September 2004 Archives

So I have a big test tomorrow, so I'm posting early in order to spend my evening looking over vocab.

Zach Armstrong is having a good time back at GAC. His original 12in Powerbook has been having issues. First its HD goes bad, he sends it in, and the new HD they put in goes bad. He sends it back again, and then the HD works, but his CD drive is acting up. Long story short he convinced them to give him a new computer. A new 12in. My 12in. Lucky lucky man. At least now he can play HALO and not blame his bad score on his computer's game playing ability.

Umm... I don't know what I'm doing this weekend, but I need to spend a day doing homework. I have a take home test to do, and another test on Tuesday. I now know that I'll be comin home on the 18th of December. In time for some x-mas fun.

Nothing is more fun then watching 'who wants to be a 10,000,000 Yen-air' on Japanese TV. TV here is fun. Hardly any commercials, and they have english TV channels. Its also fun to listen for American songs being played during commercials or cheesy TV shows. If I'm lucky I also see US celebrities appear in silly commercials.

Another typhoon is hitting this fun island nation of Japan. Rain was belting down today during class, which made walking very fun. I left extra early so to avoid being stuck without a bus this morning, expecting to see a hoard of students lining up for a ride.

My host fam was nice enough to pick me up at the train station tonight, due to my fear of being blown away by a gust of wind.

So thats about it from around here. Well, that and my now constant frustration with Japanese vocab. I hope this weekend will be a bit more interesting, and I actually have some photos to post.

The high point of my day was getting a super sweet package from Heidi Johnson, which included: Two Thomas the Train books for my host brother, some chocolates, and some TUMs. Makes me feel extra special.

Nothing too interesting happened today. Class as usual. Though on a very sad note, Jared Lee informs me that he did indeed shave off his facial hair. What is this world coming to. Speaking of which, I really need to get a haircut myself. Or let myself turn into a Wookie. (PS, I want the Star Wars DVD Box Set and also the Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind DVD which both just came out)

Oh, Zach was kind enough to get all the settings done on the php script that lets me (and anyone else) access our file server via a web browser. Well, not anyone, just those of us with files we need to get to. The wonders of technology.

I plan on turning in extra early tonight and catch up on some sleep. Need the energy to study.

I only had one class today at 11. I leave at 10, its down-pouring. I take the train to Hirakata, and then was going to take the bus, except I end up waiting for about 40 minutes for the bus due to the extremely large line of students. I ended up missing half of class. Rain sucks. It took all day before my shoes dried out.

So this afternoon Angela, Joseph, and I all went into Osaka in an attempt to get to the US Consulate General so that we might fill out the forms to get an absentee voter ballot. It was a long trek to the station, and then the long train ride into Osaka, and then a subway ride, and then another long trek from station to the Consulate General. At least we were in a massive urban setting, and got to look at all the super cool buildings. Which was a pus. Ah, but getting in wasn't the easiest thing. The guards took most everything from us, then scanned us, and I was almost sure I was about to be stripped searched. Luckily I was not. But they took away my phone so I couldn't call people, and my camera so I couldn't take photos of the visitors area, and they took my water bottle just in case I had a biological agent in it, and they took my backpack so I couldn't try and blow stuff up even though it'd been all x-rayed, and then they took my shoe laces in case I was going to strange someone, and then they took my belt so I couldn't hang myself. Man, I felt like Arlo Guthre, except I wasn't high or stuck in the 1960s. Ok, they didn't take my shoe laces and belt, but they were close to doing it! So we I guess getting in was easy, but the forms were very long and drawn out. South Dakota even required me to have my form notarized by someone official, which I was lucky enough to find. Long story short, I got the form in and I'll be able to cast a vote this November. But not like it matters to much in South Dakota, cuz my state sucks. On the plus side every room had a nice big photo of VP with a super funny smirk. The kind that says "I will soon have yet another heart attack, and then steal another election, and then make really bad decisions about everything." It was actually funny.

Doing homework tonight. Two small quizzes tomorrow, which should be interesting. Nothing too exciting planned this week. Collin and I want to go rent some CDs this weekend. Yes, rent them. Japan lets you do that, and we all know what that really means. God bless Japan, and moreover Asia in general for its complete lack of any copyright morals. I hope to return home and play nothing but J-Pop music for the last semester of college. Well, that and drink sake.

So I actually did nothing all Sunday long. Really. I really needed some time to relax, I've not been getting enough sleep due to my hour commute and the early morning shower schedule.

I took Kai to the park for a while, where we once again played 'throw Kai's shoes,' a game that he never seems to get enough of. Once again I feel like an interesting attraction for the many small children to look at. But thats the way it goes.

