Friday, September 28, 2012

Days 15-18: First Week Impressions

So, school is finally underway and all my classes have given me sufficient time to decide what I think of them.

A week later and I can say that Japanese is going to be a beast. I tested into complete newbie Japanese, but I didn't want to sit there and learn nothing for two months, so I decided to jump into the next higher level. For the first week, we've just been reviewing material through Genki, our textbook. The problem? I'm "reviewing" material I never learned. I never touched kanji in my life, so I went in with a completely fresh outlook. Three classes later and I've got assigned 58 different kanji to memorize. And that's not even the worst of it. The grammar we're covering is stuff I never learned in beginner Japanese. Te-form, as well as the conjugation of adjectives, i-verbs, ru-verbs, is a bunch of stuff I never learned about. So what is a boy to do? It's been fast-paced, of course, but it'll be slowing down substantially next week. I have a weekend to memorize a crapton of characters with stroke counts ranging from 2 to upwards of 20. If I bomb this class, my GPA will take a drop. If I soar, then I'll be the champion of Japanese and potentially be able to speak it like a boss. If I drop to the lower level, I'll be bored as hell for months, but I'll have time to perfect and solidify my foundations of knowledge on the language (and I can always study on my own some too). Plus, GPA booster. Any thoughts or opinions on this, I'd love to hear.

Strangely, both of the teachers for my other classes are British. So while they know Japanese, their accents make their Japanese sound absolutely atrocious. One of the classes is Contemporary Japanese Culture and Society. Our first class covered population numbers, trends, and theories as to why the population has gone the route it's gone over time. The second class, we discussed the idea of "Nihonjinron", or the idea of "Japaneseness". What it means to be "Japanese", as well as why there are so many books out there on revealing the "Japanese mind", while there are no such books for, say, revealing the British mind. I like the class and I think the teacher is pretty good, despite his rather monotone voice.

The second class is just Japanese Culture and Society, which centers around the Tale of Genji, considered to be perhaps the oldest novel ever written still being studied to this day. This Brit teacher was a little faster and more all over the place than the first, so it was a bit more difficult to follow him. However, the information and discussion we had regarding the first chapter, learning a little about the history/architectural trends in Japan, were pretty interesting. I'm interested to see where this Tale goes, as I've never read the book before. It shouldn't be too much work besides lots of reading and weekly writing assignments.

And then there's the UC Director's Lecture, which isn't exactly defined in what we will cover every week. It's kind of a hodge-podge of topics regarding culture, not unlike Contemp. C&S described above. It's a UC student only class to reconvene with each other weekly and share our diary entries/opinions of life in Japan, but we're also learning things. We had a guest lecturer come in for the second class and discuss Buddhism in Japan, which was absolutely fascinating. I'd read some books on the religion in the past, of course, but nothing compares to hearing about it from an expert. Someone with a Masters IN Buddhist Studies and also lived as a monk for 5 years. Pretty amazing. I really liked that particular class. I wish Religion was given this quarter, but alas, it was reserved for the Spring students coming in. Such is life.

So these are my classes. My culture classes are cool, my director's lecture is random, and my Japanese class may or may not be my downfall. Again, any comments, questions, or opinions should definitely be voiced. Please. Save me. I'm being buried alive in kanji and grammar ;_;

Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Day 13+14: Tokyo Game Show w/Hermit Time

Today was a special day, as I got to go to one of the biggest video game conventions in the world, Tokyo Game Show. Frisco, Buff David (yes, that's his nickname. Also, less azn David), and I took an hour and a half train ride to Chiba, outside of Tokyo, to Makuhari Messe. This convention center was definitely a large one, but the sheer amount of people that attend this convention made it difficult to believe. I'd estimate it somewhere above 60,000, though I may be way off. Every hall was packed with people, enough that you couldn't go through any one path without pushing and shoving through bodies.  It was very much like the many rock and metal concerts I've been to, but the audience was more stereotypical, they wore less deodorant, and had significantly more acne.

All of the many booths, games, cosplayers, and atmospheres were awesome. It was definitely something special to me I'm not going to forget. I was about 40 feet away from the man behind the Metal Gear series, Hideo Kojima. I got to buy Bemani (music rhythm game series) merchandise directly from Konami, the company that makes the games. I saw some of the best cosplayers ever, even if the amount of people taking pictures of them was CRAZY. It was quite the day. Oh, and I experienced my busiest train ride ever. I thought I had been packed in like a fish in a tin can before. Nope. It was very much like the concerts aforementioned where you can't help but have four people pushed against you with barely room to breathe.

Pictures that I've posted to Flickr should help give you an idea of the wonders of TGS I experienced. I got to play Tekken Tag Tournament 2 for the Wii U, which was NEAT, especially with the homages to Nintendo character costumes almost every fighter had access to. I also tried out a game called Fantasy Life for the 3DS. It was an RPG, but it was in Japanese of course, so I had a bit of difficulty understanding it. Nevertheless, I enjoyed it, almost as much as my final demo I played: Guilty Gear XX Accent Core-R for the PS Vita! Longest. Name. Ever. But so fun! I got to play quite a few rounds as my favorite characters (Millia and Chipp <3) before running off to merchandise land. Unfortunately, said merchandise was ridiculously expensive, especially the limited edition Square Enix Final Fantasy CDs, so I had to duck out of blowing too much cash. Darn.

After the long train ride home and taking a bit of a rest, a few of us went out to hunt down the Taito Station arcade that was SUPPOSEDLY somewhere around the shopping malls 15 minutes away. It took a lot of effort and asking people who had no idea, but we found the place tucked away in a side alley beckoning us in. It was grand, though the time there was cut short by closing time. Fortunately, just as I was about to start a UFO catcher for a wonderful prize, the attendant came up and opened the machine. He adjusted the box of the figure I was trying for to make it easier to knock down! He closed it up, I put my money in and.... whiffed. The embarrassment. So he goes "wait wait wait" and opens it up again, adjusting it further for an even easier grab. Here we go! Round 2.... fail. WHY?! So he adjusts it one last time, unnecessarily as it's already on the verge of falling in on it's own, and I don't play anymore mind games with this machine. I push that sucker down and nab myself a $30 Hatsune Miku figure for about $4. HOLLA! Ahem. So we returned back to MISH, a full day concluded with yet another win for this kid. How I'm going to transport back all these things is becoming the real question, though...

The next day was fully and completely devoted to being a hermit. For the first time since arriving, I was able to dedicate an entire day to just lounging around by myself, web-browsing, reading, and enjoying the sounds of the city from my room and balcony. Life is good. I left my room maybe a total of twice all day to go downstairs, which was very okay with me. Tomorrow would be the first day of school, so rest time was much appreciated...

Again, check the Flickr for pictures of TGS! Thanks for reading, everyone!

Sunday, September 23, 2012

Day 12 MASSIVE POST: Maids, Models, and Mammoth Machines

Akihabara. The Electric Town. The hyper-futuristic city that resembles a scene straight out of Blade Runner. The Mecca of anime, manga, gaming, and geekdom in general. People make pilgrimages here all the time to discover the wonders it holds. Our group's time had come.

Having had one hell of a night, I woke up not feeling too hot. I had forgotten that the normal group I'm part of had plans to hop a train to Akiba (short for Akihabara) in the morning, so I woke up too late to join them. Luckily, a few others had stayed back too and so we made a last minute decision to jump on the JR trains to the best place in Tokyo. It actually worked out because the other group apparently went to Odaiba instead, which, while surely amazing, would have been nothing like Akiba.

It took about 40 minutes to get there, but was worth every second on that train. Immediately upon stepping out of the gates, we were greeted by giant buildings everywhere plastered with huge anime and video game character-adorned advertisements. We knew we had reached The Promised Land. It was near-impossible to decide exactly what store to enter first because they were all filled to the brim with merchandise from everything imaginable. Regardless of direction we would walk, we were surrounded by shops and buildings that drew us (and our poor wallets) in.

Our first stop was a store called Retro Game (or something like that). Can you guess what it sold? Right from the get go, our nerdism jumped out the window upon seeing the extensive collection of Game Boy (JUST Game Boy, without any suffixes), NES, SNES, and PlayStation games. We found Game Boy Pockets, my first gaming device ever by the way, for the equivalent of about $13. Used Pokemon games were between $10 and $20. It took every ounce of strength for me not to buy a Game Boy Pocket and Japanese Pokemon games on the spot. But you can guess what I'll be doing on my return journey to Akiba :D The prices for just about everything in the store were fantastic and my nostalgia flowed freely until I forced myself to leave.

