustrating rules that fill every other area of Japanese society. I think it was Techi, actually, who was asking me about the US, and if we have "matsuri" there... and we do, more or less, in the form of carnivals or the county/state fairs, but, as I told her, they're zenzen chigau kanji; it's a totally different feeling from what you get here. Carnivals are all lame rides and rigged games and crazy food (deep fried ice cream wtf), and it feels like a bad way to go waste money more than anything; Japanese matsuri have much more spirit and fun, even if they have equally pricey food.

Also? Some of the best music ever. I was actually rather disappointed that I didn't get to hear more of the taiko players-- our own music was closer, and then we moved away from where they were, but as we stood in the Hakuoh parking lot and did our farewells I could still hear them playing, and I wanted to run over to the station and just listen and dance. I love taiko, and still would like to learn to do that... I think learning the Yosakoi dance served just as well, since I got to go to matsuri that way too, but I do still love taiko.

Hopefully I'll get a chance to watch and enjoy the festivals this week, in Nogi and Moka and Mashiko, more, since I won't actually be dancing.

Current Mood: accomplished

Good day today. I got up around eleven, stopped briefly at school to eat breakfast and use the internet, and then collected my bike and headed over to the station, where I met Kyuu, and we headed over to the theatre at Harvest Walk, to go see Ponyo! It finally came out today. We stopped at the 'Crepe Kingdom' shop first, to pick up some bubble tea, and then headed over to the theatre itself.

The theatre... was a madhouse. I had thought it would be fairly quiet for a matinee (we were seeing the 1:30 showing), since there's never been anyone there when I've gone before. However, I forgot that Japan is crazy with their movies (the "late show" here is one that starts at 8:30) and... I also was not aware that the new Pokemon movie was beginning today, in addition to Ponyo on the Cliff (the new Ghibli movie), and an Anpan-man movie, which started last weekend.

So there were little kids everywhere, and I had to stand in line for quite awhile just to get my popcorn. But when we got into the theatre itself, it wasn't too busy. We were there a bit early, but I think even by the time the movie started the place was only maybe two-thirds full.

The movie itself was great. Really beautiful animation. Of course Ghibli always does good stuff, but this really was a treat to watch. The information I read beforehand said that they were going back to a watercolor-esque style similar to 'My Neighbor Totoro,' and I think the movie was much closer to Totoro than, say, Spirited Away or Howl's Moving Castle in other ways as well. The protagonists were a lot younger, at five years old, and the story itself was a lot simpler, with more of the focus on random adventure and exploration and magic that we get in Totoro.

( Summary; cut for spoilers, although there aren't really many. )

The movie wasn't deep or dramatic, but it was fluffy and absolutely adorable. Everything was made of cute. Even the theme song is super-bouncy and cute (helped along by the fact that it's mostly sung by a nine-year-old girl). The soundtrack was also really light and fun. I'll definitely have to pick up a copy. (They had them at the theatre, but I didn't much feel like paying 3000 for a disc I probably won't be able to copy to Media Player). All in all, a really good, fun movie. I may go see it again if I have time, if only because I know it probably won't be out in the States for awhile.

Afterwards, Kyuu had to catch the bus back to the station so she could get to her job on time, and I went and did a bit of browsing in the shops. I picked up some tank tops (including the white one I need to complete my uniform for the shingegumi) and other clothes, and went over to the Wal-Mart-esque store to look for a takoyaki maker, but couldn't find any, alas.

I went back to the station, picked up supplies for okonomiyaki, and was all happy and ready to go home, make some dinner and watch the new episodes of Avatar...

...aaand I discovered I couldn't find my bike keys. Wonderful. I had my bag (with my laptop still, so it was heavy as hell), the groceries, and then the bag of clothes I'd bought, and there was far too much just to walk home-- and of course then I'd be stuck without a bike anyway, since both my keys were on the keyring, which was now missing. I flailed around for a bit, checking my bag twice, all my other bags, all my pockets, and even trying to jimmy the lock with a paperclip, until finally an old Japanese guy came over and tried to help. He lead me over to where the police guy was standing (while I hauled my bike by hand; no easy feat.)