I even took a short nap this afternoon, then finally hooked up my BlueTooth mouse, which has been battery dead for a month now. I can't say I've missed it all that much. I've actually become used to using the track pad. I only hooked it up to try the new Spider-man 2 game for a while. Hmm.... Spider-man in video game form. A super amazing game. For once you have free reign to web around New York City, in any way you want. Total Spider Sense overload.

I think this mock up true to life, and works both ways.

Just in case anyone was worried I wasn't going to vote in this presidential election, tomorrow I'm heading into Osaka to find the US Consulate General and get my absentee ballot, though we all know which way South Dakota is going in this election.

Oh, Chris C is now letting me know how cool his trip to the Tokyo Game Show was. Bastard! Though it would have been super fun. Maybe next year when I have some income.

Friday night Zach and I had some drinks and hung out at the dorms. We eventually rode some bikes to bar Mono where we hung out and talked to some Japanese for a while, then back to the dorms. Somewhere along the way Zach had major bike problems and ripped his pants. He also had several other problems that night, but I shall not go into that.

What we both did experience were a bunch of French guys while at Zach's place early on in the evening. Heres how it went. Zach lives with 2 French guys, who are very nice. They along with 2 other French guys were drinking some strong tasting stuff, which they let us try. Now these guys were not just French, but they were probably the most French French people I've ever seen, heard, or read about. So Zach and I were sitting on the couch talking when this one French guy comes over and starts talking to us. He asks us if we've ever heard of this French drinking game called 'shibits' (Note this entire conversation was in a comicly thick French accent). We both had not heard of it, to which he then asked us a second time if we were sure we didn't know. No, we didn't. So then he reaches over and grabs both our crouches and says 'shibits.' This people, is why Americans don't like the French.

So my Saturday was completely dull. When I eventually got back to my host fams place, it was empty. The fam went out of town for the day to visit my host father's home town for some official business. So I just took the afternoon easy. I talked to Ramin for a while online, something I had not done ever. I worked on my webpage and fixed the IE 6 buy and also cut back the number of posts being displayed from 10 down to 4, which is important due to the large number of pictures I post these days. I then later cooked up some curry rice for myself and watched X-Men 2 on the old Powerbook.

So even though I had the day off, I still got up at 7 am. Why did I do such a foolish thing, because I was to meet some friends to go to Kyoto. And this time I swore I'd actually see something. Which we did. I first met Albert, Chris L, and a couple of Japanese girls in Hirakata Station. We soon took the 45 minute ride to Kyoto.

The first stop on our trip was the oh so famous Fushimi-Inari Taisha, found in South Eastern Kyoto. First built in the 8th Century, this shrine was originally made to worship the god of rice and sake. Now a days the shine covers an entire side of a mountain, and you can walk up the 4km to the top. On the way up you'll notice a ton of stone foxes, which are a god of good fortune and good business. You'll also be hard pressed not to notice the 1000 or so bright red torri that line the paths. Each one bought and paid for by someone, who has their name or group written on the side. We walked all the way to the top, something that took a good 2 hours or so. Along the way we ran into a lot of kids from Kansai Gaidai, who were there on a filed trip. Thank goodness it wasn't very hot out, because all those steps are no easy task. Along the paths are many different shops and little cafes, as well as shrines and graveyards. The red torii make for quite the contrast to the lush green of the mountainside, and converge to form a very beautiful sight.

In the afternoon we took a train into the main part of Kyoto to see the Kiyomizu Temple. But as we walked to the temple we saw some really cool traditional shops, selling everything from pottery to fans. We also saw some women dressed in traditional Japanese attire. They're dancers in a traditional dance show, and were outside the studio trying to attract customers. They were kind enough to let us take their photo. The actual temple was also quite impressive. First built in 798, the buildings I saw today were all built around 1633. This is the destination for busloads of tourists during all seasons. The temple is also home to a well that is said to heal people, if you drink the water. Too bad I didn't try any. The temple high enough in the hills around Kyoto that you can actually look down and see the entire city of 1.4 million people. Quite the sight, and a fun place to take lots of photos. At this point in the day I had taken over 120 photos, to which I had almost filled up my little memory card. Thank goodness for digital. On the way out of the temple I bought a Sprite. A Sprite in a real glass bottle. Hot damn! But even more funny then my Sprite obsession was an experience Chris and I had in a store. We were looking at a bunch of Totoro toys, and we were debating if we should buy any, when we both starting singing the theme song, and made the old lady working in the store laugh out loud, and continue to do so as we quickly exited the store.