Once we escaped the jaws of consumerism for but a moment, we made a bit of a journey around the main streets of Akiba. Scouting out the area, I spotted at least 3 giant arcades on the same two block stretch. Truly, there was a heaven, and I was there. Before diving headfirst into one, we found this pachinko parlor that was kinda fancy and happened to have lifesize full body statues of the characters Asuka and Rei from the very popular anime Evangelion. It was kinda cool, though mostly creepy, and the pachinko parlor itself was just as all others: white noise-loud and hazy through all the cigarette smoke. We didn't stay long, which was fine by me; the video games called to me like sirens on the winds~

Our first arcade was a Sega World, and boy what a world it was. 5 floors of amazing, just like previous arcades I've been to like Taito Station. The first two floors were entirely comprised of the UFO catcher/crane games to try and win nice prizes ranging from snack foods to expensive statuettes of anime and video game characters. But the third floor onwards was where it started to get real (yo). All of the games were gorgeous and kept in the best of conditions possible. But for the first time ever, I gazed upon my first Dance Dance Revolution machine in Japan. I knew I couldn't pass this up. I'd never seen DDR X3 vs. DDR 2nd Mix before, but the monster of a machine with gorgeous HD widescreen display made me drool. Denise and I rocked two songs, the first of which was Asaki's "Shizuku", a crossover song I LOVE from another Bemani game. I was totally loving it, though it tripped me out because they redid the difficulty levels in DDR so they're now up to 20. I could have played harder, but it was good because my shoes had next to no traction (they were Sanuk brand sandals). Second song I picked, as good ol' SigSig from IIDX. <333 So much fun. Denise was out after that, totally wiped, but we had a final song, so I was about to pick it myself. Just then, a random Japanese guy watching me walked up and asked if he could play in her place. I obliged, of course, and he got to pick the last song. I forget what it was, but we had fun and I was able to stay alive long enough to reach applause by my gracious entourage. It felt crazy to actually beat a Japanese guy at DDR IN JAPAN. Clearly DDR isn't the thing it used to be there.

We ventured around the arcade some more until we found a Street Fighter IV machine Armand and I could play together on. I came out on top, luckily, but him playing Ken gave me a run for my money. It was down to the last round, that's for sure. Eventually another random Japanese guy came up to the machine and dunked me, but I got off some really cool moves against him before I lost. Pride!! We moved on after that to lunch because we were feeling a bit peckish. Where else better to go in Akihabara than a maid cafe? Little did we know, it would be one of the strangest experiences we'd ever encountered in Japan...

We asked a random maid on the streets peddling her store to take us to her establishment. She quickly hurried us down the street... and down a dark alleyway... down a side-alley... and into a hidden elevator below a tall, 7-or-so-story building. In the elevator were some strange pornographic advertisements. We all looked to each other as we went up thinking "what have we gotten ourselves into this time". As the doors opened, we were welcomed in by a handful of maids, the lady who likely managed the location, and.... no one else. Not a single customer was in the brightly lit cafe stylized to be like a French cafe. Strangely, we weren't allowed in until they determined how many in our party were male and how many were female. The others hypothesized that maybe this meant if it was all-male, they might be taken somewhere special for nefarious purposes, but I'm not entirely sure I was convinced. Either way, it was super-creepy and awkward that we were at this cafe with no one else there. It was creepy enough that Armand actually left after being served water and didn't return until much later on. Though things definitely felt kind of "off", I still was able to maintain a calm composure. We ordered a pricey lunch, even though it came with soup, but realized later on that we should have gotten their special egg omelette dish where they drew YOUR FACE IN KETCHUP on the plate. That would have been so neat! We slowly became more comfortable as other people were brought in and they looped a video on the television that showed the Backstreet Boys having come to the same location and actually sitting in the same spots we were at. Credibility helps wonders. I had a shrimp pilaf dish that was surprisingly good and onion soup. But what happened before we ate the food was the most spectacular event of all...

Upon delivering the meals, our maid hostess recited a script and told us that "Before we ate, we had to help her use the power of 'Maid Magic' to make the meal truly delicious, and we should all do it together". Our looks must have been priceless upon hearing this. She guided us along in forming hearts with our hands, waving said hearts from left to right, and speaking the magic words "Moe Moe Kyuuuun!!~" Just... amazing. The girls were cracking up so hard, tears were shed. I was (barely) able to contain myself and enjoy my meal afterwards. Armand joined later and ordered one of their amazing cheesecakes, as well as a coffee. The maid had him follow the mantra for his cheesecake, but also do another phrase set specifically for his drink. So interesting, this maid cafe experience. It was so funny seeing everyone's opinion of the place go from "We should leave" to "This is AMAZING!". It was actually part of a franchise called Popopure that also has facilities to let customers dub scenes of anime with their own voices. Again, I can't put any more emphasis on how interesting an experience it was.

How can I possibly measure up to that unique type of story? More arcade going! But this time, not for games. Nay, this time I tried my hand at the infamous UFO catcher crane games of Japan. If you don't know, the crane games in the states are NOTHING like UFO catchers. As mentioned previously, UFO catchers can contain rare, expensive prizes, and when you find one worth getting, it can consume you until you finally get it. I found just such an item: a statuette of, honestly, a random girl in glasses I had never seen before, but knew I must own. It seemed easy enough, pushing the ring it was hooked to off a ball that held it up. However, with each push of the ring, it barely inched the whole thing off. I knew it would take many tries, but I would not give up. After about 18 tries, almost $20 later, amidst cries of "JUST ONE MORE TRY!" and "YOU GOT THIS!", I had the most rewarding moment of my day. I had won this random figure and proven myself if not skillful, then resilient in the face of resistance from this UFO catcher. Even the bag given to winners to hold their prizes reinforced this: on it was printed the phrase, "Caught it cause I did'nt give up on it!", inaccurate contraction and all. So much happiness.

Unfortunately, our friend Denise's attempts at winning a Doraemon plush were not as successful, so we ditched the arcade soon after she did some raging over it's difficulty level (and downing $15 in tries). We did some more searching around the area, indecisive in where to stop, but eventually saw a shop's sign that caught our attention. It was referred to as "Love Merci Adult Amusement Park". Yes, we had the courage to step foot inside a Japanese sex shop. And what an interesting place that was.

The first floor held clothing and almost only clothing. It had a decent selection of cosplay costumes, stylized after famous anime and game characters, as well as normal "sexy" clothing. But what was in store for us through the other floors would put these suggestive outfits to shame. The second floor was "Ladies Goods", so I'm sure you can gather what could be found there. In case you can't, lots of dildos.  And vibrators. But what was really interesting were the third and fourth floors, dubbed "Mens Goods" and "BIG Goods". Strangely, women were "forbidden" from entering those top two floors for reasons never explicitly stated. Naturally, Armand and I had to do some investigating. The third floor was covered from top to bottom in artificial vaginas, packaged in boxes with anime characters on the front. The sheer amount of these devices was staggering. All three aisles of this floor were covered. Also were some that secreted some kind of fluid I think? Yeah. Pretty unique, as far as I know. The fourth floor, BIG Goods, was initially mysterious based on the name, but we figured it out soon enough. This was where the blowup dolls and such were found. But tucked away in the back corner was the holy grail of all Japan-related items: the infamous used panties so often discussed when talking strange Japanese things. Though not found in vending machines, as many often say they are, these were in plastic containers with pictures of the woman they "belonged" to, with a small black strip covering the girls' eyes to protect their "identity". Who knows how really used these items were, but either way, we found the best prize of them all. We could go back home champions of Akiba.

That is, not until we had eaten at the official GUNDAM CAFE! Yes, you heard right, a cafe restaurant styled after the Gundam giant robot anime that have been released since the late 70s. It wasn't just that the cafe looked so cool and was decorated like the inside of a ship, but the food was super-creative and all of it was inspired by Gundams or scenes from the shows. My meal was a bowl of pasta with chicken and water chestnuts adorned with chicken wings to resemble my personal favorite Gundam, Wing Zero Custom. It was delicious, filling, and so cool looking! I also had a cafe latte that had foam on the top shaped to resemble the Haro from Gundam SEED. So clever. You simply must see pictures of this on my flickr (linked below and to the side of the page).