I explained things to the policeman, who suggested that I call my friends to help carry the bike, and then bring the bike to a bike shop several blocks away, where they would be able to unlock it. (And give me a new key? I didn't think so.) However, I'm also pretty sure he was telling me that I'd need to provide my registration to the people at the shop, so that I could prove it was my bike. Problem is; I don't have registration; I think the bikes Keleih and I got are spares from the dorms; either the ooya-san or Hakuoh probably has the paperwork; I know nothing about that.

All in all, it sounded like a horrific hassle anyway, so I sort of told the guy I understood and headed off. I went back and checked the grocery store just to be sure, and then got back on the bus to Harvest Walk. Might as well try to find the key first, before dealing with bike shops and who knew what other complicated things...

I had a feeling the key must've fallen out of my pocket in the theatre, and so I went there first. The ticket-taker said that nobody had brought in a key, but there was still time before the next showing, so I could go in and look. I went up to my seat and there the key was, on the floor. Argh.

As it turned out, though, it wasn't a terrible thing that I had to go back, because by the time I got back to the station, there was a festival starting up! It was a little mini-festival; bunch of people carrying a tiny shrine on their shoulders, with a car that had taiko drums following them. I fetched my bike and then took a bunch of pictures with my cell phone, since the shrine was going the same way I was. I caught sight of a poster on the corner, too, and I think this was actually the first part of the festival that we're going to be participating in tomorrow. It looks really fun, I gotta say.

So I went home, rather later than I wanted, and got my dinner together and watched my Avatar... and things were good.

Current Mood: cheerful

Notes of the day. I was going to type up a full post with details and everything, but I think this actually captures the spirit of things better.

-Tests were not nearly so hard as they were made out to be. Seriously, we got translations for the sentences and the grammar bits, which we were presumably supposed to know. What's up with that?
-Chisai matsuri! I got to wear the uniform for the first time! Woo~
-ohgod it was hot
-kids were kinda confused, but that's okay, because I had a hell of a lot of fun anyway
-also: kawaii!
-festival food is oishiisou. I wanted to eat everything.
-afterwards we had dinner! Yay!
-Talked a lot with Kimura-san. Cool guy.
-Got home at 10:30? Yes.
-Tomorrow: Ponyo! Ponyo ponyo ponyo ponyo ponyo po~

Current Mood: drained

So, I did mean to go to Oarai yesterday and... then I sort of didn't go to sleep until two am. My alarm went off at seven-thirty, and while I did get up, after about twenty minutes of stumbling around my apartment like a zombie, I realized that there was no way I was going to catch the train, gave up, and went back to sleep. I think I finally got up around... eleven? Twelve? Something like that.

I ended up just going to school and hanging out on the internet for awhile; caught up on all my e-mails and such. (I think I had some intention of working on that paper for Iijima, but... yeah. Not so much.) I left around five to go get supplies for our party, and pick up some dinner. Thus began a lot of bicycling around town. I went home, dropped off my laptop, then biked across the bridge to Marche to get everything needed for s'mores (paying a truly outrageous sum in the process...) then went home again, put the supplies away, and headed out again in pursuit of food.

I went to the kaitenzushi nearby, which was packed even more than usual. Fortunately since I was alone I didn't have to wait too long to get a spot. They actually had a lot more variety of sushi out, probably due to peak hours or something, so I had my usual 2-3 plates of shrimp, some salmon(?) and octopus, and then splurged on the 400 yen plate for the crab sushi. It was totally worth it though. Totally stuffed with sushi, I went back home, and hung out for a few more hours, playing taiko and such.

At about quarter to ten I gathered up my big bag of food (all the s'mores stuff, some chips and salsa, pretzels, and a bunch of snacks I'm not going to be able to eat on my own), and headed out. Originally I had told Chris and Brian to have everybody meet up in front of Hakuoh, but I got a text from him right before I left that said he, Yoshiko, and the Chinese students were all going to go to the river directly because it was closer. I went to the river as well, although I ended up waiting for a good fifteen minutes because they actually went to the Mini Stop first. There was also some confusion because I'd thought Chris was with Brian and the rest, but actually he was waiting at the gates for a little while before he came and found us.