Instead of going home like a good boy, I went split up with my group and went into Osaka to meet Zach and Ama. Why would I do this? To go to a heavy metal rock concert, thats why. But first I had to buy a sandwich in the train station while I waited for them. During that time I was the amusement for a girls soccer team, as they all had to say hello to me. The odd thing is, Zach, Ama, and I ran into them again when we hopped on a subway car. They then came over to Zach and I, all wide eyed and mouths gaping, and started to talk to us in bad english. Too bad we were going in the wrong direction, so we got off and went on another subway car. This was just the first of the many problem we had getting to the concert. We eventually got there a half hour later then expected, and eventually found Motoshi. Who is probably the coolest Japanese guy I know. Anyhow, the concert was in a bar called Fandango, which is situated around about 50 different themed strip clubs. Before you start with the jokes, its a $50 cover change to get in those places, and theres no way I'm paying that much. There were three bands playing in this packed little bar: envy, FLASHLIGHT EXPERIENCE, and MELT-BANANA. All in all, lets say it was a mosh-pit-rocking-good-time, and I lost some hearing.

Rules to a Mosh Pitts:
1) Jump like you just don't care.
2) Be respectful of the guy trying to surf the crowd.
3) If you surf the crowd, make sure that they're willing to help you do it. Or you end up on the floor.
4) If you on the edge of the pit, just keep pushing people back in.
5) Don't be a jerk. Don't mosh with a full beer or drink in hand. If you didn't want to drink it, don't buy it.

Afterwards Motoshi bought us some food, and Zach tried to explain certain slang english terms to him. Which was tough, and funny. He drove us all home in his super cool little Japanese car. Again, super cool, and I think my hearing is returning. All in all, a very interesting night.

Still no fix for IE 6 and my webpage. Still no new photo albums up. Give me time. This weekend.

So I don't know why, but people from all over this mixed up crazy world are viewing my webpage, at an ever alarming rate. Is it fate, lack of girlfriends, boredom, or maybe I'm just that good looking. It could be something to do with my pimping of the old webpage on MacNN Forums lately. But besides that, I don't know. Maybe I am popular in my own way. If you're from somewhere interesting, post a comment to this entry and let me know you're alive.

Zach led Collin and I on a wild goose chase through Osaka today. We have tomorrow off from school, and Zach wants to go see this rock concert tomorrow. Getting tickets a day early saves us some cash, but in the end we realized that with all the train tickets we were going to spend it didn't really save us any cash. On the upside to this trip we got to wonder around Osaka for a while.

Anyhow, nothing too interesting. Going to do some fun stuff tomorrow. I'll take tons of photos.

So I went to school took a quiz and was able to write things out in hiragana quite well. I've been studying. Or trying too.

Zach talked me into taking a quick trip into Hiragana to help him buy shirts. He wanted 'engrish' shirts, AKA shirts with really bad english on them. We found shirts, some of them bad, some of them not so bad. While looking around the mall I saw a TV showing The Nightmare Before Christmas, which was re-dubbed in Japanese. My approached scared away a little girl, which isn't too uncommon these days. My tall stature and white complexion does do that from time to time. I did end up buying an little Oogi Boogie guy for my backpack. To fit in around here you need lots of little plush guys on your bags. I then went back to school and sat through class.

Thank goodness we have this next Thursday off.

Chris C and I took a trip into Osaka to go to... another meeting at the Apple Store! This meeting can only be described as a semi-pro-MUG meeting. Its being called Design Matters, and this first meeting (ever) was about the group and about what we the members wanted out of this group. Each month someone from the group will give a presentation about their professional area. Next month someone is giving a presentation of package design. You're probably thing "Man, Josh is such a major geek." And its true. But why does design matter? Garr Reynolds gave quite the presentation about design and why it matters, and quite a few people attending had their own ideas about why design matters in everything we do. Design is about simpliciety, about functionality, about material and craft. Its about image, its about presentation. Design matters in every part of business, from a manual to the final product. Chris and I were very impressed, and Chris won a mug! They pulled names out of a hat, and he won. Another student from Kansai Gaidai won some software, worth about $300. Heck even Motoshi was there to hang out with us.

Afterwards about 20 of us went out for some food and drink. It was really cool because most everyone was in some sort of professional design work. A DJ, a webdesigner, a package designer, a businessman, a programer. I mean, the whole 9 yards. The food was amazing. To say the least. They even got me to try some oysters. We had some great talks about technology, food, Japan, and well, design. Chris, Motoashi, and I will probably all attend next month. Fun times.

Oh, how odd, but it looks like the Windows version of IE 6 hates my webpage again. I don't know why, seeing as how I thought I fixed that this summer. Sigh.....

Karaoke was fun last night. Especially when Zach's old room mate from back home showed up (the one who made out with Zach's girlfriend), so we made him pay for the majority of the expenses.

Nara, the ancient capital of Japan. Home to historical wonders, holy buddhist sites, and lots of god damn deer. My host family took me there today, which was really cool of them. Its about an hour away from my host family's place, and the ride took us through the countryside of Japan. The countryside was really cool. All nestled in the hilly mountains that I usually only see from a distance.