After our dinner, we headed home once we had walked past the official theater of AKB48, arguably Japan's most popular all-girls music group. They play there every day or so, I believe, to many audience members almost like a Medieval Times performance. You get dinner and a show. The cool thing about this group is that the audience members actually vote in new AKB48 singers over the course of the year so that the group is always changing and hosting fresh talent. Most of the girls who "graduate" from the group go on to become popular solo artists in their own right. It was no surprise that there was a decent line already started many hours before the performance for the night. Maybe I'll go at some point before I leave the country. Just for kicks. Because when in Akiba, do as the otaku do!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/djmarmar/sets/72157631499693054/

Saturday, September 22, 2012

Day 12: Rice Paddy Reflections

Today was our day to enjoy the stylings of Professor Roberts amidst trees and insects. We had lecture bright and early in the classroom for a few hours to discuss what we learned from the Hiroshima trip and to discuss how we analyzed the Japanese perspective towards the event. It was a good talk and covered many subjects touching upon economy, politics, history, stereotypes, and more. I think it was a solid discussion, even if it wasn't that exciting in theory. Many good points were made amidst the group and I was surprised to hear some people bring up such interesting views.

Afterwards, we were to bring our lunches and walk across the street to enter a forest-y area for fooding. We came across this open section that overlooked a valley section of the park with few trees in the way. This combined with the breeze and shade made it one wonderful, relaxing outing. However, we also had to discuss what we got out of the Hiroshima trip further and determine if we learned anything new. It's definitely been done over and over enough times to make me not really want to discuss it for a while.

This park we were in apparently held a community-owned garden too, so we went down to check it out in the valley. The rice paddies were guarded by some really cool scarecrows I'll be uploading pictures of soon. Spoilers: Pikachu and Rilakkuma took the cake for being coolest.

The rest of the night was spent hanging with the other EAP peeps and playing some card games. Not gonna lie, some drinks were shared and it didn't end beautifully for this author, but such is life. We all make mistakes. I think that's part of growing up. It's just important to take efforts not to repeat mistakes. But the next day is the day that really made minds explode and pants get creamed. Follow on to the next post and learn all...

Friday, September 21, 2012

Day 11: Nooblord Japanese and Tokyo Campus

Japanese Placement Test. Ohgodwhy. I bombed that test so hard, I was about to rage and flip the table over. I don't understand... I answered the first 6 questions like nothing. But what they were asking for the next 16 questions was just... what. And the rest of the exam after that set stated outright "Do not answer these questions unless attempting to place into God-level Japanese classes", so I just turned in a less-than-half-filled test. And the interview with the lady was awful too. So many words I didn't remember or ever learn. She asked me what I did in Hiroshima and I told her some stuff... somehow the topic of my love for melon bread came up and laughter filled the room. Just laughing, and laughing, and laughing. That was fun, though strange. I definitely expected to get placed into bottom-tier, never-before-learned Japanese level. Sigh...

After the placement test, we had a little bit of time before heading to the Shirokane campus in Tokyo for a "Welcome Party". Very vague, according to our schedule, so we didn't really know what to expect. The trip there was long and I didn't really like that we were forced to go, and therefore forced to spend money on transportation that we didn't want to spend. The walk was long from the station and there was definitely a different air to the city. It was like America Town, where there were Outback Steakhouses and TGI Fridays. It was strange. Outback was actually comparable in price to America, surprisingly enough. We arrived at the campus and were immediately awestruck by it's beauty. The original buildings from the 1860s are still standing and being used, so in a sea of skyscrapers, there's a small patch of land with old, gorgeous squat buildings. But all the way at the back end was a 10-floor building used as the main college building. We reached the top floor and were greeted by *gasp* English-speaking people! It turns out the welcome party was a meet-and-greet with the other exchange students that take classes primarily at the Shirokane campus. Lucky ducks.

We did introductions, blah blah blah, and then came the FOOD. The spread was fantastic, with a grand variety of Japanese-styled dishes. Sushi, sushi balls, some meat pasta thing, creme brulee, orange juice, gyoza (potstickers), yakitori (beef skewers), and so much more. Some few of us mingled with the other exchange students, a group comprised of people from all sorts of countries. Germany, New Zealand, England. Texas lol, just to name a few. They were nice enough, though I think some cultural differences may have stirred a bit of a debate between some members of each group. Strange... All is good over delicious food, though!

We returned home and I got to the arcade for the second night in a row. Game City down the street from me is basically the greatest thing ever, with Project Diva Arcade, the newest PopN'Music, Beatmania IIDX, ReflecBeat JuBeat, Guitar Freaks/Drummania, pachinko slots, fighting games, UFO catcher crane games, and just... gah. Too much. I love it so much. I'm going to try my best to play PopN' almost every day, get a tiny bit of practice in constantly so I can go back to the states able to play hard stuff. Not that the PopN' machines are common in SoCal. Ever since the best arcade in California, Arcade Infinity, a year and a half ago, it's been slim pickin's for us music-rhythm game addicts. Meanwhile, JAPAN HAS EVERYTHING. I wish I could just stop raving so much, but it's just too great. Still so in love with the nation and everything related. I can't even begin to think about leaving.

Day 10: Rest ft. Relaxation

Tuesday was our one designated "free day", where we had nothing scheduled to do. No orientations, no field trips, not a damn thing. As a result, a few of us saw this as a perfect opportunity to find out what the beaches were like here in Japan. Hairy Max (as opposed to Baggage Max) got the directions from our professor to Enoshima, an island that also houses a few public beaches. So pretty much the entire afternoon was spent there, granting us time in the morning to relax and sleep in. Needless to say, this was MUCH appreciated, after having raced and raced and raced without stopping ever.

The trip to the beach took about 40 minutes, but we got to take a monorail there! So exciting. It was definitely different than normal JR trains, for example. From the station, we didn't really have any idea where to walk to... so we picked a direction other people were walking in and just followed. Screw it. So eventually we reached the beach and got to see the wonderful dirty black sand of Japan. No joke, this country is the cleanest I have ever seen of any place ever, but the beach was easily the most dirty of anywhere. I couldn't figure it out. Japan has basically no trash cans ANYWHERE, but it's clean enough to eat off of. The beach just seemed like a dump comparatively, though it's still nowhere near as bad as CA beaches (except maybe Corona Del Mar *_*).

The four of us who went got to play frisbee (kinda), body surf, and a little bit of the ol' Marco Polo before we left. We also took a really neat perspective picture that I'll have to snag off of someone's camera sometime. You'll see. It's cool, I promise. It (pleasantly) surprised me that for the second time on this trip, I've been referred to as "surprisingly buff". Of course buff is not what I'm completely going for, but "fit" is definitely a goal of mine. Looking healthy and without too much excess.

After the beach, we went nearby to the First Kitchen, some kind of burger joint franchise that sold fancy burgers and fancy fries. I had a bacon cheese and egg burger that came with ketchup, mayo, and onions (ickk). I also got an order of fries that were put in a bag with consomme powder. It's almost like shake and bake in that you close up the bag and shake it all up so the seasoning gets on all the fries. It's pretty cool actually and tasted good. I was happy. Even if my bath towel does a crappy job of drying, so I was pretty wet all over sitting in the restaurant.

The rest of the day was spent just relaxing, so nothing interesting to report on there. Catching up on blog entries and trying to do my damn homework due the next day, which I still don't feel like I did properly. Booo. Oh well, first assignment, no biggie. Go apathy!

Thursday, September 20, 2012

Day 8+9: A-Bombin', Mountain Climbin', and Tunnel Huntin'!

For the sake of brevity, keeping things on track, and because both days were relatively simple, I've decided to combine the two final days of Hiroshima into one post. It's easier, and I feel like it won't have anything missing.

Day 8 began as heavy as the other two days, this time with a very special meeting with a very special lady. We were lucky enough to meet and hear from a Ms. Tadaome (I think, my memory fails me with names), a survivor of the A-bomb. She was 500 meters from the edge of the hypocenter, that is, the point of impact on the ground. The stories she recounted from when the bomb went off to how everything was afterwards for years onwards were shocking and vivid. I felt like crying, but the tears failed to reach simply because of how attached I was to listening to the story. She had been left with a hole in her face bigger than her fist, taking out her left eye and a majority of her mouth. Surgery was performed much later on to help alleviate this issue, but the issues she had later (skin, breast, and stomach cancers, to start) were much more difficult to handle. We got to hear how angry she was initially after the event, but how eventually it dissipated and now she works towards being a model to everyone else on the damage bombs can do. Everyone always assumes that as soon as the bomb goes off, people just vaporize and are instantly gone. But really, that's all a misconception. The majority of people die from the hours, days, weeks after the event as their hair falls out and the skin all over their bodies melts and peels away. It was a very moving story and I definitely was sad to see her go, as I wanted to learn as much as I could about her own opinions and thoughts regarding the event.