Still, everybody got there in the end. We set up under one of the little picnic areas. Brian had bought a tiny little grill at the 100 yen shop to use as our campfire, and they'd gotten charcoal from somewhere. We actually had quite a difficult time getting the fire to burn properly (I maintain this was because Yoshiko and the others tried to simply dump fire-starting jelly on the charcoal and burn it, which is no way to build a fire), but we managed it in the end.

It ended up being a bit confused, though, as everyone started lighting fireworks while we were still working on the fire, so actually I kind of missed out on that part of it. The fireworks were also being lit only a few feet away, and they wouldn't move them, despite my constant yelling that it was dangerous. Tch. Sorry if I'm being a little paranoid guys, but come on. Basic safety, please.

Anyway, we eventually got the fire going to a point where it was actually possible to cook things over it, so we started with the s'mores. This was sometimes entertaining (Kyuu was astonished that we were using sticks to hold the marshmallows, and would not believe us when we said this was how you were supposed to do it) and sometimes frustrating (when they were asking us how long the marshmallows should be cooked, and I was unable to explain how to tell when it was done. Brian kept advising them to wait until the mallows were on fire.) We did get several s'mores made in the end, and I think just about everyone tried them, but between the difficulty with the fire and the general confusion and a little bit of arguing (Yoshiko and Brian got into some disagreements over the fire in particular), it was a little more chaotic and a little less fun than I'd hoped for. Still-- s'mores!

Later on most everybody ended up drunk, except for me, Brian, and I think Okei, and everyone, for reasons I never did understand, sort of clustered on the track, away from all the food and the drinks, and simply stood and talked. Chris in particular was quite drunk, and I actually ended up talking to him for awhile, back near the campfire. Later on they called me over to the main group, and I hung out for awhile, and ran a couple races for no particular reason, but overall I couldn't really get into any of the conversations, and I was tired anyway, so I left. It was about 1 am.

I talked to Chris later, and he said they stayed out until three. I don't think I could've managed that long. While I did enjoy the party, I think it was a little difficult, reconciling the two groups, and for me at least, rather awkward. Or maybe I just miss the parties at home, where there are video games and geeky jokes and terrible old movies to watch, instead of random small talk in another language (or two).

I don't know. I did have an interesting conversation with Chris, though, or half of one. (Likely because he was wasted, his attention kept wandering on to different things, so I was partly talking to myself.)

We were talking about Hakuoh, and what I'd thought of my trip, since I'm leaving so soon... and I have to say, I think I'm about ready to go back. I'm a little disappointed, because I didn't get to travel as much as I wanted, and I'm sad that I'll miss some of the really cool events my club is doing, like the festival in Nikko in September, but I'm also really excited to go home, and go back to proper classes, instead of this kind of lame excuse we've had for class all summer. I mean, I'm starting Illustration this semester! Something I've been waiting to do for years now. And, you know, I already had a year in Japan with the Rotary, and in some ways I think that was the better experience. This trip... this was enough, these four months. I rediscovered a lot of things to like about Japan (and was reminded of a lot of things I dislike), I learned some more Japanese. I didn't learn to play taiko, like I wanted-- but I learned Yosakoi dancing, which is arguably just as cool or moreso. Despite the issues I had with the classes, I got the credits I needed for my major.

It's been a good trip. Like anything, there were good and bad points, but overall it was good. I think I can leave this time, and... not regret. Last time when I left, I was full of regrets; I kept thinking of all the mistakes I'd made, all the chances I missed. This time, I think, it was enough. I'll go home, and when I travel again, it'll be to someplace else. I'm sure I'll come back to Japan again, but when, I'm not sure. It's not as important. I don't think I'll have that pressing need to go back, though, once I'm home again. I think I achieved what I wanted, basically. So for now... it's good.

Current Mood: calm

Well, I've been a little short on updates, lately... I keep meaning to write, but now that I can actually get internet at home in the evenings, I've been a little distracted. Also staying up very late at night. Going to bed at three thirty is not always the best of ideas when you have to get up for class at eight... but I've only got a week left at this point, so whatever.

