Neo-Japonists Unite!

Brawl Friend Code:
3136-6511-2460

I would just like to point this out. Because it's amazing.

In my desk's snack cubby, I have eleven different flavors of Hi-Chew, open, and in the progress of gradually being eaten.

I win.

Okay. Here's something I really want.
Merry-Go-Round of Life playing in the background wherever I go at all times, with appropriate variations of the theme playing to match the different things throughout my day/life.

I'm going home in a week.
ONE WEEK
...actually, since it took me a long time to write this entry, make that 6 days.
6 DAYS

I'm losing it. I don't want to go home. I don't want to leave Japan. I'm completely losing it.

That isn't to say that I don't want to see all of you who might be reading this. As well as all the other Americajin who are precious to me. I am looking forward to that plenty. And my, whatchamacallem, parents. I wanna see them too.
...but... I just don't want to leave Japan.

I'm happy here. That's really all there is to it. Not to say that I wasn't happy back in America, or that I won't be once I've resettled.
I've become used to my life here. Life in terms of the whole damn country's culture (or at least of Kansai), and in terms of my daily life. The food, the lack of having to drive, the karaoke, the games, the charming yet crummy tv, the glory of Tsutaya, the cozy student life of Kansai Gaidai, having eight hours a week to do nothing but ceramics-I'm going to miss it all.


However, much more so than any of that stuff, I'm going to miss the people that have become special to me over the past nine months.

Graduation was tough for me. Partly because I hadn't yet recovered from finals. I wasn't faced with anything too difficult, and I think everything had a happy ending academic wise, but I had gone about two weeks being under-slept. I thought the ceremony was wretched, but I started off kind of predisposed against it. However, it was charming how poorly organized it was.
The following lunch reception was much better, just crowded, and for me, emotional. It was nice seeing some other people's host families, but at this point it's almost moot. However, it was at that time that the saying of goodbyes began.

I've met so many people here, and they're all so scattered across America. It's a sad truth, but most of us will probably never see each other again. Last semester wasn't nearly as bad. It was really just Leah (ginapagott) that I lamented (and still do) over.

The first person I had to say goodbye to was Sarah. She was our DM for the semester, and we eventually came to be pretty good friends. Sarah's games were a ton of fun. I'm going to miss her style of DMing. Our evenings of サンドール and karaoke were a little late in coming, but delightful.
Next was Elizabeth. I've known her since the ill-fated Tokyo Disney trip of last semester. That makes something like 8 months, although we weren't really that close during the rest of the first semester. But I've always liked Elizabeth, probably more than she knows. Her interests clearly place her in the cool kid zone. You'd be hard pressed to find anybody with a better grasp on 8-bit gaming, and there's no way you'd ever find anybody with a better Fire Emblem collection I'm sure. I'm glad that things worked out this semester with us in the same circle of friends.
As I said my farewells to those two I got a little choked up and misty eyed. I was able to keep things under control, but I had a rough time. I hugged em both, which made Elizabeth squirm.

After that I headed up to the ceramics room to work on giving more stuff away, and take stock of all the stuff I want to take home. I struck up a conversation with Kimie. Kimie is kind of interesting. She's one of those very outgoing and adult-like girls, who I can't figure out for the life of me why they like me. See Erin Ross (theerin) for another example. We had a class together last semester. We studied together and pwned that class. We've never really did any thing outside of class, but we're on good terms. We've got one academic class together this semester, as well as ceramics. We were always very supportive in the clay room, checking on each other's pieces and giving lots of compliments and advice.
We were chatting about how jarring saying goodbye to everybody is in this particular situation, as well as how fucked we are when it comes to taking all our ceramics home. The last thing either of us needed was more ceramics to have to take home. Nevertheless, I told her that I'd like to giver her something if she could make room for it. I gave her one of my modest vases with a very interesting and chaotic glaze. It was one that she had gone on about how much she liked, and I didn't really hold it in high regard. Even still I wouldn't have given it away to anybody else.
She rushed off to pick something out of her pieces for me, ignoring my reassurances that just any old thing she was already planning on giving away was fine. After some deliberation she came back with a beautiful set of sake glasses and bottle. They really were some of her best work and had a spectacular glaze that I had given many complements. I told her I couldn't take something so nice, but she really did want to give them to me. We had a big hug, and we both fought back the tears. It was like my goodbyes earlier at lunch just piled on to this one, making it even more emotional.
I will always treasure those sake bottle and glasses.