Thankfully, we got to follow up that very serious conversation with a field trip to Miyajima Shrine, one of the most iconic images in all of Japan. It has the giant torii gate that "floats" on the water. Just googling "torii" gives you images of the gate itself, but in case you don't know of it, you can find it in the pictures now uploaded on my flickr! Look at the bottom of the post for the link, in case you haven't seen it yet. The island itself was grand, though it was a SUPER tourist spot. The island is inhabited by many, many dear that roam the streets chasing after any random passersby with food. The many stands there that sell squid and pork kabobs only contribute to the deers' attraction to tourists. There were LOTS of souvenir shops and places to eat overpriced food, but we were able to find somewhere that wasn't terribly pricey for what it offered. It was neat because there were also tables on tatami mats, so those who sat at them had to take off their shoes (like how people take off their shoes before entering a house). I had beef udon, one of my favorite dishes in the whole wide world, and was quite pleased with the results. We visited the many shrines on the island, including a giant five-story pagoda building (reminded me of Pokemon Gold and Silver. You know what I'm talking about!).

But without a doubt, the best part of the trip was climbing Mt. Misen. The island held a mountain range, but right above the main village was Mt. Misen, a major one that had a path kind of etched up it. At the foot was a sign saying it takes about 90 minutes on average to climb to the summit, as well as warnings not to start late in the day because there are no lights and climbing down in the dark is very dangerous. Lucky for us, we started around 3PM.... just as the clouds started to roll in and rain began to drizzle down. The way up was hellacious, to say the least. Some stairs were okay. Others were super-thin and difficult to get a footing on. The rain didn't help much either, and by the end of the journey, it A couple thousand stairs, not to mention some very few flat-ground areas, later and we were able to reach the summit. And we hit it before the average mark, making it there in a meager 70 minutes. So. Out. Of. Shape. URK. The rain had drenched us completely, but we'd found the oasis: a tiny three-story shack that sold instant noodles and shaved ice and offered a simply stunning view of everywhere around... Except the rain made everything foggy, so the view wasn't clear. But it was still to die for, even through the obscured view. The way down was perilous, leading my climbing buddy to slide not once, not twice, but THRICE, scraping up knees, arms, and buttocks alike. Poor thing =[ Being without first aid materials killed me! I just had to do my best, carry the backpack with all our soaked stuff, and do my absolute best to not fall myself.

We eventually completed the climb down in the pouring rain, without umbrellas (it was useless in that weather. You're screwed with or without lol), and randomly came across the others around high-tide time after trekking through the most AWESOME algae field ever. We had to climb up rocks quite literally to reach them, since there was no way up without taking about 15 minutes to walk all the way around. Trust in me and I shall deliver you to your destination, no matter what! :D We got to watch as the Miyajima Shrine lit up and it began to "float" on the water as the tide came in. Before that, we went around the souvenir shops before they closed and snagged up a couple goodies. Momiji Manju, a cake-like treat in the shape of a maple leaf, is the hot-ticket item on sale Miyajima is known for, so we split a box. So many flavors, like chocolate, cheese cream (cream cheese? o_O), and red bean. They remind me of twinkies with different fillings. I'm still working on eating them all.

Freezing from being drenched by the rain, we headed back with the group to the mainland to head back to the hotel and end a long, lovely day.

The next day was spent going to Kure, a nearby naval town that hosts a large variety of facilities involved in the production of sea-based vehicles. It is actually where an old friend of mine went to do a homestay when she first went to Japan, so I thought of her, though no longer in contact with one another =/ We got to hear about Kure's role in the wars, the battleship Yamato, and go into tunnels made inside part of a mountain. We turned out our flashlights at one point and sat in total darkness, hearing about the working conditions of the people who worked in the tunnels so long ago. It was so dark, I literally could not see my hand in front of my face. My shirt was a tiny bit visible, being light beige, but otherwise, not a thing. I'd have liked to have been able to stay there and just sit, ponder life, meditate, and reflect on what we'd seen and heard over the weekend.

So then we began the long trip back to Totsuka, beginning with a 4 hour ride on the Shinkansen bullet train once more. I think we were all totally spent, physically and emotionally, after such a long and busy weekend. When we finally got back to Totsuka, before going back to MISH, our apartment building, four of us found a ramen shop still open. And mein gott. Maruchan instant ramen simply doesn't exist anymore to me. There is no such thing. No comparison can be drawn between it and true ramen from a store. To. DIE. For. Yeah, I like food. Can you tell yet?

Pictures can be found here! http://www.flickr.com/photos/djmarmar/sets/72157631499693054/

Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Day 7: Poison Gas Bunnies

To be honest, it's going to be difficult to recount all the little details of this day because I'm typing it out 3 days after the fact. But I'll do my best!

Today was an interesting trip to a less-traveled spot called Okunojima Island, an island intentionally left off maps during the war as it was used to secretly produce poison gas. The drive there by bus was great because it went through a decent amount of countryside with random really nice houses sprinkled across hilly parts. There were fewer-to-no electrical wires in these areas, so that's when you know it's rural.

We had to take a ferry over to the island, allowing us a gorgeous view of the island and surrounding city/nature combo. I definitely enjoyed getting there, though the ride should have been longer. I like riding on boats. The weather was just superb once the humidity started going down by the water. The first thing we noticed about the island: It is FILLED with bunnies! They used to be used to test the potency of the poison gas, but then once the island was shut down, they were all removed. They later decided to turn the island into a resort-of-sorts and chose to bring bunnies back into the mix. All the children visiting certainly didn't mind, I'm sure. We had a great time feeding and chasing after them with our cameras. We took a bus to the museum and heard from one of the museum curators what life was like on the island, as well as the damage it caused. Some of the pictures there were rather graphic, making even me a bit squeamish. We had our translator lady graciously help with the lecture, but her skills were proven when she attempted to translate a DVD that was played later on in real-time. So jealous. The museum had many artifacts like gas masks and suits. It was no surprise that the workers frequently got sick and died from working there, given how unprotected they were by that suit.

The rest of the island was explored throughout the day, leading us through some really pretty areas. There was a hike up a hill that was nothing less than Spider Country. The spiders here are NASTY-huge and scary colors (gold and black, green and black). Their webs are giant and can be found anywhere. Apparently they aren't venomous, but they do have a tendency to bite pretty hard. So watching out for those suckers is very important. The amount of random, worn down, unused tennis courts on the island really surprised me. I wonder if it's just that no one's got the money to clear them out or if they're just for show. It was interesting to compare the atrocity of the A-bomb to the damage Japan did to others using outlawed poison gas that isn't supposed to exist. I heard that the Japanese don't really know about their country using poison gas either, which really surprised me. Truly, no matter where you come from, human beings can be terrible and will find new, more painful or efficient means of killing each other.

Thankfully, we got to eat some delicious ice cream in between the heavy, passionate talks about poison gas and the bomb/hot air balloons constructed on the island to send to the US during the war. It was quite interesting since I had only just heard about the hot air balloon bombs having happened a couple months ago, and that was through a Batman-related comic book. I wasn't aware these bombs were sent to the US, nor was I aware how ineffective they were. Very few actually reached their targets. And many even exploded while being constructed, killing innocent Japanese girls that were put to work on them in the 40s.

The ferry on the way home was cool because it was big enough to carry multiple cars too. I dunno, maybe it's just the novelty that amuses me, but I thought it was kind of neat. The bus ride home was a nice time to relax and try to see if we could hold our breaths every time we passed through a tunnel. On the only one that was actually a challenge, I was the last man standing! My prideeee, it swelled.

We went out to eat at a really neat place across the street from the hotel that sold tsukemen, a type of cold noodle dish that you dip into a sauce mixture of varying degrees of heat. On a scale of 1-30, I tried a 9, which is just under the "medium" setting, and my lips were definitely tingling. I mean, I'm a wimp when it comes to spicy, but the others in the group were feeling the heat at level 6, so I guess I must not be too bad? I could only imagine what Jason and Frisco dealt with at level 25. I heard they cried when they left the building xD

Afterwards, our group split off from the others and went back to the hotel. We sat in Anastasia and Fione's room and talked for a good long while with How to Train Your Dragon playing in the background. It was nice actually, and I feel like we get along really well, our group. I felt comfortable talking and not totally weird like I sometimes do in groups of people. A pleasant change. Good way to end the night.