Anyway, quick recap. We did have a little celebration on the 4th of July; me and Chris got together with Rin, Akira, and Hiro and shot off a few fireworks down by the river, and later Yuka showed up with pudding-dessert type things from her job. It wasn't hugely exciting or eventful, but it was still pretty fun.

Saturday I spent the first part of the day on campus. I'd intended to spend the day there and get my paper done for Iijima's culture class... I'm sure you can all guess how well that actually turned out. Chris texted me around one and wanted to know if I was doing anything... we had sort of half-baked plans to go to the beach at Oarai, because it was actually really hot out for once, but these were foiled by my complete inability to find any train schedules online (all the Japanese ones are impossible to read; all the English ones assume you are a tourist only traveling by shinkansen, and don't list the local trains) and the bad timing; Oarai is an hour and a half away by train, so we just wouldn't have been able to make it out in time to do anything.

I did end up meeting with Chris, Laura, and Yoshiko later that evening, though. We went to Saizeriya's for dinner, and then we were going to go see Speed Racer at the Roble theatre. Unfortunately, when we got there (sans Yoshiko, who had to go do something), we discovered that the showing was Japanese-dubbed instead of English with subtitles. I hadn't been that excited about seeing Speed Racer anyway--it was just something to do--and I was not going to watch it in Japanese. So after a quick stop at the bookstore downstairs to do a little browsing, I went home and watched Doctor Who instead.

Sunday was not quite as disgustingly hot as Saturday, but it was still incredibly humid. Even standing outside I was sweating, so going to practice and dancing for a few hours... it was really gross. Luckily it was a fairly short practice, so I didn't have to suffer too long. Afterwards I went to the station to pick up some of the books I'd spotted the evening before, but hadn't had a good chance to look at. As it turns out, since there's a new live action movie of Gegege no Kitaro coming out soon, they had a big display of Gegege-related things out. Gegege is a series I've been meaning to look into, since it is apparently basically a primer to old Japanese folktales, but it's also one of those series that's been running since the 60's so there are several different versions, and I wasn't sure which one was best.

I didn't end up buying any of the manga in the end, as the art style is kind of weird and distracting, but they did have several other books that looked interesting. In particular there was a series of books explaining the mythology behind Kitaro, which was basically what I wanted anyway. In the end I bought three books, Youkai Hyaku Monogatari (One Hundred Ghost Stories), Youkai Daihyakka (Youkai Encyclopedia) and Gegege no Kitaro: Youkai Perfect Book. I've only looked at them briefly so far, but they're actually written for elementary-school kids, which is helpful for me because it means the kanji is just about my level, and I can read it without having to look up every other word. Win!

Most of the rest of the week went by pretty uneventfully. We didn't even have real class on Wednesday. I'll admit, I was pretty tired getting up, and seriously considered ditching, especially since all we ever do is go over grammar we've already learned. But I reasoned that I only had two weeks left of class anyway, so I might as well go. It's just as well I did, because for the first twenty minutes I was the only one there. Keleih came in late because she'd had trouble getting things to print in the library, and Brian apparently overslept and didn't show up until the class was half over, in the middle of the video we ended up watching. (It was about Noh/Kabuki/Bunraku, and that at least was interesting. I really want to see kabuki now.) Chris didn't show until several hours later. I guess he, also, overslept... seems to be catching.

So today we had Iijima's class, and got our review sheets for the finals next week. (Adachi is not bothering to give us final tests, or rather, there will be a few tests after the summer break, after Brian and I are gone.) Shouldn't be too bad, as long as I take care to study properly. Although honestly, from what I understand Hakuoh is basically going to hand us decent grades no matter how we do in class, so... well. Obviously I'm going to study and try to do well anyway, but I do wish they were giving us more of an incentive to actually be productive. As it was, today I was more proud of the sketches I did in class than anything in the lessons.

After practice I went over to the station and hit the bookstore again, finally buying a book I spotted a few days ago, called Tokyo Nobody. It's a collection of photographs of Tokyo from 1999-2000... with absolutely no people. It's amazing. The city looks like a ghost town, or after some sort of disaster... It's really eerie and fascinating all at once. It was a little pricey (2500 yen) which is why I'd been holding off. I actually checked Amazon to see if I could grab it for cheaper online, only to find out that it's apparently a fairly rare book, and Amazon's cheapest price was $56 (several copies were going for over $80). So today I snatched it up as quickly as possible.