However, none of that even prepared me for last night, when I had my farewell dinner with my speaking partners, Saori, Yukari, and Hitomi. Unlike a lot of students here, I actually became very good friends with my speaking partners. I regret not seeing them this semester as much as I would have liked. It wasn't just me though, all three of them had something that kept them occupied a lot recently.

So we got together for, what else, karaoke. Since knowing each other we've sang together quite often. They're a blast to sing with, as they've got great singing voices (except Hitomi) and can keep on going for even over three hours. I impressed them with some of the newer and faster songs I've gotten good at since our last meeting. Oddly enough, the song that we end up all signing together has always been the Japanese version of "Country Roads." I'm not sure why that happened. And then was no exception.

We went to a nice expensive restaurant for dinner. I gave them each a simple bowl that I threw in class. Nothing too fancy. They countered with a wave of amazing presents.
A manly fan. A pair of fancy chopsticks with a matching bowl. A map of Japan, for my next trip. A awesome book for learning the Kansai dialect, written for both English speakers and normal Japanese speakers. I can't wait to read it, it's really cute and fun looking.
All of these were thoughtful and perfect presents that really did touch me. And then, they pulled out their final weapon against my failing composure. They had made me a scrap book of our times together from Japan. I've only flipped through it so far, I want to save it for the plane ride or after I get back. It was so caring, I couldn't take it. I was really sad at that point, and a beautiful and nostalgic thing like that pushed me over the edge.
I wasn't bawling or anything, but let's just say I was very moved.
After that I insisted on covering the bill for dinner. I got some pretty intense objections, but I held my ground. They compromised by treating me to the inevitable Print Club at the end of the evening.

Hello, I have a blog.
I really should update it more often.

Hello, I also have pictures.
I'm very far behind on uploading them, but there are still very many there. Please look and tell me your favorites. They are mostly of Japan.

I'll give you a preview.
Personally I really like this picture, even though it's such a simple one. I like how the background came out almost black with me not manipulating the picture at all--even though it was shot during the day.

"Look at you all! Ruin stares me in the face. I slave all day for you all. And not one of you, even aolsystemmsg, can spare time to say hello!"

Hullo!

So I know I still have Shikoku to write about. And now Thailand too. In fact, I'm still in Thailand, for about 4 more hours. I've settled down at an internet cafe cause there's just one more hour I can't manage to kill. So I know I need to write about those two adventures, but for now, I'm, um, not. I'll get to them later.
Right now I want to write something that happened to me today, that in fact has almost nothing to do with Thailand at all.


So today I went shopping. I needed to buy my host parents and neighboors omiyage. I never found anything perfect, but settled on a few things that were acceptable.

So later on I was killing time by wandering through this brand new, really fancy huge shopping mall. I was up on the electronics floor poking around. If you ever want to have fun with a store demo unit Mac, just press the little known Command-Alt-Apple-8 and casually walk away for good fun (I'll spoil the suprise for those of you who don't know, it inverts all the colors of the monitor).
So as I was poking around, all of a sudden, lying on the glass display box for digital cameras, was an iPod. A brand new, open, white, 20gig, fifth generation iPod with video.

Now I should mention that for I while I have wanted an iPod video. I have my iPod photo, and am in no way unhappy with it. It treats me well and I am very greatful for it. I got it along with my powerbook that my dad bought me. Don't be so quick to call my dad Santa. The same year he bought me the laptop was the year that he had to pay nothing for Japan, and for the first time, all of college as well. Because I am the genius of scholarships you see. So yeah, I love my iPod, and will be sticking with it for a good long while I imagine. ...but I want an iPod video.

So yeah, lying right infront of me, was a shiny new iPod. It didn't look like a store demo unit. And most stores, including that one, are wise enought to keep little stealable bits of tech like that tethered down, or closely gaurded. It still had its packing plastic wrapper, but it the wrapping was starting to curl off a bit. It looked like somebody had had it in their pocket for a week or so.
Also, there was nobody around. Lots of people on the store floor, but within 15 feet from the iPod, nobody. No other customers, and no employees at all. Best I could tell there were no security cameras in veiw either.

So...I must say that at that moment I was, how do you say...very tempted. Very tempted indeed. There was an iPod video, that was almost definitely a lost item, just sitting there for the taking.
...very tempted indeed. But alas, damn my concience. I brought over a store clerk and turned it in. The fallout was spoken in Thai, but I did gather that it was not the store's iPod after all, and was something some poor person lost.

