You Are A China Shop, And I Am A Bull

Lots going on in Japan. It feels like it's been ages since I've gotten here, but really it's only been a week. Today is the final day of orientation when we find out our language level placement and sign up for any english courses that interest us. Then tomorrow classes start! How exciting?...

I've had a lot of genuinely Japanese experiences in the past few days. On Thursday I walked over to a nearby shrine with some friends and we did "hanami" which is essentially staring at the cherry trees and "contemplating the brevity of existence" or something in relation to life and its juxtaposition to the fragility of the cherry blossoms. For most Japanese, though, it's just an excuse to sit around and drink with friends. That evening we all went out to karaoke, which was very fun and involved a lot of terrible singing of equally terrible songs.

Afterwards as we were biking home I was following a group of people and sort of started lagging behind on this hill. (I'm not so efficient on inclines). And I ended up losing my group when they crested the hill. It was a little alarming. I fortunately ran into another group on the way back to their apartment, who gave me some directions and then was further assisted by a tiny Japanese woman who, in very fast Japanese that I was surprised I understood, explained to me the remainder of the way home. Yay for making it back to I-House. When I got home I definitely passed out.

On Friday, after orientating and sitting at the ward office waiting to register as "aliens", we all went out again in a large group to okonomoyaki which is sometimes referred to as "Japanese pizza" or "Japanese pancakes". It's not really either, honestly. It's these giant omelet type things that are served with fried noodles. It's very good and very huge. About one serving can feed three or four people more than sufficiently. After that we all went to a place called A Bar which is a "gaijin" (or "foreigner") friendly bar. We were supposed to go to a club after that called Sam & Dave's, but I couldn't hang, so I went home with one of the SKP buddies (or the Japanese Rits students that live at the I-Houses and help international students adjust) named Junko and some other I-House 1 residents.

On Saturday we all went to a place called Monkey Park, which is essentially a bunch of monkies that live at the top of a smaller part of the mountains. They aren't caged, but just running free, so you could get really close by. I have lots of pictures, but the second one here is definitely my favorite. The first image is the shrine that you pass on your way up.

Haha. That monkey makes me smile. In any case, the mountain was quite a hike. Afterwards we wandered back towards home, but not before stopping by a bamboo forest and getting some sakura and matcha flavored ice cream. Below are some images of the lake we ate lunch next to before climbing up to Monkey Park.


The cherry trees are at "mankai" or "full blossom" right now, so it's very beautiful here. Puffy pink-white trees dot the landscape everywhere you go, even downtown. Anyway, Saturday night I went out for kaitenzushi (or "conveyer belt sushi") and then walked around the downtown, going to Haagen Dazs and an arcade where I and some people won various super cute stuffed creatures. I've also been collecting capsule toys as promised. So far I have a kimono-wearing Hello Kitty keychain that doubles as a flashlight, a little fishy, and a tiny Mobile Suit Gundam model. After the arcade we briefly went to an English pub called "The Hub". At this point we were mostly exhausted, so we made the long trek home.

I spent basically the entirety of Sunday sleeping, studying Japanese, and watching a movie. Very lazy day. I could honestly still be asleep now, but alas, orientation reconvenes in about an hour so I must away. Farewell all.