Other than that... not a lot. There are plans for tomorrow; Brian and I decided to have a sort of barbecue/party thing down by the river, with a little campfire (to introduce the Chinese students to s'mores) and more fireworks and snacks and things. Should be fun, if we can get it all to come together. I'm also going to go and hit up Oarai tomorrow, since it's supposed to be pretty nice weather, and dammit, I am going to visit the ocean properly at least once before I leave.

Speaking of leaving... it's hard to believe I've got only three weeks left. Where did the time go? Reflection on that issue, however, is going to have to wait for another post... I have to get up early to catch the train tomorrow, and need to sleep.

Current Mood: tired

A fairly low key day today. We got an overview of our final tests in each of Iijima's classes. They don't look too hard, so as long as I remember to study, I should be fine. We do have to write a report on the differences between the US and Japan, though, so I'll have to start thinking about what I want to do for that. Keleih and I did our presentation on restaurants and such, and that was fine, but I think I want something a little different for an actual report.

After class, though, I met up with my club members for our usual Friday meeting. Today the school theatre group was putting on their play, so we went to go see that instead of having practice.

It was... interesting. I caught maybe half of the dialogue (less towards the end, when I was getting tired), but I could still follow the plot fairly well. It started out with two guys playing soccer... and then space pirates come in and start threatening the one player, trying to make a deal of some kind with him. They're interrupted by a princess, and then by the police. Just when the action is getting intense, the scene freezes, and another character jumps in and starts summarizing the scene. You know the type-- the kind of thing that you get at the end of comics. "WILL the hero survive this encounter? Will the Princess OR the Pirates get their way?" etc.

And as it turns out, this WAS a comic, because the guy in the suit turns out to be the boss of a manga-ka, and as everybody else runs off stage, he starts berating the artist to finish drawing the rest of the comic. She's very reluctant to do so, but finally sits down at the table and starts writing... and then the scene starts up again.

So the play very quickly gets pretty complex, with the artist and her boss sitting in the middle of the unfolding scenes, making comments on the action while the characters of the story ignore them. There's a lot of back and forth between the pirates and the police and the princess... everybody seems to be interested in the soccer player, although I never did catch the reason for this.

Then the artist draws her boss into the comic, and things get even crazier. As the play went on, the division between reality and the story got more and more blurred, especially as the boss, while interacting with the other characters in the story, started yelling comments at the artist.

More back and forth with the different groups... the soccer player showed up with a copy of Shonen Jump (supposedly from 1990? And the play was set in 2054 or so), which was somehow significant, but there was a lot of dialogue I wasn't catching at this point, so I started getting a little confused. The soccer was important, as the other characters were asking about it, and he kept repeating the lines, "blue sky, green field, white lines, white goal." But what the real significance was, I couldn't figure out.

In the end, the woman police officer gets killed by the princess, and the other police is about to kill her in return, but is stopped by the soccer player. Everybody else runs on set, and there is a lot of arguing. The princess does get killed, but then the boss complains that the artist is being too cruel, so she throws the scene out and rewrites it. At last it is revealed that the boss is Kokeru, the guy everybody's been after this whole time, and the soccer player is Kojiro, who is... somebody else. Kojiro runs off with the Princess, and then everybody comes out dressed in soccer uniforms and starts a game, with the artist as referee.

It really was an interesting play, and definitely admirable for its complexity and overlapping plots.* I just wish I'd understood more of what was going on-- especially with the soccer part; I have no idea what that was all about. But everybody did pretty well acting their parts, and I was impressed that they managed to tell such a complex story using a really, really minimalist set (basically just some stairs leading to a raised platform, and five doors).

Definitely worth the watch.

I did a bit of planning when I got home... I looked up festivals in Tochigi this afternoon on the internet, and there are a fair handful that are close enough for me to get to. Plotting them out on my schedule, though, it seems like almost all happen in that second to last week of July. That's the week after our final tests, though, so I should have plenty of time to go and see them.