So we're walking along in Nara and I start seeing all these deer running around. Usually the only time I'm used to seeing deer is when they've caused a car accident. But these deer are sacred deer, and for 150 Yen you could buy deer biscuits to feed to them, which they expected from everyone. The major problem was avoiding the constant piles of deer droppings they were EVERYWHERE! One passing American said to me "They need an open hunting season." I couldn't stop laughing.

Going to Nara reminded me of going to a lot of cool places in China. A lot of the architecture is very similar, mostly due to buddhist influences. The one big temple we spent a lot of time at was the Todaiji Temple. Over 1300 years old, burned down twice, and then rebuilt. Its home to a massive Buddha statue, along with amazing architecture and beauty. The place was crawling with people, all who had come to see this impressive place. If you were wondering what I was doing traveling on a Monday afternoon, let it be known that today is 'Respect for the Aged Day" across Japan. No school. This is an interesting thing to note, because I've read several articles lately about how 1/5 of Japan's population is considered 'elderly.' They also have 23,000 people over 100 years old. It probably doesn't help that the birth rate is only 1.33 children per woman.

Other cool views on this trip were a very large bell tower, with a bell so large I would be able to stand up on the inside without a problem. Some other cool temples, named after various months. Me buying a can of Sprite, which is ever so hard to find around here. And Kai being attacked by a deer. He's ok, and the deer was just being over protective of its child.

After Nara, I slept for a bit in the car. Next thing I know, we're eating Sushi at a conveyer belt place. My host mother would not let me sit there without trying some squid, eel, and tuna. All raw. It was very good, and I'm glad I tried it out. As much as the thought of raw fish may be unsettling to many people, its not too bad.

I'm sure I'll place all these photos online tomorrow night or something, or when I take the time to label all 90 or so of them. Then again, I am going to the Design Matters Pro Group at the Osaka Apple Store tomorrow. Not that I really know anything about design, but I figured it'd be cool, and by now I know hot to get to the Apple Store without too many problems. Plus I'll end up meeting Motoshi there, who is one cool Japanese guy. We all think Natalie has a thing for him.... hmm.... maybe...

Friday was... well.. Friday. I went out for some food after class, and eventually made it back to the Dorms to hang out with Zach. In 'theory' some people were going to go do stuff, but everyone we talked to was waiting for someone or some group to come get them. Thus no one did anything. We eventually went to Bar Mono and hung out there for a while. Collin was going to meet us, but he got horribly lost somewhere along the line, and he only made it to the bar for about 30 seconds before we had to leave and catch the train.

At our train stop we got some icecream, which had to be surreal for the Japanese. Two big white guys eating ice cream at 1 am in a train station. It was during this time that a homeless Japanese man, who was probably in his 60s, came over and wanted us to rip apart a cardboard box for him to sleep on. I did so, and the man said a very well spoken 'Thank-you.' It was really kinda sad. I haven't noticed many homeless people in Japan, except for in the train stations and around the Osaka Castle. Its an obvious problem here as much as it is in the US.

Saturday Collin, Zach, my speaking partner Chirio and her friend Ben, and I all went into Osaka in an attempt to watch the movie Biohazard 2 (AKA Resident Evil 2). All attempts at doing so were squashed. It wasn't playing at any of the three theaters we went to, and the guys and I didn't want to go see Van Hellsing or I, Robot again. At least not for 1,300 yen (aka about $12). (I put a stop to any notion of seeing The Village. God, I hated that film.) We ended up buying drinks in a Subway and hanging out for a while. I've found that fast food chains in Japan do not offer free refills on drinks, and that their 'Large' is what we in America call a 'small.' Very very very lame.

Luckily out day was not without its successes. We went to a Kiddy Land toystore in an attempt to buy some 'bling-bling' for our phones. In Japan everyone's cell phone has a ton of stuff hanging off of it. Like little figurines of cartoon characters or whatnot. Zach, Collin, and I felt bad for our lack of bling, and so off to the store we went. Lets just say this Toy Store was awesome. Robots, Toys, Models, Games. We never wanted to leave, and we wanted more cash. I ended up buying a little Panda Z thing for my phone, Zach bought several little guys, Collin was very angry at his lack of finding any Final Fantasy stuff for his phone. (Panda Z, from what I can guess, is a super hero cartoon panda that pilots a giant robot panda. So darn cool)

Speaking of games, and such. Some of the guys want to spend next weekend (and a whole lot of money) going to the Tokyo Game Show. Its basically the largest video game expo in the world, and something any geek would love to go to. It would also be about $300 to go, and I really don't have the cash to do so. Though it would be super cool.