Pictures coming soon! Stick around for the next two posts to finish off the Hiroshima trip!

Monday, September 17, 2012

Day 6: Pain and Peace


Today started out bright and early so we could get out of the house and arrive in Shin-Yokohama for the meeting with Dr. Roberts pre-Hiroshima. We were to take a shinkansen (bullet train) to Hiroshima, and from there, visit the Hiroshima Memorial Peace Museum before discussing our feelings afterwards.

We could have gotten to Shin-Yokohama in a mere 22 minutes for only 220yen, but because no one (myself included) wrote down my directions, we failed at finding our way there. We had to rely on someone else to attempt to find our way there, which was dangerous and unnecessary. But it all worked out in the end.

The ride on the shinkansen itself was great. It went by super-fast, both time and speed of the train, in part because I was assigned the seat next to one of the Japanese students, Sayaka-san. She was very friendly and sweet as she spoke Japanese slower so I could understand easier. There are still many words I need to figure out, but I could get more than just the general gist of it all usually. It actually rained while we were on the train, as well, which was really cool. Going between sunny spots and rain is neeeat. The train ride total took about 4 hours, but it definitely didn't seem like that.

From there, it was a quick bus ride to our hotel, where we just dropped off our luggage so we could go ahead and tour the Hiroshima Memorial of Peace Museum/Park. Here's where the emotions started to fly. The museum itself was beautiful, outside and in, and designed very well to showcase the wealth of information behind it's walls. The museum covered in brief Japan's past, all the way through the Edo period, to give some good background for those who weren't aware. Then it moved on to the nitty gritty; the how, why, when, and where of the A-bomb drop. The many pictures and models and words of description were tremendously emotional, and I found it hard not to give in to them myself from time to time. There was a very certain theme of peace going on by the end of the exhibit, when there came talk of how many nuclear weapons each country is estimated to have, and the many protest letters the mayor of Hiroshima has written to urge the world leaders to abolish their nuclear weapons armament. When we got through the first half of the museum, there was a gift shop where I purchased a couple of trinkets. I felt good to donate money to such a worthy cause as this, and the keychain and pin I got were quite nice as well.

The second half of the exhibit, when compared to the emotions of the first, blew everything out of the water. There was no comparison being surrounded by clothes, hair, fingernails, and stories of victims of the A-bomb. There were many pictures depicting the horrors of what can happen to the people affected by it as well. I didn't quite know how to respond, as I didn't want to start tearing up myself. Luckily we were running out of time in the museum, so I rushed out of there without having to handle the sadness throughout. Though, before I did exit entirely, I signed a peace protest form against the use and collection of nuclear weapons. I was glad to give my name to a cause I can believe in, even if it may never come true.

We were soon guided around the Memorial's Peace Park by a spry 70-something year-old man and his trainee (in his 50's). There were many sites that I enjoyed visiting, as they all held such a great emotional significance. The Phoenix Trees were so inspiring: a pair of trees that withstood the A-bomb, and one that lived through both the A -bomb and a typhoon. Nearby was a memorial built to represent the everlasting fire of nuclear weapons, and how the fire there will never go out until we can agree to abolish nuclear weapons entirely. Another memorial was built to commemorate the lives lost in Hiroshima of the various Koreans, many of whom were not recognized as victims by the Japanese government until decades later. And yet another memorial was there to recognize Sadako, the girl who is associated most commonly with the 1,000 paper crane legend (if you fold up 1,000 origami cranes, you're granted any one wish). Thousands upon thousands were housed there, sent from people all over the world. Needless to say, it was very inspiring. There was a giant bell nearby that is struck by random passersby to signal their cry for peace in the world. But Hairy Max (to distinguish the two Max's from each other) put it well when he said that when he stuck his head within the bell as it was struck, there was no sound. He likened it to how we can make all these cries for peace all we want, but it seems to fall on deaf ears all the time. It's a bit depressing, but holds some truth, I think.

There was a discussion afterwards at the hotel before we checked in to our rooms where we kind of brought ourselves down to elementary school-level and drew out our feelings about the day on paper. It was... interesting. I don't think I liked it that much, but I can understand the sentiment to try and get the feelings out in any way we could. At least the rooms were amazing. I was to share a single bedroom with 3 others, which made me hesitant at first, but it turns out it was an overnight seminar room styled after the traditional Japanese style bedrooms. It had an entryway (genkan), tatami mats, and enough futons, sheets, towels, and toothbrushes for a party of about 12. Perfect sleepover room. Oh, and a whiteboard with markers, strangely enough. Very cool. Also interesting was the communal shower room we got to use. It was very much unlike anything I've ever been in before, but it was stylized after the typical Japanese communal shower room one usually uses before entering onsen. I never shared the bathroom with anyone else, but it was a neat concept to practice with.

The night still had some time left, so our group went out to get dinner and cruise the city a bit. Hiroshima okonomiyaki was had, which is kind of like a pancake with cabbage, green onions, red onions, and in our special case for the one I shared with Nikki, shrimp and cuttlefish. It. Was. AMAZING! Hiroshima has a specific style of okonomiyaki and I was very impressed. Simply delicious. They were big, so everyone split one, making our 6-large party just right.

Afterwards, we roamed the streets of Hiroshima until we found what seemed to me to be an oasis in the hottest desert: Taito Station, the arcade I had seen before in Yokohama. 5 floors of amazing. 1-2 had UFO catchers ONLY, the claw grabber machines where you can win prizes worth upwards of $80. I played a little tiny one where I could get a teensy Totoro keychain. I was aiming to try and tilt it off the edge of the platform it was on. I failed hardcore, making the claw snag too early, such that it got stuck on the actual platform thing itself.... AND KNOCKED A TOTORO DOWN! All that luck was just too much. So happy to win something, even if it was just a little trinket. Floor 3 was pachinko and other games like it. Horse racing, slot machines. I saw a slot machine based on Kaiji, multiple Evangelion pachinko, and two AKB48 pachinko machines too. It was very popular. Silly me accidentally exchanged 1000 yen into tokens rather than 100 yen coins, so I had to blow it all on some silly coin pusher machine where you can't really win anything unless you get a major jackpot. Boo. Floor 4 was where the real games came in. The entire floor was devoted to only fighting games. Everywhere you looked there was a fighting game. BlazBlue, Guilty Gear, Street Fighter, everything! Truly a wet dream for all the fighting game fans out there. But the 5th floor was where it was at for me. Music games (and purikura. More on that later). Two Jubeat machines (still never have tried it, though I definitely will while out here). Two of the newest Reflec Beat machines, which I'd never even heard of, but they look gorgeous. Two PopN'Music Fantasia machines (which is where my money went that night. 100 yen for four songs, TAKE MY MONEY). Two Beatmania IIDX Lincle machines. I was in heaven. I described it as being a smoker and having my first cigarette after 6 months, not that I'd know what that's like. Music games really are my greatest release. I don't care about spending the couple bucks transportation to Yokohama. I WILL play my games while abroad here.

We finished the night up hunting down ice cream and heading to bed before it got too late. Definitely grateful for that, as exhaustion was setting in and the next day would be a tough one on me, doubtlessly.

I have many pictures from Hiroshima to upload, but be patient as I sift through almost 400 photos to get only the best ones here for your viewing pleasure. Meanwhile, enjoy a video I made of my first time seeing my room at MISH! http://www.flickr.com/photos/djmarmar/7996756178/

Thursday, September 13, 2012

Day 5: Lectures-R-Us

An early start today led into the first long lecture of the day: a 2-hour academic orientation on how the classes and class registration work here in Japan, given by Dr. Luke Roberts of UCSB (or was it Davis? I forget). While mostly informative, we also got to talk about the Hiroshima mandatory field trip coming up tomorrow. And... while I really want to do this trip and think that it will be a great experience, they snuck up on us a pricetag to attach to it. Originally, there was no mention anywhere, on any paper, of cost for this trip. All of a sudden, Dr. Roberts says "And you'll be able to make your 13,000 yen payment for the trip" and everyone busts into whispered speak.

"What do you mean 13,000 yen...?" That's about $150 USD, which is no cheap ride. Taking into consideration other transportation and meals we have to pay out of pocket, this mandatory field trip becomes a really rather expensive journey to the south. Color me unhappy and irked.