Now I just gotta grab some people to go with...

*I realize the summary above probably makes it sound really jumbled and full of crack. But it really did seem to have an overall plot, I just couldn't always follow it due to the language issue.

Current Mood: intrigued

So today was the farewell party for the Hawaiian students.

( Read more... )

Now the internet has sucked me in, and I really should get to bed... but tomorrow I can sleep in, so... yeah. Not gonna worry about it too much.

Current Mood: awake

So, today dawned cool and clear. We could actually see the mountains in the distance, which never happens. Generally they're covered up by the haze. The forecast didn't look too bad, either: about a 30% chance of rain, which was low enough that I felt pretty safe leaving my umbrella behind. My feet were still rather sore, but nowhere near where they'd been the night before. In general, I was feeling pretty good.

( Read more... )

I woke up earlier than I expected (or wanted) to on Sunday... the futon was thin and uncomfortable, the room was too bright, and for some reason the two Japanese girls I was rooming with put the heat on, so the room was sweltering... and then after I turned it down a bit it was freezing. Needless to say, I didn't sleep well at all.

After a rather low-key breakfast, we packed up and headed off again. This time we walked to the nearest bus station, and took that to the train station. Of course, the bus was pretty full already by the time it got to us, so it was rather interesting getting an additional thirty people on... but we managed it somehow. We got Holiday Passes at the station, and took the train to Kamakura.

( Read more... )

(Note: Obviously I didn't actually write this on Saturday, but putting everything in one post would be too long, so I'm breaking it up by day for easier writing. Yay for the internet, and the power to write things into the past!)

Whew. It's been a busy weekend, but I finally have a minute to sit down and write. ( Read more... )

So, I spent what felt like a lot of money very quickly today, but... well, it's already almost the end of the month, and I haven't spent much at all, so I figured I was all right.

First stop was a shoe store. I really needed to get some proper sneakers for dance practice. It was all right when we were just doing a practice or two a week, but with the more intense Sunday practices (and yesterday's kickball session) it became apparent that I really should buy proper footwear. I was trying to put it off, because I didn't want to spend the money for shoes if I was going to use them just for the next two months... and then I tried to remember just when the last time bought new sneakers was, and realized that... er, well, I don't actually remember when it was, but I'm pretty sure it was sometime in high school. So in light of that... perhaps a new pair is not entirely unwarranted.

Of course, I had to find a shoe store first. Most of the stores at the station are full of very "hip" clothes, which means you get sandals with four inch heels in every flavor of bling possible, but few shoes that anybody can really wear. There was one store on the 2nd floor of Roble, but the cheapest shoes there were "on sale" for $39. Ack. And I'd been hoping to spend only $20 or $30. (Mind you, it was cheap in light of the rest of their stock-- most of the better shoes were selling for upwards of $70.) So I kept on wandering up each floor, looking for someplace else.

I did finally find what I was looking for on the 4th floor, which is sort of general, casual clothes, kind of like a JC Penny or something. They also have kitchen ware and general home supplies. The cheapest shoes were still $40, but I found a pair I liked and just swallowed the price. It didn't look like I was going to find anything cheaper, and since the next time I buy shoes will probably be in another four or five years, I figured it wasn't a total loss.

I stopped by another section of the store after that, and picked up extra stock of a few of their pens... I found some fine-tipped markers there which are very good for writing and even occasionally inking, and they're only 50 yen each. Afterwards I headed up to the sixth floor and browsed the bookstore... I picked up the first volume of Chi's Sweet Home, which is an adorable, very simple little comic about a kitten, and the first volume of Atashin'chi, since I remember enjoying the anime a lot last time I was here.

Finally I went to the hyaku-en store in the basement and picked up some basics that I was running low on. I got some takoyaki from Gindako for lunch, and headed back to Hakouh. I stayed in the language lounge long enough to eat my takoyaki, read the newspaper from a few days ago (Miller hasn't brought in the latest papers yet, so we're stuck with last week's news), and browsed the extremely eclectic collection of videos and books in the lounge. We have a couple of Garfield books, Indiana, Indiana, the second volume of Yu-Gi-Oh, translated, H is for Hoosier, and a couple of books on Japan, including the 'Japan Survival Guide,' which as published in 1986 or so. (Somehow I doubt it is very useful anymore.) In videos, we have a copy of Erin Brockovich, which I really should watch sometime, a whole series of half a dozen or so tapes on the Civil War, and a few others which weren't immediately obvious.