So MAN I could have had a practically brand new iPod video for nothing.
What would you have done?


It leaves a bit of a bitter taste, but guess I made the right decision, and am glad for it. Besides, Aslan wouldn't have approved.

WELL.
Before I set off on my next journey, I must get an entry squeezed out. I must.

So last week I took a trip to Kyushu. I was on my own for most of it, but did end up having a really great time.

I went there and back via ferry. The ferry experience was somewhere between 1,000 and 1,750 times better than night bus. Mark my words, after the Disney fiasco, I will never travel by night bus again. Never.
So yeah, the ferry was actually pretty nice. Just imagine a very low budget cruise, that only lasts one night, and crams people into rooms like sardines. Considering the rock-bottom price, it's actually quite a pleasant way to travel long distances. I know it's my new venue of choice for the future.

So early in the morning I landed in Beppu, Japan's most famous onsen (hot springs) resort. The city's pretty commercialized but not huge at all by Japanese standards. Hot water abounds there. Parts of the city look like a malfunctioning steam engine. It's kind of weird to just be walking down the street, and the water flowing through the gutter is steaming. It was very much the off season. There were barely any other tourists at any of the places I went to, which I guess was pretty darn nice.

First thing in the morning I went to Takegawa onsen. Oooooh, it was nice. The building was beautiful, like a Japanese palace, or a Buddhist temple. Before you bathe somebody shovels hot black sand over you, and you just lay there buried for a while. Oooooh, it was heaven I tell you.

I spent the most of the day in Usuki, a small countryside town about an hour from Beppu. Oh yeah, that day was actually Christmas, heh.   >>;   I probably would have gotten myself terribly lonely if I hadn't had such a nice day.
Usuki is famous for a bunch of Budda's sculpted into the mountain side. 59 to be exact. They were all quite big as well. I've developed a Buddhist art interest since I got here, so that was quite a treat. There was practically nobody there as well, which is always nice in setting like that.
Usuki is definitely real countryside, and have I told you that I love Japanese countryside? ...Or maybe it's just mountainous countryside in general. Which ever the case, every time I make it out to some little Japanese nowhere, it soothes my heart.
At the entrance to the Usuki sculptures there were walking sticks for the taking, JOY. I spent the rest of the day hiking on the mountain behind the sculptures. There where tons of intertwining paths criss-crossing all over the mountain. Some led to uber-picturesque farmhouses, others to shines and graveyards, and others just puttered out in the forest.
It exceedingly serene, a great untrodden piece of Japan to explore. The whole valley was exceedingly quiet, rare for Japan. The only sound that really broke from time to time was somebody ringing the big Buddhist bell. Let me tell you, when you're wandering around alone in an unfamiliar and very still forest, a suddeng "GOOONNNNG," will scare the BEJESUS out of you.
Also of note was something I ran into on my way out. I was back in the bottom of the valley, and making my way back to the bus stop. I wasn't dense at all, but I was going through the valley neighborhood. I kept on stopping to pet kitties, yay. Then all of a sudden, in the middle of the road. A monkey. A fucking monkey. With its baby monkey. Oh my god. What the fuck. So suddenly. So cute. They were scared of me and kept their distance, but they spied on me and curiously followed me from the roadside bushes. We had quite a little moment together.

As I wrote in an earlier entry, the next day I went to Hell. Or rather the Jigoku hells, bizarre and, well, hellish, volcanic pits of odd boiling water. It's insane that this one little spot, basically the size of one neighborhood, has so many freaks of nature. There was bubbling mud galore, boiling water of erie blues and reds, a mini mountain that constantly gave out steam from every crack, and the smell of sulfur everywhere. It was the most commercialized spot of the whole town, but it's just such a unique location it was certainly worth seeing.
While at one of the circles hell, I met up with another traveling American, Amy. Or rather a, Canadian, if you count that. She was an middle school English teacher from Aichi. We ended up traveling through the rest of hell together, and eating pudding and eggs boiled in the eire blue water.