Saturday night Zach, Collin, and I bought some Chu-hi drinks and watched The Hudsucker Proxy back at the dorms. Good flick, good drinks, good times. After that Collin and I played some darts at Jam Jam, only because it was on the way back to the train station. I actually won the first game, and then let Collin do a really horrible job playing against some Australians. Very very bad banter.

I think I'll spend some time study this afternoon and then go do some Karaoke after dinner. Good times.

So I've been really pissed off at George Lucas and his horrible Star Wars movies lately. But there is a film of his I really want to see again. THX-1138 was his first film with an actual budget, and he's releasing a directors cut of the film. From the preview I saw of the added stuff (which is a lot of extra footage and a bunch of CGI backgrounds) it looks really nice. The film always felt like it was lacking a bit of the grand scope that it should have had, and now thats been added back in. I'll have to put it on my x-mas list.

Oh, I finished up writing my guide to using iTunes and then wrote a guide to connecting to windows computers on the Gustavus network. Someone might find them useful.

So I went to class. The campus was filled with tons of Japanese students. I now feel overly tall. Chris C, Albert, and I had lunch with my speaking partner and her friend. Its now terribly difficult to actually find a place to eat in the caf.

After class was over a group of us went into Osaka. Zach, Natalie, Collin, Masayuki and his friend, and then me. Our fun plans tonight was to see a presentation by Professor Garr Reynolds, which was on how to give presentations. Garr used to work for Apple and is a master presenter. So I figured that catching his presentation would be a good excuse to go into Osaka, and also a great way to learn some cool presentation tips.

Before the presentation we caught some food at a ramon shop located near the Apple store. Actually it was Garr who told us about the place, and man was it good. Not like the bad stuff my room mates back home eat, this is the real deal, and well worth the yen I paid. I had, what can be loosely translated as, 'tasty ramon.' I guess the name fit the food.

The actual presentation took place on the second floor of the Apple store. What Garr talked about was how to give a successful presentation, and how to avoid giving a bad 'Powerpoint' looking one. His website goes into great detail, so I'll avoid listing off his tips. I seriously recommend that anyone who is going to give a presentation go and read his tips. They're awesome. We talked to Garr for a while afterwards about random stuff, and he mentioned that an international design group was meeting next Tuesday at the Apple store. Though I suck at design, it would be a cool meeting to attend, and it would be kinda cool to meet some Japanese super-techies.

At the Apple Store there were quite a few new G5 iMacs on display. I imagine that they were just put out yesterday or today, seeing as word on the street is that they only shipped Monday. These are seriously cool computers, both in functionality and style. They sport a big 17in LCD, a super fact 1.8 G5 Processor, and look incredible. The only thing I would add would be a nice Bluetooth Keyboard and mouse. I kinda want one, though I love my 12in Powerbook to death. The only downside to these awesome computers, in my book, is their rather lame graphics card. Its a Geforce 5200, which is ok, but not that great overall for games. That is, if you're into games.

After the presentation we felt the urge to go to a bar for a bit. We all ended up at a British Pub called The Pig & Whistle, which made Collin a bit homesick. That is until he ran into another British guy there from his home town. Seriously good times were had by all, and a few pints were drank. Who would have figured, a British Pub in the middle of Osaka. I need to take some time and go down into Osaka by myself one of these day, now that I know my way around the trains and subways. At least enough not to be completely lost.

Sleeping in the International Lounge is more difficult then you'd think. First its really noisy. Second, while the chairs are comfortable, they're not that comfortable. Third, people keep trying to put things in your mouth. Curse you LEOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Nothing too interesting. I should study some more and the hit the sack. I need to be well rested for when all the Japanese students come back to school, and I break out the sign that says "Will teach english for food."

Oh! I have my Danjiri Festival photo album up. Check it out.

Lastly, I IM more people I know who are currently outside the United States, then I do people I know inside the United States. What does this tell you about the people I know? (Hint: LAME)

So what did I do today... well, first off I video chatting with the parents for well over an hour. They told me how bad Zach and Ben were when they came to my house. Trying to steal my DVDs. Twice! Plus they ransacked my big yellow box full of cables. Man, what is a boy to do. Word also is that Res Life has assigned room 202a to me for this semester. Which is nice, seeing how I'm not there. My name is on the door, and I thinks someone should put a white board on my door along with some webcomics. You know, a white board for people to leave anonymous nasty messages on. Maybe they should put a cutout of me in there, and a Powerbook cutout. I mean, to quote John Purdham and the most pressing question of all "Would Sara Given still ignore them?"