To whoever comes to Hakuoh next? Seriously, bring some better material. We are seriously lacking in representative info on Indiana or the US as a whole-- the one map of the US that they had tacked up on the wall didn't have New York, Chicago, or even Washington, D.C. listed on the map. I had to write them in. Although, I did see a photo-printing service or two at the station, so I may try to put together some pictures and poster-board to hang up in the lounge.

Anyway, once I was done with my takoyaki I headed home and spent much of the evening quietly-- I read Chi's Sweet Home, and eventually ended up watching a show on TV that presented several stories from a sort of "exploratory journalism," or something. The first was about tracking down a gorilla that had a missing hand-- I didn't pay much attention to that. But then they ran a story about why Americans are so fat, which was entertaining. I felt kinda bad for the reporter; they took her down to some little town in Mississippi, and had her shadow a family for a day or two. This poor tiny Japanese woman got stuck being stuffed full of cheese & grits, biscuits, waffles & syrup, sweet tea, and chocolate milk... and that was just breakfast. Later on she had to eat a pound hamburger, and then a barbecue with steaks and french fries and all the rest... I wanted to tell them that, you know, not all Americans are like that, but of course that's the kind of exaggerated example you're going to get, if you take your investigation down to the deep South...

The final story was much sadder, as they went to Cambodia and talked to this girl, who was fourteen, and spent all her days working at a garbage dump, collecting bits of plastic so she could get something like 160 yen per day as pay. At one point they asked the girl what she wanted to do when she grew up, and the girl said she didn't have any dreams, but she wanted her dad to get better. The reporter just about cried. It really was depressing, to watch these people stuck in this terrible situation.

Eventually I turned it off, and went back to fiddling on the computer. Now it's something like 12:20, and I should go to bed... I have class early tomorrow, but I'm not really tired. Alas. And if the internet will work just a little longer...

Current Mood: tired

So, I'm here, and it looks like the internet situation has finally gotten settled-- we've hooked up a wireless network in the kokusai koryou center, which is where we're obligated to spend our afternoons at least three days a week. Essentially it's the language lab, and since apparently nobody comes after the first week or two, I should have plenty of afternoons to sit and RP.

Spent the last two hours or so trying to clear through the backlog of sites and blogs, as well as trying to get some updates done... I did set up a travel blog, Faraway Other Lands (name taken from a wonderful Engrish song we heard at karaoke the other night), but so far it's just the bare bones... Blogger is being kind of a bitch about formatting, and I couldn't get it to behave with the prettier layouts. Anybody who has experience or help in that area, please comment or e-mail.

Still have to get through the last week of my friendslist updates, and read the posts at HR; I think that might have to wait until tomorrow, though, as we seem to be heading out to eat soon. I also can't get AIM to work on this connection, so if anyone wants to IM me you may need to use MSN for awhile. (I'm available at flameraven@hotmail.com)

However! Little by little, progress is made!

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November 2013

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Art Update (Part I)
WRF
Sugoku kaminari...
(no subject)
If I knew now what I knew then...
Matsuri... yachatta.
Ponyo ponyo, ponyo sakana no ko~
Chisai matsuri mo tanoshiku naru
(no subject)
Still Alive!
The Play's the Thing
Aloha~!
Like Tourists on Vacation
Oo-ame (Rain, Rain, and More Rain)
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Slice of Life
Still alive!

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Entries tagged with japan

Art Update (Part I)

WRF

Sugoku kaminari...

(no subject)

If I knew now what I knew then...

Matsuri... yachatta.

Ponyo ponyo, ponyo sakana no ko~

Chisai matsuri mo tanoshiku naru

(no subject)

Still Alive!

The Play's the Thing

Aloha~!

Like Tourists on Vacation

Oo-ame (Rain, Rain, and More Rain)

(no subject)

Slice of Life

Still alive!

Profile

November 2013

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