Atticus (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} cartoonistone) wrote,@ 2006-07-17 17:52:00 |
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Today has been a ridiculously good day.
I have like a half dozen Japanese pen pals now who I email regularly, mostly thanks to Odaka, the women who I spent the first night with and paid for half the yukata and emails me constantly. So recently she suggested I take my friends to meet this girl who was part of the Mobara ensemble (volunteers while we were homestaying in Mobara), and she would tour us around her university campus. Well, that was today and Hell of a lot of fun. She had her three friends and we all talked in Japanese the whole time and had a great time. I talked to this one guy a lot about video games and PS3 prices and games that were popular and my new Loco Roco game (he doesn't have it yet because it just came out Thursday, it is HUGE and advertised to hell and also a lot of fun). We also talked about hamburgers because I've been eating at like every single hamburger joint in Japan (my favorite is Freshness Burger). Today was also amazing for a whole lot of other reasons I won't get in to.
Yesterday we saw fireworks in Yokohama, about an hour train ride out from Tokyo. It was the prettiest fireworks display I had ever seen, though I fell asleep in the middle of it (fireworks are boring, so sue me). On the train ride we met a Japanese guy who spoke fluenty in English, Spanish and Japanese, so we spent the ride communicating back in forth in all three languages. I have never felt so linguistically capable in my life (though my Japanese still sucks). He showed me pictures of his time in South America on his cell phone.
So much has happened to me in this country. I've eaten at a lot of places, been to flea markets, about three matsuri (festivals), bought tons of shit, super super cool shit, taken a load of pictures until my camera started being a piece of garbage, after which I just started taking pictures on my friends' cameras, etc. I've been to some many places at different times doing different things. Tonight I'm going to Tsukiji, one of the largest fish markets in the world, only runs from 11 to about 7 AM. It's my friend Robert's favorite place in the world, I think. So it should be rather interesting.
One of my fun times was in the park talking to Japanese teens at about 1 in the morning and setting off fireworks. The park is a really cool place, located right next to my dorm... there's always people tap dancing, playing drums, doing traditional dances, setting off fireworks, walking dogs, riding bikes, everything. I took pictures once of a photoshoot that was taking place with these two models (possibly for a magazine or ad?). Here are just a couple of pictures, because uploading is a douche, and also my camera is a douche, and also the Internet is being a douche.
At one of the matsuri, Robert hoisted me up to get a better view.
This is absolutely brilliant.
This is on a day we took a tour of NHK, Japan's largest and oldest television studio, comparable to BBC or CNN. They asked for volunteers and I ended up doing this 'guest announcer' thing. This picture, for me, validates my "I'm A Legend In Japan" cap that I like so much.
This is when we went to 'The Lockup', the first ever horror themed bar I have ever been to. After being there about 45 minutes the lights all went out and it started pounding heavy metal and monsters invaded our jail cell (when you first get there, you're arrested and taken to your cell, afterwards which you get your menu). The drinks come in test tubes and beakers and stuff. I went to another pretty cool bar that was really cheap and gave me a membership ID (that night, we talked a lot to the Japanese people behind us, who ended up signing my friend Cathleen's hand, after the girl said she was an actress).
I'm real happy today, that's why I posted. I still need to find a hotel to stay in for the last week I'm here, after the program ends. I decided that the first days afterwards I'm going to go back to Mobara and stay with the family who sent me the yukata and see the big matsuri there.
I have like a half dozen Japanese pen pals now who I email regularly, mostly thanks to Odaka, the women who I spent the first night with and paid for half the yukata and emails me constantly. So recently she suggested I take my friends to meet this girl who was part of the Mobara ensemble (volunteers while we were homestaying in Mobara), and she would tour us around her university campus. Well, that was today and Hell of a lot of fun. She had her three friends and we all talked in Japanese the whole time and had a great time. I talked to this one guy a lot about video games and PS3 prices and games that were popular and my new Loco Roco game (he doesn't have it yet because it just came out Thursday, it is HUGE and advertised to hell and also a lot of fun). We also talked about hamburgers because I've been eating at like every single hamburger joint in Japan (my favorite is Freshness Burger). Today was also amazing for a whole lot of other reasons I won't get in to.
Yesterday we saw fireworks in Yokohama, about an hour train ride out from Tokyo. It was the prettiest fireworks display I had ever seen, though I fell asleep in the middle of it (fireworks are boring, so sue me). On the train ride we met a Japanese guy who spoke fluenty in English, Spanish and Japanese, so we spent the ride communicating back in forth in all three languages. I have never felt so linguistically capable in my life (though my Japanese still sucks). He showed me pictures of his time in South America on his cell phone.
So much has happened to me in this country. I've eaten at a lot of places, been to flea markets, about three matsuri (festivals), bought tons of shit, super super cool shit, taken a load of pictures until my camera started being a piece of garbage, after which I just started taking pictures on my friends' cameras, etc. I've been to some many places at different times doing different things. Tonight I'm going to Tsukiji, one of the largest fish markets in the world, only runs from 11 to about 7 AM. It's my friend Robert's favorite place in the world, I think. So it should be rather interesting.
One of my fun times was in the park talking to Japanese teens at about 1 in the morning and setting off fireworks. The park is a really cool place, located right next to my dorm... there's always people tap dancing, playing drums, doing traditional dances, setting off fireworks, walking dogs, riding bikes, everything. I took pictures once of a photoshoot that was taking place with these two models (possibly for a magazine or ad?). Here are just a couple of pictures, because uploading is a douche, and also my camera is a douche, and also the Internet is being a douche.
At one of the matsuri, Robert hoisted me up to get a better view.
This is absolutely brilliant.
This is on a day we took a tour of NHK, Japan's largest and oldest television studio, comparable to BBC or CNN. They asked for volunteers and I ended up doing this 'guest announcer' thing. This picture, for me, validates my "I'm A Legend In Japan" cap that I like so much.
This is when we went to 'The Lockup', the first ever horror themed bar I have ever been to. After being there about 45 minutes the lights all went out and it started pounding heavy metal and monsters invaded our jail cell (when you first get there, you're arrested and taken to your cell, afterwards which you get your menu). The drinks come in test tubes and beakers and stuff. I went to another pretty cool bar that was really cheap and gave me a membership ID (that night, we talked a lot to the Japanese people behind us, who ended up signing my friend Cathleen's hand, after the girl said she was an actress).
I'm real happy today, that's why I posted. I still need to find a hotel to stay in for the last week I'm here, after the program ends. I decided that the first days afterwards I'm going to go back to Mobara and stay with the family who sent me the yukata and see the big matsuri there.