We decided to go to a particular onsen on the outskirts of the city together that evening. I didn't know much about the place, only that it feature mud baths. That ended up being the best experience of the trip.
It was a bit of a trial getting there, but we made it before closing time. The place was called "KANJI-I-CAN'T-READ Land." The buildings of it were just kinda weird. The outside buildings where less like palace, and more like an old dingy hospital. The actual bathing area was more traditionally designed, with old fashioned architecture, and lots of large stone block flooring and walls.
Like I said, it was the off season, and we got there in the evening, just an hour or two before they closed. There was hardly anybody else there. In fact, when I went to bathe there was not a single other person there with me. Most of the time places like that are packed.
So let me see if I can describe it all. It's gonna be a challenge to convey exactly. I wish I had been able to bring in a, um, video camera for the whole thing. The whole experience was 75% amazing, 25% terrifying.
There was the entrance room where I showered, and took a soak in the large indoor bath. I really didn't know where to go, or what exactly to do. It was pretty dark, and I was completely on my own. After discovering a doorway, I tentatively crept down some stairs. It was almost like going down into the catacombs, no that's exactly was it was. That was where the main mud...pit was. It was a large bath with hot mud bubbling up from underground. I shit you not.
There where tons of warning signs around, but all in Japanese. The only one in English said, "Please be careful as the temperature of the Earth varies." Right, very comforting. It was completely out a horror movie set. During the daytime it would have been pretty bright, but since it was nighttime there were just a few dim light-bulbs illuminating the room. The floor, wall, and bath were all made of rough stones, and where splattered all over from the grey mud.
I was like a lost child, and had no idea what to expect. How hot was it? Would I be boiled alive from a surge of volcanic activity? How deep was it? Would I be sucked in and drown in the dark cauldron? What was monsters of the nether-world lay below the surface, waiting to drag me under with their claws and devour me?
Well I did gather up the courage to venture in, and nothing disastrous occurred. In fact, it was sublime. Man it was absolutely amazing. Since the mud was of course thicker than water, I was able to just float in the middle of it with no effort at all. The temperature did vary from time to time, but was actually quite comfortable. Let me tell you, It felt sooooooo good.
Outside where a bunch more pools, of various thicknesses. It was far enough away from town that I was able to see the stars, which has become a treat for me this year. I spent a lot of time outside and returned to the catacomb pool once more, where the mud was thickest. The whole time it was absolutely amazing, but I couldn't quite keep the creep level under control. I was constantly thinking to myself, "This is a miracle, I'm so lucky to be able to experience this...but Jesus Christ this is fucking creepy!" After we were both out, Amy said she had the same reaction. Our skin felt extremely good afterwards.


WELL. I've totally run out of steam for this blog entry. Let me shit the rest of my vacation details out real quick. I went to Nagasaki too. I saw a bunch of temples. It was a really nice city. There were street rail cars. There's tons of places I still need to see there, I barely scratched the surface.
I also went to Arita, the birthplace of porcelain pottery in Japan. It was a small countryside town as well. There were pottery makers and stores friggin everywhere I turned. And it was all amazingly made stuff. I gave an offering for my mom at the Shinto shrine for ceramics. The was a HUGE tree. 1,000 years old. 18 meters in circumference. Biggest I'd ever hugged in my life. The pottery museum had some of the absolute best pottery I've ever seen. I had lunch at not a rotto-sushi place, but an actual sushi restaurant. It was delicious. It was run by a little family, and since it was the off season, I was the only customer. We had a great chat as I ate, and by the end of my meal they were calling me their son, aw.
Before heading back to the ferry I went to one more onsen, Sugino Palace. It had new and excellent facilities, had a great view, and was a great way to finish up the trip.

I need an extra day. A time out. Just one day. Sigh.
Love my host family, but I just need a day to myself. ...With internet access.

I need to write about the vacation I just got back from. I need to. Before I set off on my next one. I need to. Sigh. I hope I make it.


I need to watch a Studio Ghibli movie. Badly. It's been too long. Especially considering that I'm in Japan and all. Take me to your castle Howl.

Anybody up for a "Nausicaa -> Laputa -> Totoro -> Kiki -> Porco -> Mononoke -> Chihiro -> Howl" all day run?
If so, please meet me somewhere in Japan. ...Bring a projector.

Heh, so all you losers have another 12 hours or so before you enter 2006. I'm here, and let me tell you, it's great.
I'm used to the time difference and all, but this is still weird. If you read this near the time I post it, you're in there year 2005, and I'm in 2006. Beat ya.