Besides that blotch on the day, I suppose the rest went alright. We got our cell phones so we can contact one another now over text. That'll be okay, once I get around to nabbing everyone's contact info. Being able to transmit data to each other via infrared is so cool, but not so simple. I'll definitely be heading back to the Pokemon Center to deck it out with neat keychains and other trinkets. Simple curry katsu for lunch, as normal, and we were back in to the room for our first "class" with Dr. Roberts to discuss what we want to get out of the Hiroshima trip and how we think it will make us feel/why. It was a long session of us talking about our feelings, thoughts, and going over seemingly obvious material. Yes it took a while, but it kind of bothers me that so many of the other students were complaining about how it was unnecessary, that they just wanted to go home, and the trip is now going to be a big bummer due to the places we're being forced to go. It'll be treated like a guided tour of Hiroshima, I believe, so free time to explore will be little, if it even exists at all. It'll be a long trip, but I'm hoping it'll turn out okay.

To be honest, I started feeling a bit lonely/down on the way back from Meigaku. It's hard to pinpoint why, but I was feeling kind of anti-social and started walking on my own without the group. I even split up and went back to MISH after Daiso by myself. It kind of surprised me, though perhaps that's in part due to my introverted nature. I haven't really had much downtime to just be by myself and regenerate all that energy I expend being social. It's not that I dislike being social, as so many introverts are too, but it just takes a lot out of me. So I have to wonder if that's the reason I've been feeling lonesome or something else. Meh.

I see now, after looking at the course descriptions for Japanese language courses taught here, that I'm at this difficult median point where I am halfway between being at the next level of language. I could be put in the basic beginner class and be bored to tears until about 2/3s in to the class, or I could be placed into the next level up and possibly be significantly challenged. I'm hoping I test into the harder class, but I just don't want to flounder due to my lack of kanji/memory of things in general. Fingers crossed.

Just felt my first earthquake while I was here. It shook for about 15-20 seconds, though nothing hard enough to make things fall. Just kinda knock against the wall a bit. No worries. I'd be more worried about the typhoon down by Okinawa that might hit us a bit while in Hiroshima. I'm sure we wouldn't do anything unless it was completely safe, but anything can happen, so just being a bit concerned is reasonable, I think.

Dunno if I'll get internet service while at the hotel down south, but we're required to write out a journal daily anyways, so I'll be keeping things to update with while I'm there. Should be good to type it all out by Monday when we return. Wish me luck! And that I don't get swept out to sea~

Day 4: Descend Into HELL (and Buddies!)

No, I'm not overly dramatic at all! :D

But honestly. The walk to the school campus is truly derived from Dante's "Inferno", without a doubt. More on that later.

The day began with a 50-minute video, seemingly straight out of the early 90's, on disaster awareness, safety, and measures to take. It caused quite a few snickers, more than a few sighs, and universal boredom. There were some important things in the video, but they were gone over in such a way that made them... well, nearly intolerable. But It could have been worse.

From there, a handful of the buddies led the group on its first walking trip straight to campus. And mein gott, even in the winter, that walk will not be fun. Weaving through residential areas and uphill much of the way there, it was not a trek for the faint of heart. And it will be one made daily starting in just a couple weeks from now. Save meeee. But the greenery and architecture surrounding the route is beautiful, which makes the journey that little bit easier. Transportation there is technically possible via bus or taxi, but walking is much healthier, and certainly cheaper, so I doubt I'll be making using those services much. Though we'll see once school starts if I can retain that healthy mindset.

Campus seems nice. There's a lot of flora all around, with foresty areas in every which direction surrounding. Every building is this plain white that's kind of off-putting, but the trees and plants balance it out I suppose. I definitely want to get lost in some of those areas and have an adventure sometime. The campus isn't gigantic, but after The Hell Walk, it feels too large to have to walk all the way to the far end. During the campus tour we had, I saw this absolutely horrific green and black cylindrical-body spider chilling in its web bigger than three of my heads put together. Not quite what I wanted to be greeted by, but I ran in the other direction, so I can't say I was mortally offended by its existence.

We met the buddies soon after doing a short orientation and signing more paperwork. Nothing extraordinary. But the buddy meeting was intimidating! The buddies sat in a room at various tables organized by which UC student they were assigned to while we all walked up and stood in a line in front of the class to introduce ourselves. I felt a little bit like either a zoo animal inside a cage or a piece of meat dangling in a butcher shop. こわいですよ〜 But after we introduced ourselves, we got to meet them and get a full tour pointing out all the campus major buildings and such. I have four buddies total, Hiroshi, Hikari, Yurino, and Yuriko, though Yuriko-san is finishing up studying abroad in Canada right now, so I didn't get to meet her. All of them are very nice, though I felt bad because Yurino-san doesn't speak much English, so it's difficult to converse beyond the basic of basics. She's especially nice though because she's a psychology major looking into doing counseling and loves Final Fantasy! Language barriers, boo. Hiroshi-san is as fun and outgoing as can be, which is a nice balance to me and the others who are a bit more quiet. His english is superb, but that's to be expected a bit given his year-long stay at UCLA. Hikari-san is also quite good at english, and all three of the buddies I met were kind and courteous. I felt a bit boring to them, so I hope I didn't come across as awful!

After the tour, including delicious lunch (some kind of marinated beef strips on bean sprouts with delicious cooked eggplant), we headed back to MISH to just hang out and play some games. We taught them some card games and mahjong, though it was difficult since Armand and I barely remembered all the correct rules. We actually messed up some of them. Oops =X Poor Armand had no buddies because none of them showed up for the day, so we happily took him in as a stray. I mentioned wanting to go to the Pokemon Center in Yokohama, the official Pokemon store, so Hikari-san, Hiroshi-san, and Armand and I hopped on a train there while Yurino-san headed home for the night.

The mall with the Pokemon Center was amazing! It's very pretty, almost like a more comfortable and homey South Coast Plaza. All the swank with less of the stuck-up. I went crazy once we got there. All the merchandise and variety of things to buy was so overwhelming, I just couldn't pick anything to get for now. I'm definitely going to make the trip again soon so I can go back to there.... AS WELL AS THE JUMP STORE AND GHIBLI STORES AAHHHHH. Across from the Pokemon Center was a store devoted solely to the series's from Shonen Jump, or Weekly Jump as it's known in Japan. So much One Piece, Naruto, Toriko, and more. Manga, merchandise, statuettes, keychains, I couldn't pick anything to get once more. And right next store stood a Ghibli shop, with items ranging from Totoro to Spirited Away to Ponyo to even Porco Rosso. It smelled and had the feel of a Hallmark store, strangely enough, but the stuff in there was more adorable than anything imaginable. I <3 Ghibli!

Outside there was a street performer, an Englishman speaking very good Japanese who rode a approx. 10-foot-tall unicycle while juggling a torch, a sword, and an apple, the latter of which he would take a bite out of while juggling from time to time. It was actually really impressive and reminded me of the many street performers by the London Eye back when I went to London last summer.

We walked out towards another mall nearby because there they had a Coldstone Creamery! Nothing like a taste of home away from home. I had a special concoction definitely not available back in the states. It was called the Greeeeeeeen Tea Party, and it had (big surprise) green tea ice cream mixed with cake bites and whipped cream, topped with green tea powder. I didn't think I was a big fan of green tea ice cream, but I loved it. Though the price was painful (smallest size cup for about $5.75). On the way there, we passed by the Cup Noodles Museum; yet another reason to go back to Yokohama soon! Not to mention having walked by the Cosmo World amusement park with the biggest ferris wheel I've ever seen, and so much other randomness (haunted house, carnival games, roller coaster that dives underneath the bay in a neato tunnel). Must. Go. Back!!

We parted ways with Hikari-san after wandering around in Yokohama and went back to MISH to wrap up the day. Nothing out of the ordinary, just a trip to the supaa for dinner+breakfast, 7-11 for a couple drinks, and good ol' mahjong time. Together we split a bag of rice to use for a while, so we cooked some of that up while I threw some squid in a pan and dined on that delicacy for the first time. I actually really liked it, and the tiny bit of grilling made it much better than I expected it to be. Solid dinner, methinks.

It's nice getting to talk to people about just about anything. Discussion life and opinions and all that jazz. It's pleasant and improves friendships, particularly when understandings are reached. People can have differing opinions while totally respecting the other's views. It's surprising how good of friends I've made in some of the people here. Quite pleasant, for certain.

Tomorrow begins another day of orientations, this time with the UC director of the program we're in. We'll get an academic orientation, a lecture, and pick up our gorgeously old-school prepaid flip phones. Go vintage circa-2004 cell phones! :D

Also, new Flickr pictures. Go check em out! http://www.flickr.com/photos/djmarmar/sets/72157631499693054/

Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Day 3: Mahjong and Mao MADNESS

Day 3 began pretty straightforward, as we all jumped headfirst into an orientation at 9AM on setting up some Japan-required paperwork. Normal and necessary materials that have to do with insurance and such, no biggie. It was a good walk in the morning to the Totsuka Ward Admin Office, but we got to spend lunch together after everything was completed, so it was worth the effort. The groups split up a few ways based on those who received the special snazzy JASSO scholarship and those who didn't, as they needed to set up bank accounts to receive the money. So our group hopped back to the Totsukana mall nearby to snag food, eventually deciding on traditional Japanese goodness. I had some ebi (shrimp) tempura udon, which was simply to die for. The shrimp were gigantic and I could barely eat them properly. I definitely felt like I made a mess. I hope no one around me got splashed with udon soup (Fione and Armand)! Everyone else got more fabulous dishes. It seems like you can't really go wrong when eating here. No one's really said their meal was bad (though one of the Max's straight-up doesn't like Japanese food, which blows my mind).

After our fantastic food outing, we ventured to MODI, the other mall in the plaza, to hit up the Daiso (Big Lots of Japan) and UNIQLO, which is similar to Old Navy/Gap (cheap, simple clothes). I spent pretty conservatively so that I wouldn't get something on an impulse buy. Just a couple towels (realized I didn't have a towel to dry myself with last night after my shower =/) and that's it. Though we'll definitely be heading back for school supplies and other various things necessary for life. Oh, and we chipped in for a cheap portable mahjong tile set, which proved awesome later on in the night. Good thing we had people who knew how to play to teach us, because the instructions that came with the game were kind of bum.

A quick jaunt back to MISH to arrive on time for the cell phone orientation and we were free for the rest of the day afterwards. They actually reduced the price of the prepaid cell phone they offer, so we only had to spend 6500 yen instead of the estimated 10,000. Good stuff. I'll receive the phone on Thursday when I pick it up from the Meigaku campus. From there, it became a group funfest (yes, funfest. It's appropriate), dominating the common room for cards, mahjong, and later beer pong for those who decided to play. When it finally came time for dinner, around 7PM, a handful of us ran out to nab discounted スパー supermarket meals. Definitely nabbed some good deals, picking up dinner and tomorrow's breakfast, and a couple drinks, for about $9. Had some good conversation about opinions on the program and our fellow EAP-ers, throwing out opinions and debating kanji on the long walk home (approx. 3 minutes). Once the others got into their beer pong pretty hardcore, four or five of us relocated to my room to play some card games. Hearts ruled the evening, even if I got hated out early thanks to A CERTAIN SOMEONE GIVING ME THE QUEEN OF SPADES 3 TIMES. FML. Mao was introduced later on, but it wasn't as big a smash hit as it could have been, perhaps because of the late hour. I'm sure we'll get some more practice in at some point or another.

And now I enjoy the sweet sound of rain and thunder as a thunderstorm/typhoon moves in to wish us a good night's sleep. How sweet, right? Tomorrow will be a busy day, starting with an orientation, meeting our Meigaku buddies, walking to campus for the first time to sign up for homestay and cultural activities, then lunch with the buddies. We plan to take them out to bowling/karaoke later on in Yokohama, so we'll see how that fares. Wish me luck! じゃね〜

Monday, September 10, 2012

Day 2: What Else Are Friends For?

Another day, another dollar (or twenty-four) short. But the benefits gained have been superb.

Last night, after getting into the hotel room (which was heavenly after having been in the manga cafe for the first night), we ran around the nearby area scouting out the sites. Two different Taito Stations and one Round 1 curled their fingers around my legs and dragged me within their shiny, many-colored interiors. The first floor tended to house a wide variety of UFO catcher devices, claw grabbers where the prizes are much more than simple plushies. This time, rare statuettes, giant stuffed figures, and oh-so-much-more were up for grabs. I attempted to win Kin an awesome Miku figure using David's patented technique (if I shared it, I'd lose my pinky fingers), but alas, no luck. The second floors were the best, however, with games upon games upon games, many I had never heard or seen before, and just as many strange in concept but beautiful in execution. A Dragonball Z third-person fighting game was coveted like the Initial D games of old. Some Square Enix-produced game that utilized a 3D card system fused traditional trading card games with high-tech video games. Some sort of Magical Quiz Academy tested one's knowledge on... something, I imagine. All held in stunning condition, it was such a (glorious) change from the state of arcades in America. I was jealous.

Dinner was CoCo Curry House, at which I ordered an amazing-but-simple dish of medium-heat chicken curry with egg, as well as fluffy and hot cheese naan bread. So far, my favorite meal by far. We returned to the room to finish watching a Japanese-subbed Sherlock Holmes: Game of Shadows and passed out... though jet lag woke both David and I up multiple times throughout the night. Still working on that issue. Oh, and Diana showed up later on that evening so we could begin our journey early the next day.

And what an adventure it was. We checked out at 10AM after doing some more exploring, this time on a weekday morning, and made the trip from Yokohama station to Totsuka. A 9-minute ride through a beautiful fusion of wires and leaves and cement-covered rolling hills and we arrived at our meeting spot a mere 4 hours early. It was here we met our first non-core group member Armand, who quickly acclimated to the group. Fellow KUCI DJs, unite! We stuck it out at a nearby mall in a relatively discreet area so we wouldn't be in anyone's way and hunkered down till they kicked us out. But of course, they were nice about it, so we weren't feeling like we had committed a mortal sin. Lunch was a quick treat: taiyaki, fluffy pancake-bread in the shape of a fish filled with (in my case) custard. Some lucky, brave soul tried the BLT taiyaki... but it ended up being awful. Sadface. Better luck next time, David!

We discovered more obvious gaijin at the top floor of the mall. Sup white guy! Jason and Fion (Fior? We're still getting used to everyone's names) had been there for a few days, so we happily joined them, beginning the roundup of Meigaku-bound EAP students. Little by little our group grew, adding in many great personalities to our group. By the end of it, we had a nearly-complete party with only a couple poor people having not shown up. We dragged our bags a few minutes away from the meeting spot and met a bus to drive us a whopping 5 minutes away to MISH, the Meiji International Student House. AKA home till almost next year! No elevators in MISH, however, meant hauling every last bag up the four floors of rooms. A group training exercise left us all sweaty, but grateful to finally be home. We immediately joined the Kobayashi's and our Mustache-san (does anyone remember his name?) for the first of many orientations to come. Ground rules, kitchen rules, the like were all covered, as well as a quick trip to the nearby スパー (super market) to nab our own pair of slippers for use. I got pretty sweet orange and black striped ones that are really comfy, though kinda small even for me. Groceries were bought in some small amounts, mostly snacks, laundry detergent, and shampoo. Finally, we returned to MISH with a real meal on our minds.

We attempted to gather together as many of the MISH peeps as possible, but not everyone answered their doors. As a result, only 11 of the 19 or so of us went out for our first group meal. We walked about 20 minutes away, passing by 7-11 (of course), Domino's Pizza (buy 1 get 1 free!), and eventually reaching MoDI, the 7-floor shopping mall-ish building. Totsuka station is basically surrounded on three sides by massive multi-floor shopping plazas. It's definitely overdoing it, but it's nice to have everything in one area. Daiso, the cheapy-everything market, took up all of the fifth floor, while UNIQLO, the Gap/Old Navy of Japan, utilized floor 4. But with our bellies set on overdrive, we rushed to Floor 7 to storm the many restaurants available. Settling on a traditional place, we enjoyed delicacies like udon, katsu, and more. Cold tea was served, interestingly enough, but proved to be quite refreshing. Some of the group wanted to check out Daiso for supplies, so most of us ran once around and headed out while a few stragglers took their time and got important materials for the days ahead.

Mandatory group celebration time came next, as drinking in public is not illegal or even frowned upon. Everyone got some kind of canned beverage of their choice, many selecting delicious peach-flavored cocktails, and we headed down to the nearby river aqueduct to bond. It really was too bad the others didn't answer when we came knocking earlier, but that just means we'll have to bond some more tomorrow night! Pictures were had (working on having those sent to me), but most importantly, I must note the koi fish in this river. These beasts are MASSIVE, not mere guppies swimming downstream, audibly and visibly jumping over obstacles in the water to reach their destinations. It was strange, impressive, and almost scary! Strange shuffling noises on the other side of the river bed kiiiinda creeped me out, no lie, but when in such a large group, I guess I could always use others as "floatation devices" in the event of, say, a zombie apocalypse. No worries!

It was only 10:15PM, but I was reeling from how the long, humid day took it's toll on me. Great friends were gained this day, and I am certainly excited to learn more about them as the weeks fly by. Even if my wallet may soon hate me, I'll be finding many ways to spend my time when not in class, for certain. It's really interesting how different the people in our group can be. From one end of the spectrum to the other, for certain. But all are nice and pleasant in their own right, which assures this experience will be a great one.

I GUESS I finally have time to unpack, shower, and shave, now that it's 11:50PM. I wanted to do those things earlier, buuuut my awful memory didn't want to try and handle recalling things so far from their time of occurrence. Blog > hygiene, apparently. Oh, and for photos of all these adventures and more (don't worry, I'll remember my camera better come the next few months), look no further!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/djmarmar/sets/72157631499693054/

Thanks for reading!

P.S. Pachinko parlors are louder than concerts I've been to, and smell far, far worse. Beware them at all costs.

Saturday, September 8, 2012

Day 0/1: Trains, Planes, and Automobiles

Here we go. Adventure time. All or nothing.

The plane ride over was pretty good overall. Tom Bradley out of LAX is actually rather pleasant to deal with. They really feed you well on Malaysian Airlines, and I'd definitely recommend them for their courtesy to customers. I was lucky enough to get a window seat assigned to me, so I had the beautiful view of nonstop water on the ride over. I tried my best not to sleep at all so I would be exhausted by the time we reached the hotel at 11:30PM (more on that mistake later). While there, I read the entirety of Daytripper, which nearly made me cry in a few places. I couldn't recommend a comic any more than this; it's just a piece of literary beauty everyone should read. Swamp Thing was fantastic too and I definitely want to read more of it. Of course I had to give in to my Pokemon addiction and start playing Pokemon Black (thanks Luis!), so now my fire pig and I are on a grand journey with Scotty the scottish terrier, Scoops the crack-hamster, and Iisa-mew, my best feline friend. Dissidia Final Fantasy is complicated, but fairly fun to play. The trip went by quickly enough, though maybe that's due to my growing accustomed to long plane rides via Boston and Europe trips.

The best part of the plane ride was the arrival, and not for the reason you might think. I opened the window just as we finally saw land and gazed out at the unending expanse of blue-white lights, so much more numerous than yellow-orange lights we're used to in the US. However, after the cabin lights dimmed, I continued looking out and was absolutely shocked to see a flash of lightning illuminate the sky behind a curtain of clouds. It went off once, twice, four times in total, almost like the heartbeat of a Thunder God welcoming me in. "Come, come my child, for all the adventures you'll surely have". So awe-inspiring. I definitely count myself amongst the luckiest.

Immediately upon stepping off the plane, my first thought was: "WHY AM I SWEATING BUCKETS AT 8PM". The humidity and heat here are despicable. Truly unlike anything I've experienced before. But so is the sky. It just looks different than the sky in the US. It's hard to explain, but it's almost rounder than the flatness we're used to, as David put it later on.

Customs and immigration took almost an hour and a half, not to mention waiting for a shuttle to take us from the gate to immigration. It was a straightforward process, but it did make it so that, once I met up with David and Anastasia, we had missed the Narita Express train to Totsuka station in Yokohama. Thusly, we got to wander aimlessly and wonder for the longest time how we would get there without our planned source of transportation. Manga tells us trains stop running around midnight, so why you do this to us, NEX? (;△;) The first taxi driver who offered his services wanted 10,000 yen ($120) for three of us, but we had not found Anastasia yet, so we had to put him off. Eventually we got Anastasia, but by then, our man had disappeared. We approached a group of taxi drivers standing outside and they told us they wanted 30,000 ($400) for the ride. As we turned down their offer and walked away, I could hear the snickers of the old men. Surely they were amused by the foreign students who couldn't afford their overpriced services. Sigh.

From there, we decided to train hop and get as close as we could to Totsuka. Thankfully a really nice station officer helped us literally RUN to snatch the last Commuter Express train towards Ueno. He had said we needed to transfer to Yamanote, but failed to tell us (at least clearly enough) what stop we needed. So every stop we wondered "Is this where we transfer? How about now? Maybe we'll leave when everyone else leaves?" The decision-making came to a head when we reached the next-to-last stop. Nowhere had said we could transfer to Yamanote on any map we saw, and neither did the train notify us of the option to change lines to it. Simply, the next-to-last stop said transfer for "All JR Lines". By assuming Yamanote was a JR line, we could either have become supremely lost or continued on the right way. Thankfully we rolled those dice and snake eyes came up; Yamanote was there! A quick fare adjustment and some help from more officers (though communication issues via enunciation delayed us; Totsuka, not Otsuka!) and we were on our way. We would have to make a transfer at the main Tokyo station, but when we got there, we discovered there were no more trains going to Totsuka. We would have to find a way closest to Yokohama, which involved hopping trains (without paying the adjustment fare! SO RISKY!) to Kamada and then getting a taxi to our hotel. Much cheaper than the $120-per-person straight-shot taxi ride.

Toyoko Inn. Estimated check-in time: 11:30PM. Our arrival time: 2:15AM. /(x~x)\ Guess what that meant! Our reservation for the night was cancelled. The girl at the desk continued to prove exactly how helpful every Japanese person we meet has been by calling all the nearby hotels to look for vacancies. Unfortunately, this resulted in only one option: A Sheraton within taxi-distance for 30,000 a night (again, over $100 per person). This simply would not do. We asked if there were any 24-hour places nearby we could stay at for a while, which eventually led us to a giant block of buildings full of bars, izakayas, McDonalds, and, best of all, a 24-hour manga/internet cafe. Truly, there was a God.

For those of you unfamiliar with the concept, let me explain what one of these establishments is like. On the second floor, you have the front desk, where you are able to purchase "time packs" akin to purchasing hours of computer use at an internet cafe in the States. You can upgrade to special "rooms" (more appropriate to refer to them as cubicles, though) that house a room-length sofa and a computer. What this becomes is a tiny, black wooden room with unlimited internet use that you can crash at. And crash we did. For the low-low price of 1,780 ($25), we had crash space, even if we had to place our luggage like tetris blocks under desks and on top of the sofas. You're also allowed to read manga, of which the entire 3rd floor is devoted to shelving, to your heart's content. Free drinks (tea, coffee, soda, juice, and even melon and apple-flavored slushies) helped wake us up after a much-needed rest. Strangely, you could also purchase meals from the front desk which they would cook upon ordering. I can happily say that my first Japanese meal was scrumptious and even more well-received than I expected. It was a teriyaki beef bowl with egg drop-ish soup for about $4.50. Heaven. Pictures incoming. The fourth and fifth floor just led to more cubicled rooms, though delegated these places as "smoking rooms". Ouch, my lungs.

And this brings us to about where we are currently situated in time. Our 10-hour time pack at GeraGera manga/internet cafe ran out at 1PM, and our check-in at Toyoko Inn is at 4PM. A 3-hour gap to spend in the wretched weather... or maybe not! We went to Toyoko to see if we could do anything about the check-in time. Another very nice lady was willing and understanding of our ability to speak only broken Japanese and helped us with the process of check-in, but we still could not go up to our rooms until the designated time. Thusly, we sit now. Computers lined up against a wall of the eensy-weensy Toyoko Inn lobby. Myself, Anastasia, and David typing blogs, watching TV, and reading manga, respectively. Another hour to go until sweet, delicious showers and relaxation can be had.

Overall, the experience has been quite an adventure. Crankiness was definitely setting in last night for the others, and for good reason, but I was somehow able to maintain a fairly positive outlook on things. We're in Japan. We were able to find our way to our hotel eventually. We didn't spend gobs and gobs of money necessarily to get here. And even if the weather sucks and it's no fun lugging suitcases up and down the street, we're still in it together. Bonding time is definitely a nice gift, especially when you get along with people right from the get-go. The citizens here have been so helpful and nice, even if we've been made fun of by at least one group of fellows on the train. But it's to be expected, after all, so one just needs to take it in full-stride. There's just no way my joy of being abroad can be squelched, period.

I love it here and I'm excited to see where this adventure takes us next. がいじんパワー!