The Danjiri Festival
So I eventually made it to school, in which I promptly left again for Osaka. After the one hour train ride, which was actually on three separate trains, we made it. To let you know how far we went, it was about 80 kilometers, and we were within 5 blocks of the ocean. We were first accosted by a guy giving out free fans, which was important because it was both a Danjiri Fan, and because it was darn hot. Our guide took us to a 'Foreigner Information' spot, where we head bands put on us, and were given maps. I ran into some kids from the Semester at Sea program, which I was told I should go on at one point this summer. Zach, Albert, Natalie and I were in a group walking around for quite a long time. The general atmosphere was that of a state fair. Venders everywhere, cheap toys. The works. Zach bought some cheap fried chicken, and I managed to steal a few. Very good, very fatty. Soon after we started see the Danjiri Floats. They're big wooden, elaborately carved floats that are pulled by a bunch of Japanese men. Each float is a mini-Shinto shrine, and each group makes a new one each year. One top there are several guys jumping around directing the group pulling, and some guys inside playing flutes and banging on drums. Now these are wooden floats grinding along concrete streets, and turning corners at fast speeds, and guys running around in the heat. This is why we saw many ambulances, and why my host mother told me to be careful. People die from this. This is also why there were tons of police and Danjiri guys directing traffic to keep the public out of the way.

After watching this for a while Zach, Albert, and I lost Natalie. Thats ok, she was with a friend. Some teenage Japanese girls thought I was way too tall, and looked like Brad Pitt. Then again, they thought Albert was Harry Potter. While crossing the very hectic street, we lost Zach. Which was ok. I guess. Long story short, we watched floats for a long time and eventually hooked up with other Kansai Gaidai peoples. But not before lots of photos.

The big group of us met up at a local mall and got some food. I also bought a commemorative towel! The shirts in Japan are too small for me. We ate in the back of the mall which is snug against the bay. On the way back we saw the Danjiri were being pulled again, except this time they were all lit up by lanterns. (Its dark at this point) As we walked along a group of somewhat slightly drunk Danjiri pullers got us to come pull with them. We in reality were only holding the front of the very big and long rope, no real pulling occurred. Though at this point we noticed that the festival had turned into a big drunken party. They were even handing drinks out to us foreigners. We had some fun talks with the Danjiri pullers, who appeared to be having the time of their lives. Honestly, this is one of the most odd and fun festivals I've ever been to. Or ever will be to.

Somewhere in there Albert and I tried our luck with a vender game in an attempt to win a big Totoro doll. We ended up with some crud toy, but you gotta try a game once. All 11,000 Japanese students arrive on campus in two days. That should be interesting. The campus is kinda bare with only about 500 students mulling around (that and all the clubs too). I should get to studying. So much to do and see, so little time and yen.

I'll put up an album of the full experience later. When I have everything labels, and the bad photo weeded out.

So I only have one class on Monday, and Zach talked Chris and I into going into Osaka with his speaking partners. Who he really doesn't like too much. Japanese Valley Girls. Anyhow, we took the long trip into Osaka and Zach bought a phone. We eventually made our way into the heart of the wonderful Osaka shopping district, and ran across the Apple Store. Chris had yet to see it in all the wonderful Apple Glory. Whatever. We eventually went into 'America Town,' which was kinda interesting. AKA expensive shopping. Zach bought some squid balls. He couldn't convince Chris of I to actually eat any of it. Unlike the squid ink noodles this weekend.

Looking forward to the big festival tomorrow. Wish me lots of luck avoiding the massive wooden floats.

Yes, just so you know a line (in english) from a popular Japanese pop song (which is catchy as hell) is "You're easy Breezy and I'm Japanesey." Its so odd, but yet somewhat catchy. I have the urge to buy the CD now. Or borrow it from Collin who keeps singing it.

So after much time the webserver is back up and running off of GAC's internet connection. Or at least as long as GAC isn't hit by more Windows viruses or internet outages, which happen quite often. Much thanks needs to go to Dale Emmons who helped with the problem. I guess now my parents can stop e-mailing me about my webpage being down, or worry about me being dead. Sigh....

So its been several days since they guys picked up the webserver from my house and moved it to school. Lost has happened, and I'm sure I could go into detail about a bunch of mundane things, but I'll just give you the highlights as best I can remember.

First off its just been a week of school. Classes, reading, some tests, lounging around, ect. I guess the biggest and most interesting thing was that I met my speaking partner on Wednesday. A nice girl who speaks quite a bit english, and has even spent a semester in Wisconsin (so she actually knows where Minnesota is and knows how cold it gets there). Spending a few hours with her made me realize that my commute could be worse, it could be 2 hours like hers. I'll start hanging out with her once school actually starts this next Thursday, and about 11,000 Japanese students descend onto campus.

So I was sitting in the International Lounge with a bunch of people, who then all left to class, and so I was alone for a short time. But see, being alone in the lounge isn't a good idea. Two Japanese guys came and sat down and said that they wanted to be my friend. AKA we want to speak english to you. It was very odd, but I'm sure it'll happen again soon enough once more people show up on campus.

Ok, I've learned how to program music into my cell phone. I've downloaded Zelda sheet music online. What could go wrong? Blah, it could be worse. I know some people who have programed entire anime theme songs into their phone. In 4 part harmony. Now all I have to do is program Alice's Restaurant into my phone.

I'm going to go to the Danguri Festival this Tuesday. I'll be skipping class to ride on a train, go to another city, where I'll watch Japanese people pull and push giant wooden floats down streets at dangerous speeds. To quote the sign at school "This is what Japan is all about." You can say that again. Though we were warned that at least one person a year dies during this festival, so we should watch out.

So Zach, Collin, and I went and did some more Karaoke this Friday night, where once again I proved that I can't sing. Though we foreigners do have an excuse, we've not had the practice that the Japanese have. Afterwards we went and got some food at what was basically a Japanese 'Perkins.' Zach ordered Squid Ink Noodles. Which was as bad as it sounds. Never eat the defense mechanism of an animal and expect it to be good. After that we went for a few drinks, and for some of us a few more drinks.

Saturday Collin and I went to Fugiyama Land! A big arcade, pool room, manga library, and Karaoke Bar. You only pay 100 Yen for 15 minutes, and thats the only cost. Quite the fun place, and cheaper then a movie. Though I must say Collin and I sucked it up playing this Guitar game, which I call Guitar Guitar Revolution. Games are less fun when you have unlimited lives. Zach and company eventually showed up, but Collin had to pull me away from a Gundam game so we could catch the last train home. This place is on the way home for me... so many games....

This Sunday I slept in, and then I spent some time trying to fix the damn webpages. After that Kai and I played in the park, where I was the object of curiosity for many small Japanese children.

So thats the deal. I should study up tonight. Lost to do this week, lots of things to try and not get killed by. Lots of stuff to eat and drink. Japanese food is so gooooooooooooood.

PS: Sympathy to Natalie whose host mother washed her phone in the washing machine. It was the best of times, it was the most wet and soggy cell phones of times.
PPS: AFLAK commercials are even more funny in Japanese.

Test to make sure this god damn thing is working again!

Well, in the case of Zach, maybe its just his girlfriend. By Zach I mean the Zach here in Japan, not the Zach at Gustavus. See, Zach here in Japan just got handed the shaft by his girlfriend back home. She messaged him and said this: I made out with your best friend and room mate at a sci-fi convention. Oh, and his best friend is going to visit him in Osaka in two weeks. Now thats the shaft. He's now listening to sad music and venting on online forums. Oh the shame!

So nature hates Japan. Another quake hit this morning at 8:30. I was in the shower and didn't even notice. A lot of people didn't even notice. Classes were canceled at noon due to yet another typhoon hitting Japan. Nature does hate Japan a lot.

Fun times tomorrow. Get to meet my speaking partner, and I have a quiz. Lets hope we have class, or that campus isn't blown away.

Lastly I really want to see the new Resident Evil movie, or as its called here in Japan: Biohazard. They had to change the name in the US because there is a band by the same name. Its getting a lot of hype here. The Japanese do like their zombies.

Just a very light day of classes. I went to bar Mono with Zach for a while tonight. Good times. Its amazing how after two weeks you're starting to not even notice the hour commute to school in the morning.

Oh, I used the last of my iTunes music store gift card... from my birthday last year... to buy The Nightmare Before Christmas Soundtrack. Good times.

Got my info on my speaking partner, will meet her this Wednesday. Albert and I signed up for a festival next week, of which I'll be ditching class to go to.

I'm thinking of whoring out my English language skills for money once the Japanese students get back on campus. Money is always good.

At just about midnight another quake hit. It appeared stronger then the first. My building is still rocking as I write this. This is as fun as it is odd.

UPDATE: Here are a couple of news stories about the quakes. Some coastal areas were evacuated due to reports of tidal waves. No one killed, but somewhere between 10-18 have been injured.

So first I came to Japan and lived through blistering heat and humidity. Shortly after I felt the effects of a massive typhoon. Today at 7:07 pm, for 30 seconds, I felt an earthquake shake the place up. I was sitting on the floor when the building started to wobble. My host mother looked a bit unsettled. It lasted for about 30 seconds, which is rather long for a quake I'm told. One of the other kids at school was IMing me at the time and he said that the epicenter was only 20 miles away from here. For the next 3 hours Japanese TV was giving Tsunami warnings for the Kansai region. Don't worry, it was below a 5 on the earthquake 'bad-ass' scale. Now if only that volcano up north would blow, I'd be set for natural disasters.

So Saturday a group of us went to Kyoto, which is about a 30 minute train ride from where I am. Kyoto used to be the capital of Japan, and now a days its the cultural center of the country. Lots of cool temples, shrines, imperial courts, gardens, and museums all are found in Kyoto. Unfortunately for us they all close at 5 on the weekend, and we didn't get there until 4:30. So we actually didn't see anything, but we did get to walk around the city. In the rain. At one point we took cover next to a building, only to have a Japanese family in a passing car laugh at we. We then bought umbrellas. I got a ultra small compact one that fits in a side pouch of my backpack, so now I'm prepared for any rain situation. We did eventually end up at the Kyoto Train station, which is a super gigantic train station that is the stop for those bullet trains you often read about. Attached to this already big station is an 11 story mall. There were 4 floors devoted women's clothing. Very high priced. After walking around, forever, we ate at an italian joint. Fun stuff. Hopefully we can go back some other weekend and see some of the beautiful places in Kyoto.

After we got back to Hiracata City we went to Zach's favorite bar, bar Mono. Place Mono joke here. Its a nice little cafe/bar where they have lots of tvs showing movies, and some fun music playing. Collin, Zach, and I ended up talking to a japanese girl for a couple of hours, over several drinks. Ahhh... the things I've been missing out on. A fun time to a fun weekend.

On my way home on Sunday I spent some time and stopped by this shrine I always see on the way home. Its kinda cool to be walking through a neighborhood and see such a sight. I'm still not used to it. The shrines and temple of Japan are quite the sight to see. It really shows the differences between life back in the States, and life here in Japan. The cultural fun is so going to overwhelm me.

Many more photos. Japan does rock.

Just to let you all know, just because I don't blog for a day does not mean I'm face down dead in a Japanese gutter. It probably means that I had a lot of homework, or that I was out all night having fun. Which were both true the past few days. Your heartfelt love and worry will not go unappreciated.

Did you know that you can get Yogurt in a non-gelatinous form? Like, in a milk carton liquid form? I didn't, but now its my breakfast drink of choice. Blueberry yogurt drink stuff. Goes down smooth.

Albert was told by another international student that Albert, Zach, and I were on the news last week. Apparently one of those pesky news cameras that were zipping by the Apple Store line actually put us silly foreigners on TV. What will they think of next.

Albert led Chris L., Zach, and I on a wild walk to get some photos taken Thursday afternoon. Chris and I needed some fun photo-booth photos for one of our classes, and Albert said he knew where an arcade was. One long walk later we passed 'Hotel Adventure,' which we figured out was a 'love' hotel. What was the tip off? The hourly rates. In a country with little room privacy is a rare thing. Thus, we found Hotel Adventure. And the arcade. Photo-booths are fun, and they're computerized so that you can draw and put stuff in the photos. I made Chris hold fruit in very embarrassing places.

Had a quiz Friday. Not to tough. I should really study more. Japanese isn't easy.

A group of us went out to a karaoke bar Friday night. Just a little place, where we spent way too much time singing and drinking. The group: Zach, Natalie, another Natalie, Ema, Chris L, and some other girl whose name I can't remember. We all found out that Zach can sing a pretty mean Madonna, Michael Jackson, and Prince. Natalie impressed us with her ability to sing an entire anime theme song from memory, and then Her and Zach wowed us again by reading Japanese off the TelePrompTer. Show offs. Zach and I did a nice rendition of Roxanne, to which we impressed no one. We eventually walked the very very very long way home, and I slept on Zach's couch because the trains stop at 1, and I have no idea (nor would I want to) walk home.

Oh, if you're ever going to spend an extended period of time in Japan, buy a cell phone. Its super handy, and everyone has one. Plus the phones here are about 5 years ahead of US phone. I kid you not.

Second day of classes. Things appear to be going well. I was somewhat hesitant about my 'Youth in Japan' class, but after hearing the professor talk about it (despite warnings of his overall dullness) I'm quite sure the class will be fun. Or I'll make it fun. Probably a bit of both. Youth culture kill my dog.

Zach has been on my case because I haven't linked to his blogger webpage, where he humorously talking about our night of Macs, beer, and nerdage. Well, now I have. Look at his photos, or should I say, my photos on his webpage.

Speaking of webpages, I ran into Garr today and had a small talk about webpages and stuff with him. I had sent him a link to my webpage, with all the photos of the Apple store night, seeing as how he was the one who prompted us to go and have that fun night. It appears as if he likes my webpage design and setup. Or what I like to call "my cannibalization of other people's technology and work." Nah, I mean, I actually did some work on it. Quite a bit actually. I mean, what else is there to do when you work night shifts and live in South Dakota all summer? Don't answer that. I'm going to try and catch Garr's talk at the Apple store during the middle of September. He's doing a presentation on how to do Keynote presentations, and do them well. His website is chalked full of ways to make your presentation stand out, and not make what I call 'Powerpoint errors' when doing presentation. God, I hate Powerpoint.

I had some really great fish tonight. Japanese food is really treating me well. Or at least my host family is.