It seems to be tradition for everybody to watch NHK's Year End music show. Oh my God it was FANTASTIC. Seriously. As far as live TV shit goes, that was without a doubt the BEST thing I have EVER seen. I haven't sat through the entirety of Dick Clark's Rocking New Year's Eve in many a year, but there's no way it could compare even remotely. I there's barely even has any gender bending at all, heh.

I wish I had a recording of it. If anybody stumbles upon an internet link of, um, all 4 hours of it, please send it my way. More specifically, the PECORI performance was awe-inspiring.

 
Well yup, I had probably the most pleasant New Year's Eve thus far. I got solidly drunk with my host family for the first time. That was fun. And the final dinner was delicious.
I can use chopsticks while drunk. I should win a medal.

I spent Christmas day looking at Buddhist sculptures.
Today I went to hell.

Bleh.

Yesterday was an absolutely fantastic day.
Today on the other hand was one of the worst I've had in a while. I basically failed at everything I tried to accomplish. Every single fucking thing. Over and fucking over.

The only bright spot occurred during when I got horribly fucking lost trying to find a friend's (thomasvought) concert. I was already at the point of giving up all hope so went and checked out a Shinto shrine I had came across. It was on a big hill and had many large trees. It wasn't a particularly old or pretty shrine, but I enjoyed it immensely regardless.
I have given the shrine the name of 猫の寺社, Shrine of the Cats. Why? Because all over the place there were tons of fucking cats. Seriously, like 15+ cats just lounging on the shrine architecture. And I don't mean cat sculptures or anything like that. I mean real live fucking kitties. What the fuck. I was quite pleased. I gave a good cash offering to the cat spirits before leaving. I would have given some cans of cat food if I had had any.   XD

The rest of my day sucked for many reasons. Nothing too dramaish that you should worry about, just a bad day.

I don't have the energy now, but I do have positive stuff to talk about. Life is not entirely bleak. We'll see if I ever pull some 光 out of my ass.

Oh my gosh, Mario Kart.
Pinch me, I'm dreaming...

Okay, today is Reading Day over at Elon. So I scan through my buddy list and a wopping two people are working.

Some highlights:

CS Brad: "I should probably be at this study session, but I'm on the couch, it's not that i'm lazy, it's that i just dont care"

CS Monica: "trying to put reading day to use . . . maybe . . . but i don't really care anymore"

Gay Honors Adrienne: "breakfast, work, NO CLASS stuff like that"

Former Roommate Gibby: "gonna be a good night...drinking."

Jon kyokiyuki: "making out is fun...out on the town."

and my personal favorite,
Corey kylar: "Protecting the land from the Horde."

 
What am I doing you ask? Well I'm certainly not staying up late and avoinding studying for my exam tomorrow, if THAT's what you're implying.

Me: Hey dude!!!
Long time no e

Matt: yeah, usually when i see your name up i'm about to go do something

Me: Our times aren't exactly in sync.

Matt: no joke

Me: But our hearts will always be.
eien ni...

Matt: what is it, like, Feburary there?

Me: ...It's good to talk to you again Matt.

I really need to write a full editorial rant about Christmas in Japan.
I don't really have time to do that right now, so let me just leave an anecdote.

I just spent a half hour or so with my host mom helping her arrange Rudolf the Red-Nosed Reindeer for hand-bell choir. It's for the hospice she works at Christmas party.

I fail at time management.

Let's hope that I don't fail at class.

I didn't do anything for Thanksgiving. Seriously, not a single thing.
It didn't help that I had friggin school, but still. I feel kinda weird about it.

Life's been good, but it's getting to that busy part of the semester. I have soooo much studying I need to be doing for Japanese, semi-ugh. And a (thankfully short) paper to write, ugh. And a BS presentation on said paper, (wtf, how do I go from 5 pages to 10 minutes of speech?) double-ugh. Some other stupid paper about the magnificence of Sean Connery speaking Japanese, uneasy-ugh. ...Wedding Simulator, uber-ugh.

This is actually a pretty damn light list. So :P to all of you who have to do actual work this semester.

 
Have you listened to the E3 Twilight Princess Trailer track?
It doesn't count if you've just seen the video. You need to hear just the song! Um, here's a link.
Damn it's a good little piece. This isn't the first time this has happened. The demo track for Wind Waker is bitchin as well.

It's Fucking Cold.
Seriously.

It's 38 degrees outside right now. Yeah I know that doesn't seem that bad.

However, it is also 38 fucking degrees inside this entire fucking house.

I miss central heating.   D: