Merry Christmas, etc.

I haven't posted for awhile because of lack of time and mostly because my laptop has broken, which is very annoying. I am in the Philippines now. Before that Singapore. And before that Thailand. I spent 8 days in Thailand with my dad. It wasn't bad. I rode an elephant and went deep into the mountains. It was ok and naturally more beautiful then the rest of Thailand. It was neat to see that mountain tribes still in there traditional clothing. Many of them are from Myanmar, where the government persecutes them.

The Philippines is of course the highlight of the trip. I've stayed with my aunt and uncle and right now I'm with a cousin and his family. In my cousin's house I am known as Uncle John because my cousin has a small baby. The Philippines itself...I think it's seen been better days, haha. It's not like the places I've been to so far where you can just go out and do whatever. I under my relatives watch 24/7 and am definitely not allowed to go anywhere on my own. The only places I've gone to are the gated communities my relatives live in and malls. I guess they are the only safe places around. I really can't tell you much else about the country because this is all I've seen so far.

Until next time.

Still in Thailand...

Yesterday, my dad rented a car we we decided to drive to the north of the country. I really wanted to go into Cambodia or Laos, but I didn't think we really planned well for that kind of trip, so I decided to head up here.

The drive up here was very uninteresting. This part of Thailand is unbelievable flat and full of nothingness. To me, it looked a lot like Mexico actually. It was flat, hot, semi arid, yet tropical. Even the people along the roads looked Mexican, bundled up with long sleeve shirts, long pants, big sombrero type hats and bandanas over their faces. Many were riding along on little motorcycles or pickup trucks. My dad lived in Mexico for a year and the Dominican Republic for 4 and he said Thailand reminded him a lot of those places.

Warning: this is a bit disturbing, read at your discretion. We saw nothing special until around 7 pm. People were flagging are car down head. It was a two lane highway, so we moved into the second lane, as they blocked the first. We slowed down. We had seen a few accidents on the way up, so we thought it was another accident. We were right. But this was by far the worst accident I've seen in my life. In the middle of the first road was an exploded corpse, surrounded by huge streaks of red. A newspaper covered the face. Parked in front of the body was huge tractor trailer.

The north is full of ethnic minorities, many from other countries, like Burma and even China. So it should be interesting. The town we stayed in last night is the last remaining town in Thailand to rely on horse drawn carriages, so that's neat to see. What I'm excited about though is a region called the Golden Triangle. We plan on heading up there tomorrow. This is the area where Thailand, Burma and Laos meet. What it is most famous for however is it's production of cocaine and opium. The Thai army has moved in and pretty much wiped out the drug cartels, so don't worry. Even more interesting is that the 5th battilion of the Kuomintang (KMT) lives here too. The KMT is the losing side in the Chinese revolution. They came to Thailand to use it as a base to launch attacks into China. They also controlled the opium in the region. They gave up in the 1980s and switched to farming, especially tea. So the region is pleasant, full of huge hills and crops. So I think visiting the Golden Triangle will be like seeing 4 countires all at once.

Day ??: Thailand

Sorry, lost track of the days. But I write to you from Bangkok. It's not bad here. It's not as developed as where I've been before, but it's not bad. I spent my first day in Bangkok, seeing temples. Mass transit here is a mess (it doesn't exist, it's all cars). I've traveled around this country thus far via train, river boat, bus and tuk-tuk. Tuk-tuk are motorcycles with three wheels and room for passengers in the back. Riding in these things is, um, exciting. Look it up if you want to know more, I think they're funny, but awesoem at the same time.

Yesterday I went to the ruins of Ayyuthaya, the former capital of Thailand. The Burmese destroyed it in 1767. I took a river cruise back to Bangkok (2.5 hours). Very nice.

My dad will probably be renting a car today and then where off to who knows where.

Day 6: KL, Singapore, Bangkok

I'm in the airport now, ready to leave for Bangkok. KL was great, I did a lot for one day. I went to the Islamic Art Museum and the National Mosque, among other things. The trains are horrendous compared to Tokyo and I got hit on by a gay guy (I'm flattered, but no thank you), but other than that, Malaysia aint a bad place. Give a few years and it will be something.

I took the overnight train back to Singapore and it was impossible to sleep. The train was noisy and my bed was next to a door to the next car. The bus ride down was much better, where I had a choice of 50 movies in 7 languages, including many blockbuster hits. I settled for the Princess Diaries 2 (hilarious) and I chilled out to Hindi (Indian) music afterwards, which isn't bad (but the women sing really weird and high pitched, very annoying).

Bye.

Day 5; Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Well, I'm in KL now. I like a lot here so far. Like Singapore, it's a real mix on Chinese, Indian and Malay (but there's a lot more Malays here than Singapore). It's also much more Muslim here. The biggest difference though is the traffic. It's horrendous. The mass transit here isn't nearly as good as Tokyo or Singapore.

Well, I'm off to explore the city. I'll be taking an overnight train back to Singapore tonight.

Day 3: Singapore

Welp, I'm still in Singapore. This is my last night (for now). Tomorrow I head up to Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia, where I get a chance to pay homage to the Petronas Towers, the second largest building the world.

Cool things of done/seen so far:

I did the unthinkable and I went in a Mosque. A real one, built by Indian Muslims. It's down the street from where I'm staying. I sat inside (which is apparently forbidden for non-believers, but I was ok for some reason) and chilled with all the other Muslims. Being inside a Mosque is really different then a church. It's a big room with columns and it's rugged. I saw a guy sprawled out on the floor sleeping and a guy reading the Koran (in Arabic) out load to himself. Most people were reading the Koran (I assume; there was one guy reading Bridget Jone's Diary). Then there's a bunch of guys who chill in the back on plastic red lawn chairs. One of them yelled at me because he thought I was stealing something, but I explained to him things and everything was alright (this I am serious about). It was a seriously scary thing to do, to go into a Mosque, because of all the 9/11 and terrorist stuff. Every time I see something hardcore Muslim like this, I fear for my life. Thanks TV. I have to say it was really peaceful in there though.

Don't worry, I balanced out the Mosque with a Roman Catholic Cathedral, a Chinese Temple (you can never tell what religion it is because the Chinese worship everything), and a Hindu Temple (yup, some of the Chinese after the Chinese Temple stop by here too, because you can't worship too many gods if your Chinese, and boy does Hinduism got plenty of them). The Hindu Temple was pretty intimidating. I didn't even go in there. There were half-human, half-animal statues all over the thing (if you've ever seen a Hindu Temple, you know what I'm talking about, statues everywhere!). And the guys inside where wearing skirts, and had a sheet draped over their shoulders. It reminded me too much of Indiana Jones and The Temple of Doom, so I left.

I saw some Native Americans from Peru playing music today. In Little India (now that's ironic, Indians in India who aren't Indian). It fascinated all the Chinese and they had a big crowd. Then sky opened up (= rain) and people scattered in all directions, it was funny.

Singapore is the ultimate utopia of capitalism. Yea, it has an authoritarian government, but that's what you need to get ahead in the world economically, when it's done right (Japan, Korea, Taiwan and Hong Kong all had authoritarian governments during their rises). Anyway, there are shopping malls everywhere here. There are shopping malls across the street from shopping malls. Everywhere there are shopping malls. Even funnier, near my hostel is the Laissez Fairre Cafe. And there's a monument to Free Trade in Central Singapore. I went running in a Park on the Ocean today and saw Singapore's other city. It's floating out in the ocean and made up of dozens of container ships. I know Singapore is the world's largest port, but the amount of ships just sitting in the ocean in front of the city was ridiculous. If you know how big a container ship is, picture that. Now picture 100, maybe 200. That is Singapore.

Well I must stop myself here. I could go on forever. Too bad no one could travel with me; instead I'll write here and try and take whoever is reading this with me, figuratively speaking. By the way, my hostel has free internet and power for my laptop, that's why I can type here. And it cost $11 a night!! Hostels are great, if you find the right ones...

Day 1: Singapore

Hi anyone that reads this. I've made it to Singapore. It's 11:30 at night here. I've been here for a few hours and it's been pretty good so far. It's so diverse here, it's really exciting. The city is mostly Chinese (Hakka, Cantonese), but there are lots of Indians (Hindu, Buddhist, Shiek, Muslims), Malays (mostly Muslim) and ex-pats (mostly Americans). I'm actually staying in Little India and boy, it really is India here. This is by far the most authentic ethnic neighborhood I've been in. But I can't get over how many different kinds of people are here. And the fact that they all speak English! Because it's so diverse, an Indian guy in the subway station mistakened me for a local and asked for directions somewhere. Coincidentily, I was able to help him.

For dinner I had Burger King, because I like BK. They don't have it in Japan. I went to the main shopping road here and it's blazing in brightnes from X-mas lights, it's quite the sight. I'm not sure if I can put pics or vids up, because I'm using a computer in the hostel I'm staying at and I have a time limit (30 mins). We'll see.

See you later!

Because I'm leaving...

I'm sorry, but this post must be brief. I have finished my exams yesterday, Dec. 5. But now I am in a frenzied rush to get out of Tokyo and to the airport. I am on my way to Singapore. I will spend a few they s there before I move on to some place else. Where? It's a surprise. By now, you know I'm not coming home to America. So I'll be popping around random places in Asia instead.

When I get to Singapore, I'll try post again.

Bye everyone, wish me luck!

Last Day of classes

Hello y'all. Yes, today Monday 11/27/06 is the last day of classes of my first semester in Japan. It was a very hectic day. Me being the procrastination master put myself in a position in which I had to memorize a presentation for a poly sci class and a speech in Japanese. Oh, I had to write the speech as well. But, I have to say it was kind of fun. I guess I did it on purpose. Now before you write me off as some nut, let me explain. Obviously, I experienced a lot of pressure trying to get my work done. But I get an adrenaline rush I suppose from it all. One of the only other times I feel this way is before a Track or XC race. So you see, I miss the excitement and pressure of athletic competition and therefore this is my substitute.

Yea, did anyone buy that? Thought not. Yup, I'm just lazy...

Anyway. I did nothing this weekend. I actually spent a lot of time studying Japanese, which helped me a lot with doing my speech. Oh, I did go out a few times. Friday, I went to Thai restaurant and got pork that was quadrupled deep fried until it was rock hard. I seriously thought I was eating bones. A waiter told me it's supposed to be this way, as he laughed. Yea, not that tasty. But, I felt I did accomplish something when I helped my friend, a fellow beginner Japanese student, talk to the staff of the restaurant and get them to turn down the AC. In Japanese of course. Haha, yes we still use AC here in Japan on November 27. So much for the Kyoto Protocol...

Hmmm. What to write. Oh, I know. The Japanese language! I want to say that if I was God and wanted to create the perfect language, it would not be Japanese. For instance, having three different writing systems can be a bit confusing and well, non-nonsensical. And the Kanji, all the complicated little drawings, some have so many meanings it's ridiculous. It is not uncommon for a Japanese person to not be able to pronounce another persons name when it is written down. The person has to tell them how to read it because all the symbols could have so many different sounds that you couldn't figure it out on your own if you tried. You could have a very common name, but use some obscure Kanji that no one knows. Also, many sounds have dozens of Kanji, so writing a persons name without knowing their Kanji could be impossible. Some of you may have heard of engrish, which is messed up english that Japanese people speak because they can't emulate the sounds of native english speakers that well. Japanese has only a handful of simple sounds. English has more. A lot more. Let's just say that the best the Japanese can do with the word "McDonald's" is Makkudonarudo. Yea, say that ten times real fast. I find it funny that sometimes when Japanese people try to say english words I have no clue what they are saying. And there are a surprisingly good amount of english words that have been absorbed into Japanese. More on this next time, lol.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope every ones Thanksgiving was well. I went through a million different plans before I randomly decided what to do on Turkey Day. Well, first off, I didn't have Turkey. After much debate, I decided to head for a Lebanese restaurant, but they were closed for a private party. So we went to a Tex-Mex place and got nachos and tacos. It was too good. The inside was like an old Texan saloon and the quality of ingredients in the food was superb, especially for Tokyo. Definitely a great Thanksgiving meal.

By the way, I spent a good portion of yesterday in a section of Tokyo called Harajuku. It is a popular place for adolescents and teenagers. There are a lot of clothing stores here, but trust me, most of them normal people do not shop at. Most of the items are crazy gothic clothes with skeletons and demons and have curse words written on them. Strange stuff everywhere. A good number of people dressed in these clothes were walking around too. There is normal stuff around, but it's not that good of quality. Apparently there are good deals to be had, but I found nothing that enticed me at all. Tokyo is just not a place to shop. The good stuff is way too expensive (a good winter coat starts at $250 in the department stores and that's cheap!) and the stuff on sale in the little shops is junk.

It's finally getting colder here (cold is like around 50). Actually, tonight I think we may have gotten in the 40s. The leaves are finally falling of the trees. And the sun goes down so early here, like 4:30. I have my last day of classes Monday. Exams officially start Thursday. I'm taking one on Monday early, got one on Thursday and Friday, then I should be done. I have to write two papers that I want to finish next week sometimes as well. Oh yea, a presentation on Monday too. Wish me luck!

Countdown: 2 weeks left...

Hey everyone. As the title suggests, yes, I do have 2 weeks to go in this semester. Can't believe I'm almost half way through my time here!

Anyway, no matter what I'm still trucking around this country. Last Thursday I went out to Tokyo Bay. I rode on an El-train, which was great. It was getting close to dusk and you could see all of Tokyo from the train. It took you out onto a whole bunch of artificial islands in the middle of the bay. These used to be used primarily for shipping and ports, but are now assimilated into the rest of the city. So for this reason, everything here is new and cutting edge. I had a great time out here, lots of nice shops and interesting sights. I went up the world's second largest Ferris Wheel and past through a giant Toyota show room, where I saw their F1 car. They also had a test track the wound around the inside on the building and went outside, in which you could drive around on in a new Toyota. What made it neat was that it was multi storied. Inside, it climbed up 2 or three stories.

Saturday I went to Akihabara, the electronic, video game, and nerd capital of Japan. It's outrageous here. This is where all the weirdos come and hang out. People dress up in crazy costumes. I saw one guy in a WWII Japanese uniform. He had his hair cut in the style of the time and had a Hitler mustache. He looked too authentic, I really thought I went back in time when I saw him, I can't describe the feeling. A lot of people dress up as French maids here too. Mostly girls, but some guys too. And they aren't your typical black and white outfits. They are all colors of the rainbow and can get crazy ornate.

I was here primarily for a "field trip" (note use of quotations). My Japanese teacher wanted to go to something called a Maid Cafe (she's a women by the way). It's pretty much just a cafe except only young girls work there and they dress in French maid outfits. They also do cutesy things and other gimmicks to please the fans. Demand is high for these places, as we waited an hour and a half to get in. When we got in, I was surprised that there were a good number of women eating there, but also the typical weirdo Japanese nerd guys who love this stuff. Don't worry, I won't be back.

We left after we ate, and walked around the crazy shops. I felt strangely uncomfortable in them, surrounded by unknown electronics and old skool video games. I played Virtual Boy for heavens sake (VB is a rare video game machine made by Nintendo. It flopped because it was a head set only and it could only do video in red. It was 3D, but it made everyone sick. I got a headache after 5 minutes). Eventually we made are way to a Pachinko parlor to check it out. Pachinko is a Japanese gambling machine game. It's a combination of pinball and slots, kind of. I have a video where you can see it in action. Anyway, it interesting to note that it's illegal to gamble or something in Japan. So when you win, you turn in your Pachinko balls (like coins from slots) for a prize, instead of money, because that would be illegal. Then you take the prize to a random, shady booth around the corner and down a dark alley and exchange it for cash. This is legal apparently. We didn't play and left after we started getting sick from the cigarette smoke. Did I ever mention that the Japanese are crazy for smokes? Everyone smokes it seems, I've never seen anything like it in America. They have cigarette vending machines everywhere, which allow anyone to buy cigs, by the way.

Our teacher took us out to eat at a traditional Japanese restaurant, which was great. Then I headed out to Ebisu with some friends. Ebisu is the beer capital of Tokyo, because it where a lot of breweries are. So there are lots of nice bars and restaurants here. I went to an English pub, because my one friend, who had lived in Tokyo as a kid, new a family friend who was playing music that night in the pub. It was Mississippi Bluegrass. He was good. The guy apparently has lived in Japan for 20 years and teaches at a Japanese University. But he has such a thick Southern accent that it's hard to believe. I left later and ate at Lebanese restaurant with a friend, who was half Lebanese. It was great.

Ok, I wrote a lot again. I'll just say the rest of the week was boring to save space. I'll leave off with a few videos then. Haven't posted any in a bit. Sorry if they're boring or something. I still haven't gotten around to video taping myself. I'll put up pictures in the next update.

Here's a view of Tokyo from the Ferris Wheel in Odiaba:


Here's the inside of Pachinko parlor and some people playing:


Last, here's some trains, because I love trains:

Chillaxin

It's been pretty easy going here since I got back from my island last weekend. This past weekend, I didn't leave Tokyo, but I still enjoyed myself.

Being in alpha world city like Tokyo (the only others are London, Paris and New York) means, among other things, that there is lots of good food. For some reason, I've really gotten into eating different kinds of food (nothing crazy or extreme) while here. Last Friday I did Thai at a place near my school. Scrumptious. The next day I tried Korean BBQ, which was an interesting experience. You order strips of beef and grill it yourself in the middle of your table. It was quite good, plus we ordered a lot of rice, including this special spicy vegetable rice in a stone bowl (I like spicy food by the way). Also, the restaurant was on the 8th floor of a department store. Seriously, department stores in Japan do everything. You name it, they sell it or offer some kind of service. I went in one last weekend that had a full gourmet supermarket in the basement. They had an ice cream shop in one corner, of which I paid a visited. Speaking of ice cream, this weekend, I went to Haagen-Daas, which is also quite good. I had these huge chunks of brownie in my cone, plus all the other sundae stuff. I still got to try Coldstone here, it's close to my school.

I go to Starbucks every so often, but not for coffee. Hot Chocolate. I have a friend I go with sometimes who likes hot chocolate, so we both get that. Plus, Starbucks has cocoa dispensers on every floor (most Starbucks' are multistoried), so I can make it super chocolaty. I don't eat out all the time however. I learned to cook a good amount too. I specialize in Japanese curry, pasta, steaks and chicken. My cooking is pretty elementary; I don't scour the city looking for ingredients. But I impress myself and that's what matters ;-)

I haven't just talked in awhile about living here; I've been too descriptive of what I do I guess. So, indulge me as I rattle:

A kid in my dorm got drunk, went crazy and, among other things, sprayed the fire extinguisher all over the hallway, then funneled it under a random girl's room and coated the inside of her room with whatever is in those things. I don't know how he was punished.

My running friends will be happy to know that I still run, lol. This week I did 2 workouts. That's right, haha. First one was 3 1000s and second was 5 400s. Nothing serious (because I am out of shape), but decent times I suppose. The wind of the track is crazy though. Worse then Center Valley wind. Probably because the track is along a big river near Tokyo Bay. Anyway, I was doing well with my 400s on Tuesday. The last one I decided to run quite hard. Sometimes when I do this I close my eyes. I made the mistake of closing my eyes around the turn after the 200m mark and drifted off the track. The infield is higher than the track (it has a curb lining the first lane). Because my eyes were closed, I stepped up on the infield and that completely threw off everything. You don't realize how fast your going until you get out of control like me. So when I did this, I got crazy out of control and could not stop myself no matter what. It was as if I was thrown out of a moving car. I'm not sure how I fell, all I know is that I abraised my left hip and cut my hands a bit (it's a gravel track). I was so determined to finish my workout though that I sprang up as fast s I could and sprinted to the finish. I still did a 72, which I'll take after that. My hip and hands stung on my way back home though (2.5 miles). I'm ok now though :-) By the way, the track is in the next city, Kawasaki and it's horrible, but the only one around.

Sorry to mention more food, but I eat Spam for breakfast a lot. My mom sent some to me and it's good in omelette's. I found Tabasico Spicy Spam in Don Quixote (Japanese version of WalMart) and it's quite good.

I saw "Nightmare Before Christmas" in 3D last Friday. Pretty neat. It was in this mall right outside the entrance of Tokyo DisneyLand. I got gelati there, terre misu actually. Very good.

I saw Mt. Fuji for the first time from my dorm. It's gotten colder here, so I guess that clears up the pollution (at least in the morning). It's quite the site; I have a picture I'll post later. By the way, cold here is like high 50s, low 60s. It was 69 the other day.

This kid that bikes to school told me he saw a monkey walking on it's hands on a ball on his way to school. Twice. Seriously. I think I might start biking to school again...

I was on a train and I heard meowing. I couldn't figure out where it was coming from. Then I figured out this lady had cat in her purse. Bizarre...

I'm not a dog person (I prefer cats), but the dogs in Japan might change my mind. The breeds here are small, cute and people here groom them to the extreme. Plus they are super well trained. People let there dogs go wild in the park I run in and they never chase me. I'll have to take some pictures.

I watched an interesting Japanese movie in my Japanese Culture class called 'Go.' It's about people of Korean descent living in Japan. They came here during the colonial era of Japan, when Japan ruled Korea. Anyway, it's interesting to know that these people are discriminated against and are not Japanese. By that I mean they are not Japanese citizens. Most of the Koreans came over before World War II. So, you could be a 4th generation Korean living in Japan, speak Japanese perfectly (and not know any Korean) and blend in fully well, but you cannot become a citizen and have to carry around an alien registration card (like I do). Japan has a ridiculous immigration policy, but this is beyond bewilderment.

By the way, I run a lot still because I'm too afraid of getting fat and out of shape. I think that I'd rather kill myself on the track and have my legs fall off then get fat.

Well, that's it for now. I'm heading out to Tokyo Bay tonight to see the sights; apparently it's where most of the new development in the city is happening. They have a giant Ferris wheel there and a giant sculpture of something ridiculous, like a boot or hairdryer or something. There's also a scale replica of the Statue of Liberty and a beach. But your not allowed to go in the water because it's too polluted.

Where has the time gone...

Wow, I'm sorry. It's been awhile. I do have an excuse though. A 'busy' weekend lead into a busy school week which lead into a three day get-away trip. And now I'm back. As usual, click on the above pic; they tell better stories (most are the same as the facebook pics btw). So what did I do...

Ok, 2 Wednesdays ago, I had off from school. During the day, I took a field trip with my Japanese Culture class to the Studio Ghibli Museum. Studio Ghibli is a very famous Japanese animation studio created by Hayao Miyazaki. Miyazaki's movies are very popular in Japan and throughout the world. I enjoy all of his movies. If you are familiar with his movies and ever get to Japan, go to this museum, it's fantastic. I wasn't allowed to take pictures inside, so no pics inside, lol.

That night, the weekly Tokyo English speaking magazine 'Metropolis' was hosting a Halloween party at a club in Roppongi, the part of Tokyo where all the foreigners hang out. The party was called the Glitter Ball. I went. Most people dressed up, some went absolutely crazy with their costumes. I went as a...um, never mind that. I don't know what I dressed up as or why. I needed a costume quick, so bought some random stuff for 12 bucks and improvised, lol.

Saturday I went to Ginza, the premiere shopping district in Tokyo. I did not buy anything. That night, I went here. Here's some quick facts about Tokyo. 1. The club scene is huge in this city. 2. Trains (subway, regional rail, everything, etc.) all stop around midnight and do not resume until around 5 - 5:30 a.m. Let's just say I've never seen such a busy city at 4 a.m. then I did in Roppongi last weekend. At one point, I went to a fast food restaurant that had three floors and there where no seats.

Last week, school was tough I suppose. 2 tests, 2 papers and a presentation due in three days. No sweat. Both tests A, presentation A, paper A-. Waiting for the last paper. Boo-ya.

I had Friday off, so Thursday night I took a flight to an island near Tokyo called Hachijo-jima and went camping for the weekend. It wasn't bad; I hiked up two volcanoes, saw all sorts of nature stuff, sea cliffs, traditional Japanese stuff, etc. I took the trip because I just wanted to see the ocean, with mountains and cliffs, in a natural setting, not the toxic waste pool that is Tokyo Bay. Next time I go though, I'm renting a car. Everyone else on the island drove up the mountains, almost to the summits. I hiked everywhere and it hurt.

Ok, one month to go this semester. Time flies by past.

Bike and Hike

Welp, another low key weekend. But Friday night I went to TGI Fridays, which definitely gets the adrenaline pumping for me. Had the Three-for-all appetizer (family tradition). Then me and the people I was with walked around Shibuya randomly. I played a video game for the first time since I've been here. It's amazing how I managed not to play any yet. I didn't pay though; I was coaxed by a friend. I played some kind of guitar game, where yes, you pick up a guitar and finger made-up cords. I also played a taiko drum game, where you smack a giant drum with sticks.

Next day I slept. A lot. That night, I went to Shinjuku to see a documentary on MotoGP, the elite professional series for motorcycle racing in the world. A person who works here at TUJ got me re-interested in the series. Anyway, it was at some indie theater. Before the movie started, these guys came out and gave a talk for 30 minutes, in Japanese, which made me somewhat angry because I wanted to see the movie. Then they had this raffle. I'm serious when I say that every person in the audience won except me. It's discrimination, I tell you. Anyway, the documentary was good. It was in English, voiced by Ewan McGregor. It was about MotoGP coming to America for the first time, on one of the world's most difficult and interesting tracks. It also mainly highlighted the American riders, who are surprisingly very good.

Sunday I went hiking somewhere, not sure. I followed some friends. It was good, except the trail we took was paved all the way to the top. Very un-nature like. Plus it was over flowing with people. But it was up a good mountain that offered good views of the valley that Tokyo sits in. But you couldn't see Tokyo because of the smog. Oh well. That night, we came back to Shibuya and we stopped in Subway. It's different. You definitely don't get as much as in America and the quality was just ok. Sandwiches are rare in Japan. And I like sandwiches. If you got the time and money, I'd appreciate if someone air mailed me overnight a hoagie (no mayo please) and/or chessesteak. And scrapple. I want scrapple now. They don't have it in Japan for some reason.

Back in Tokyo

* sorry, this post was supposed to go up Thursday*

After all my trips to mountains, cities, race tracks and hot springs, I've decided to take a break a little and just relax in my home city of Tokyo. After all, there is still plenty to do here (it is the world's largest city, after all).

So after another week of classes, Saturday I headed out for Yoyogi Park, a big, Central Park like park. Some of the events from the 1964 Tokyo Olympics were held here, like gymnastics (the arena is across the street). While I was there, I bumped into a vintage car rally, a Shinto Shrine (where it happened to be wedding day, lots of people getting married), street performers (a lot of bongo drummers, rock bands and wannabe pop groups)and a Sri Lankan culture festival (good food). A good majority of the park was forested over and therefore easy to get lost in within it's maze of winding paths.

Afterwards, I walked around a nearby neighborhood called Harajuku. This is the teenager capital of Tokyo. It's full of kids and the weird stores they shop at. Kids like to come here on weekends and dress up in outrageous clothing; it's usually girls dressed up as Gothic Victorian baby dolls (Gothic Lolita). I have one picture, but search the Internet and you'll plenty of examples of the interesting fashion here.

Last stop that day was Omotesando Rd., the so called Champs-Élysées of Tokyo. Yea, it was very upscale, and since Tokyo is one of the world's most expensive cities, the prices here will make your head explode. It's a nice road to walk along; it's lined with trees and gorgeous contemporary architecture, but it was Saturday and people were crawling over the streets and side walks.

Sunday I walked around Roppongi and Akasaka, the supposedly international areas of Tokyo because of this were many embassies and expats live (Akasaka is where the U.S. Embassy is, which is a huge complex by the way, way bigger then any other embassy in Tokyo). I stopped by a random temple and walked in and out of a few famous building, etc. Then I had the sudden urge to cut my hair. So I walked in the nearest barber shop. By the way, haircuts in Tokyo are ridiculously expensive (good price is $50, for a man). I got mine pretty cheap, but I guess I'm not happy with it. I think the problem was that I don't speak Japanese. Next time, I'll definitely going to someone who speaks English. Anyway, when I walked in the shop, there were 4 barbers standing around watching TV. As soon as I walked in, they all ran over to me and tried to get me to sit in their chair, etc. Very confusing and funny. One guy slapped his chair with a towel, so I sat in his chair.

Last stop that day was Shibuya, home of the world's busiest train station (2 million passengers daily). It's also the biggest skyscraper district in Tokyo and a huge shopping district (for department stores, at least) as well. I went in a few stores and yet again, the prices blew me away. I keep hearing Thailand is a good place to shop, I might have to head down there...because Tokyo is ridiculous for shopping.

Events during this week thus far: nothing really. Attempted to cook on Wednesday. Was ok, but was also disastrous in other ways. We won't get into details. Lately, I've had this fascination with food. I went to a gourmet burger shop Tuesday and got ripped off ($3 for 6 onion rings? Never again...). Had Indian on Wednesday (better). Favorite thus far however is this Japanese place. Good prices and they give me a ton of food. I usually get a beef bowl (bowl of rice with, you guessed it, beef and fried onions) and a small plate of rice and curry. I cover it all with chili powder. Water is free. And viola, I'm full, fuller than any of the other places I go to. And for the same price or less.

Ok, that's it for now. Ciao.

Kyoto and F1

Sorry for the long breaks between posts. Last Thursday I had a final, then a four day weekend (which I'll talk about later), then two more finals this week. Above are pics from this weekend. Later, I'll link you to pics from the previous weekend.

So Friday night I got on an overnight bus. It was a double decker. Right off the bat I knew it was a bad idea, but I had no choice. 7 or 8 hours later, I got off the bus and barely had gotten any sleep on the ride down. By the way, I took the bus to Kyoto, the former capital of Japan. Is was capital for almost 1000 years, until the late 19th century when they switched to Tokyo officially. Anyway, it's like the traditional culture capital of Japan, full of an endless array of temples, shrines and other buildings and artifacts left over from the past. It also helps that Kyoto was spared Allied bombing during World War II, unlike most big cities.

I'm not all to sure what the names of the places that we went to are, but that's irrelevant anyway. The first place was the giant garden/temple complex. Honestly, I've seen so many temples, shrines, etc. that they are starting to look the same. This one was really big though. I found out later that most things in Kyoto are really big since it was the old capital. The highlight was this famous rock garden. It's, um, a bunch of boulders interspersed in a combed gravel bed. It's a little under 500 years old I think. I took a few pics.

Next stop was this place called the Golden Pavilion. Oh, let me remind you that I got pics of all these places for you to look at if you care. Anyway, the Golden Pavilion is just that, a giant pavilion painted gold. Is was actually pretty impressive, very pretty as it was facing a large pond. There was also a lot of tourists. The place doubled as a Buddhist Temple too and was apparently a favorite spot of a few past Emperors. Oh, I guess I should mention that every temple, shrine, palace, etc. charges admission, which is annoying.

Next stop was a Shinto Shrine, I think. It can sometimes be difficult tell Shinto Shrines and Buddhist Temples apart superficially, but I'm getting better. It's strange how Japan was really into both Buddhism and Shintoism, and now no one is religious. Anyway. It was on a giant hillside over looking, well everything. I got some good pictures from the shrine. Someone here calls them God pictures. You'll see what I mean.

After that, I meandered with a few people through the streets of Kyoto. After being in 'modern' Tokyo all this time, it's a real change of pace to be surrounded by all these traditional buildings. But eventually, all the shrines and things lose there touch because there are just so many here. Highlights of my walk were 2 geisha that I saw (very elusive people, but I get so excited when I see them! And no, they are not prostitutes) and a gigantic Buddha that appeared out of nowhere on my walk. But nothing beats the Country Western concert I bumped into. I saw a few Japanese people sporting 10 gallon hats and there was a big 'ol American flag waving amongest all the festivities. God Bless America.

That night, I met up with some people and had Thai food. I have never eaten Thai food before, so I ordered something random. Those who know me well will be happy to know that I accidentally ordered this giant fish. I have no idea what it was. It was pretty much a large, flat fish that they through on a grill. It was covered in this spicy chili stuff. I was so bewildered when it came out. If you know me, you'll know that I'm a land dweller. I do not touch seafood. I can count the number of times I've attempted to eat fish on one hand. But this was my dinner that night and I needed something to eat, so I bit the bullet and dug in. It actually wasn't that bad. It wasn't as spicy as I wanted it to be, but I tolerated the fish for the most part.

Ok, I'm going to talk about F1 now. If you don't care about for it or motorsports, you should probably skip this part and go to where the paragraphs get smaller.

I am a fan of Formula 1, as some of you may know. I knew the Japanese Grand Prix was coming up, but I had made no plans to go because I had gone on this Kyoto Trip. Well, our guide told us that Sunday we had the option to do as we pleased. So when I woke up Sunday morning, I had this strange premonition to go and seek out the F1 race. So I walked down to the train station and got directions on how to get to the race. Mind you, I didn't really know where the race was in relation to where I was. So it was a hard choice to actually go when the first step of the directions said Shinkansen (bullet train). I really wanted to see the race for a few reasons (which I'll explain later), so I decided to do it. I hopped on the next bullet train and went to a city called Nagoya, 38 minutes away. The Shinkansen is an amazing thing. I was brought up surrounded by toy trains, so I've always had a fascination and respect for trains. The Shinkansen is the king of all trains. It's by far the fastest, the most state of the art and the busiest. You would think that it's a luxury to travel by bullet train. But when I stepped out on the train platform, my train was arriving in 5 minutes, another was coming 3 minutes after that and another a few minutes after that. These things are everywhere and it became apparent to me that they are an essential part of the functioning of Japan, as people are constantly taking these trains everywhere.

I got to Nagoya and had to transfer to a normal train. It was by far the most crowded train I've ever been on. It was absolute ridiculous. If it had derailed...I don't know what would've happened. Anyway, I got to the track fine. I got a ticket and walked around the track a bit, taking it all in. It's pretty exciting being at a race in person when all you do is watch it on TV. The atmosphere is something I can't describe, but it makes the drivers and the cars on the track seem other worldly, like they are some kind of divine beings. And the cars...they do more than just pull drivers around the track. They are works of art. The way the look and move on the track is so elegant and graceful, yet muscular and powerful. And the near deafening whine of the engines takes all these things and turns it into a sound. But like I said, it's something I can't describe, it's something you have to experience yourself. Or maybe it's just me and because I like F1, I create all this excitement in my head. Nevertheless I enjoyed myself and the more that 100,000 Japanese fans enjoyed themselves as well. The Japanese take F1 very seriously and are one of the biggest fans of F1. The Japanese teams of Honda and Toyota invest an amazing amount of money into F1 and are sometimes reputed as having the largest budgets. Toyota is reputed to spend 300 million dollars a year or more and has the largest budget. Honda has 2 teams (2 cars each), out of 11 teams that race. Toyota will have two teams next year as well. Unfortunately, both teams are mediocre, despite throwing unlimited amounts of cash into the sport. The technology of F1 is mind blowing to develop and it's cost is equally amazing, contributing to many of the problems the sport is encountering today...I'll end my F1 rant here, but if anyone wants to know more, I'm always up to talk about it, since virtually no Americans like F1, even though it's one of the world's most popular sports (kind of like soccer and America).

As far as why I went to the race, besides being a fan, my reasons are as follows: this was the second to last race of the year. The race for the championship was tied between two drivers, one who is my favorite. So this could have been (and turned out to be) the deciding race. Plus, the race track here is one of the best and most respected in Asia and has a good reputation throughout the rest of the world (it's one of the few tracks that has a figure 8 layout; don't worry the eight crosses over itself, lol). F1 is happy to come here because it is a very technical track, and the engineers and drivers love that fact. But this year's race will be the last at this track. Alas, Honda owns this track. Toyota owns a big track in Japan as well and paid more money to have the F1 race there until 2011. The Toyota track is good, but can't be compared to this one. Just like actual Japanese politics, money politics rules F1 as well. And lastly, one of the greatest F1 drivers will be retiring this year, Micheal Schumacher. He holds a good majority of F1 records, including most Championships (7). He was tied for the lead in the Championship coming into this race. But, a little over halfway through the race, his engine blew up (don't worry, it happens all the time in F1, almost every race). So he dropped out and his rival, my favorite, won the race and pretty much clinched the championship. I never really liked Micheal anyway. He's too good.

I think I should add that I do not like NASCAR, because I get that question every time I mention I like F1. And no, F1 is nothing like NASCAR. F1 is road racing and the cars are way faster. NASCAR looks fast because they go in circles and never have to brake that much. In reality the cars are tanks (just like real American cars. If F1 drivers behaved like NASCAR drivers on the track (all the bumping and crashing, all though it does happen from time to time...), they'd all be dead, because the cars are so delicate.

Anyway, I went home Monday by Shinkansen. This time I rode at night and just talked with people about our different experiences on the trip. Most people went to a place called Nara on Sunday, a smaller city near Kyoto that also has many historical sites. It also has an incredible herd of tame deer that roam the streets in packs. And if you don't feed them, they tackle and nibble you. Seriously, lol. Some people had some funny pictures.

Tuesday I slept. I was a little sick from the weekend and tired as well. Wednesday I had a Midterm. Thursday I went to class and then had lunch at a place called Freshness Burger, a Korean burger shack. Go figure. Anyway, the burgers were mediocre in quality (we can all thank the Japanese Government and Press for freaking out over big bad disease infested American beef), but everything else they make is, well, fresh. They make all kinds of juices, smoothies, sandwiches, etc. and a lot of their ingredients are super fresh. I watched a lady hand squeeze every drink in the restaurant. And even though the meat in my burger was just ok, the vegetables are super crisp. So it wasn't bad I suppose for a fast food place.

Oh, I forgot to mention I went to Outback Steakhouse the night before and it was amazing. Now they got some high quality beef.

Friday I had another midterm. This weekend I'll play by ear, but I have some plans on what to do here in Tokyo.

Sorry, I've returned to my long posts. But it has been awhile, hasn't it?


Here are my Hakone pictures. It's mostly from the open air museum and then the cable car ride to up a mountain to the hot springs and sulfur spewing vents. Then the camera died.

Ok, video time.

This first one is from a Buddhist Temple in Kyoto:


Here are a few F1 vids. This one is of the formation lap, a one lap jog to warm up the cars and tires:


Here is a vid of the first lap, with the cars up to speed. Try and count all 22 !


Last, here a clip from somewhere in the middle of the race. I wish you could hear the cars like I did...

Whoa...

Sorry. It's been awhile. I just haven't gotten around to this. And my camera battery died when I needed it, so you won't get to see a lot of what I did if that's your thing. If your on facebook, there are lots of pics there.

Yea, so I went on a little trip this weekend with my school. There were 25 of us. We chartered a bus and took it south, near Mt. Fuji. We got to this area in the mountains that is collectively known as Hakone. We ate lunch at a traditional Japanese place. I have to say, I am not crazy about Japanese cuisine. It's just not my thing. So after a somewhat unsatisfying lunch, we headed up to an open air museum, which is, if you don't know, a big open park/garden filled with artwork. It was interesting, full of more modern/20th century pieces. The quality was pretty good; it had artwork by many well known sculptors. The more modern stuff I'm not really into, but fortunately, there wasn't a vast amount present.

Before dinner time, we went to where we were to stay the night. It's called a Ryokan, a traditional Japanese Inn. I roomed with 4 guys. The room was very traditional, with tatami mats all on the floor, futons to sleep on, tables about 12 inches off the ground, tea everywhere, sliding doors...very traditional. Plus, they gave us these Japanese robes to wear. So I got to dress up like a Japanese for the whole weekend, which was awesome.

For dinner that night, all 25 of us ate a traditional Japanese feast in this big room where we had to sit on the ground. It was a lot of food, but like I said, I'm not crazy for Japanese stuff. Yet again, I had to cook my meat myself, this time under a super candle thing (it was amazing that a candle can boil water and cook meat). Afterwards, we sang karaoke (there was a stage in our room...go figure).

The whole reason why we were here though was for the hot springs. Japanese people like hot springs. So do I. After dinner, I hopped in the large outdoor one and just relaxed with a bunch of Japanese guys. It was amazingly hot though, so I couldn't stay long.

After a good night's sleep, I woke up early and hit up another hot spring. They are more than just giant hot tubs. They are elaborate, large, pieces of stone work and there are usually multiple ones, so they are large entities. Plus, people usually bath in the shower part. It's a public bath house basically. I had breakfast (they had some western food, like french fries and spaghetti, which was amazing, especially for breakfast), said good bye to my Japanese clothes and headed out for some castle.

The castle wasn't too memorable. It's famous, but it didn't strike a cord with me. Outside of it they had this zoo type thing which was kind of weird and sad. It was raining too, so that kind of killed the mood. We next went to a Buddhist temple, which was everlasting. There were buildings that kept going and going back into the woods and up a mountain. It was neat to see a Buddhist monastery and I got my fortune told too. It came on a piece of paper and it was written in Japanese. I had two Japanese people try and read it to me, but it keeps coming out weird. It's a good and bad fortune, from what I can tell, with lots of random stuff on it. I know that if I get in a fight though, that I will win, so that's good to know.

Then I came home. Week was fine; I had a midterm on Wednesday. It was weird. It was open book, essay format. But she wanted it written like a formal essay, with citations and all this stuff, so it was tough.

Highlight of the week: Jewish food. I ate at a Jewish place on Monday and it was awesome. I don't even know what Jewish food is or what exactly I ate, but it was worth it.

Ok, so it was another slow week. I'll try harder, lol.

Another week gone by...

It's Friday night here. Classes are over for the week. This weekend I'm heading to a place called Hakone. It's a resort town in the 5 Lakes region, near Mt. Fuji. My schools running the trip. It should be a good one, although the weather might not cooperate. I really want to see Mt. Fuji. If you recall, I went there not to long ago and tried to climb up it. But I never saw it, because the weather hid it behind a shroud of clouds and mist. It's gotten cooler here now; I bet it's freezing on the mountain.

My week was so so. Nothing fantastic happened. I had a few tests; I'll find out next week how I did on them. I've biked to school almost everyday; I skipped one day because of torrential rain. Biking is exhaustive but useful I suppose. I just wish I had an MP3 player to help pass the time (b/t 40 - 50 mins, depending). I usually bike in shorts and a t-shirt and change at school. One downside of bike riding though is that my bike isn't quite big enough for me. I got the seat racthed all the way up, but I can't quite get full extension of my legs when I pedal. I'm almost there though, so it's not too bad. I think it' s funny because I'm not really that big of a person.

Well I'm off. You'll here from me when I get back from the hot springs.

Diet, TGS, etc.

Last week was good. No qualms here.

Friday I went to the Japanese Diet (like their Congress, Capitol Hill, etc. Got to see all kinds of stuff and met with a Diet member, who got us all into exclusive places. We sat down and had coffee with him in the Diet member only lounge.

That night ate at Outback. It was too good, the first filling meal I've had thus far. I got a chili cheese burger and a side of fries.

Saturday went the Tokyo Game Show, a big video game convention where companies come out, show their wares and nerds leave the attic of their parent's homes this one weekend of the year. I don't think I'm into games that much anymore because I felt strangely uncomfortable around all these video game people. There was a good number of cosplayers (people who dress up like video game and anime characters) present, most of whom were girls. There was a giant dressing room area just for them. Into was kind of disturbing actually; there costumes were too good. They stood outside the halls and people were flocking to take pictures with them. I didn't feel like waiting in line to play any games and eventually I got bored with it all and tried to leave. I found some friends who came later though; the people I came with were pretty excited about all the games and ran off in all directions. So I hung out a little more. Eventually we left. The friends I was with were all homestays, 2 of them brought along their homestay families, both of which had small children. We all went out to Carrefour, the French version of Walmart. It's a truly amazing place. It's like a shopping mall, but it's all one store. We hung out there. I left with two friends for an hour and went to an arcade. We came back and ate dinner in Carrefour.

That night, I went out with a bunch of people, including one of the Dutch guys from Mt. Fuji that I met. Had a good time.

I've realized my posts have been way too long, so I'm shortening them up a bit. I'm very talkative when I type. Hope this helps. It'll save me time as well.

Part III: Me vs. Mt Fuji, Round 2

* times are rough estimates *

Midnight: we are woken up by one the hut guys. He wants us to leave now, probably because the weather is still bad. We get up, get ready, wake up the Dutch guys as well.

1:00 a.m.: We head out. It's still really bad outside, a lot colder now, still very windy and rainy. Actually the rain has gotten a lot worse, it's a downpour now.

1:15 a.m.: we are taking frequent breaks. One member of the party is fatiguing easily. I stay with her.

1:45 a.m.: Said member struggles up the mountain and says she can't make it the rest of the way. We take her to another hut where we told her to stay until we came back. We have not left the 7th station yet.

2:00 a.m.: We continue up the mountain. The trails have been and continue to be very sheer, many times just solid lava flows. It is pitch black outside and all we have are a few tiny flashlights. The rocks are very slippery.

2:30 a.m.: The wind is still blowing hard and the rain never lets up. We are and have been soaked. None of us had prepared at all for this kind of weather. Eventually, while breaking somewhere we encounter another human being, the first we've seen that night. He's an American from Missouri. We ask him to join us and he agrees. We continue up the mountain, taking frequent breaks again. Another member of the party is beginning to fatigue easily.

3:30 a.m.: We have reached the 8th station. We are soaked, tired and freezing. We huddle outside a hut and talk. One of the Dutchmen decides that it is not worth going to the top and wants to stay in the hut. Me and my 2 friends debate for awhile. The other Dutchmen and the American head out for the top. My party also heads out after them, but after 10 minutes, we decided that its not worth risking ourselves over. The rain and wind have been getting worse as we've gotten higher. We go to the hut our other friend is staying in.

4:00 a.m.: We get to the hut. They refuse to let us just rest and tell us that the only way we can stay is if we pay full price. We reluctantly give in. However, to make matters worse, they are very rude and tell us to put our clothes in numerous small plastic bags, which would not let them dry. Angrily, I head to bed.

6:00 a.m.: Massive commotion outside our beds. I look out and see tons of people packing. It is light out and I can see that there is still whipping heavy rain outside. Our Dutch friends and the American are in the hut. The two that went to the top said they never made it. Apparently a group of about 40 people barricaded the summit. Unbeknowest to us, a serious typhoon had hit southern Japan and a lot of the run off headed for Mt. Fuji. The typhoon had killed 9 people in southern Japan. It was said that know one was allowed on the summit because you would have been blown off. Being on the mountain was different because it provided shelter. After hearing this, I roll my eyes and go back to bed, while our new friends head back down the mountain.

8:00 a.m.: Time to go, 8 a.m. is the kick out time. I never really slept at all the whole time and since our clothes were soaked, we froze while we laid in bed. We put back on our wet, cold clothes and head out. Don't worry, I had a lot of clothes on to help compensate the fact that they were soaked through.

8:30 a.m.: We find out that the descending trail is different then the ascending trial. It's incredibly bleak and lifeless, and it's red. The descending trail, with it's red, dusty, lifeless appearance looked like Mars, while the ascending trail with it's gray, frozen lava looked like the moon. The descending trail was very hard to go down because it was steep, dusty and rocky, making us slip and slide all the way down. Plus it was very windy and rainy still.

9:00 a.m.: I think I spot the 4th member of our troupe who left at the 7th station walking up the trail. Excited I run down, yelling her name. I get closer and realize it's not her, just some lonely Russian girl. Disappointed I walk away and let someone else apologize for me. She was the last human we saw until we approached the 5th station.

10:00 a.m.: WE kept going down. We just talk, nothing interesting happened. I could never take out my camera because it was so rainy that I didn't want to ruin it. We also realize that the descending trial never hooks up with the 7th station, were our other party member. We hope that she walks down by herself.

11:00 a.m.: Back at the 5th station. Our 4th member is no where to be seen. WE get the phone number for her hut and call up. She's still there. She tells she'll walk down herself. We feel horrible. We go into a building, meet up with the Dutch guys and have lunch. I eat a pork ramen bowl and half a squid. It was exquisite.

1:30 p.m.: Our final friend makes it back down and we chill out in a cafeteria.

3:00 p.m.: We take a bus home. Still soaked and absolutely freezing. I've taken off a lot of my wet clothes and am now the coldest yet.

We get back to Tokyo and it's humid and hot out. Life's not fair. I stink too. The bus ride was 3 hrs. I have another 1hr 15mins home by train. I did not sleep for awhile. I was not in a good mood.

But it was an amazing time and I had lots of fun. There is absolutely no way that I can desccribe to you in words or pictures what happened on this trip.

Part II: Me vs. Mt. Fuji, Round 1

If you looked at my pics from the previous post, you may have figured out that I attempted to climb Mt. Fuji, Sunday into Monday.

Me and 3 friends took a 2hr 30min bus ride to the Mt. Fuji 5th station, from Tokyo. Fuji has these things called stations, staggered up the mountain; they are merely markers surrounded by small collections of buildings, mainly huts for hikers to stay in. The 5th station is at around 2200m, which saves us a lot of hiking (peak is at 3776m, around 13,000 ft., the tallest in Japan).

I had a feeling the weather wouldn't cooperate. We said to each other if the weather is bad, we'll just go home. It was OK when we got there and therefore we set out. Initially, as we went up the trail, we saw large amounts of people going the other way. We thought nothing of it and continued. 30 mins into it, one member of our party decided she couldn't climb anymore and she decided to turn back now before she got into serious trouble up the mountain. Our goal was to get to the 7th station (3-4 hrs hike), rest and eat, and then set out in the middle of the night for the summit, to arrive for the sunrise.

Me and 2 others continued. It started to drizzle, then rain. I had brought my ski stuff, so at first the weather was not a problem. Time passed. We took frequent breaks as we climbed, talked a lot and we enjoyed each other's company. However, the weather kept getting worse. The rain increased and the wind picked up significantly. We eventually reached our hut at the 7th station, where we were to regenerate before we finished the hike to the top.

They hut people were very friendly and let us dry our soaked clothes over their fire. It was also absolutely freezing outside and so we sat around the fire almost the whole time. The friendly hut people talked to us (well, the others in my party who were more fluent than I) about who we were and what not, very nice people. At some point while we were warming by the fire, the 4th member of our party went walking by. She had decided that trying to stay somewhere else overnight or go home wasn't worth the hassle and therefore she climbed up by herself. At 5:30, we had dinner. The only other people in the hut were 2 Dutchmen, who we befriended. They're about 26 and are interning in Tokyo. At 7, we attempted to sleep in the sleeping area, which is essentially a giant 2-tiered cupboard for people. I did not sleep much, and when I did, I had the most bizarre dreams.

Part III tomorrow.

Part I: Ninjas and Sumo

This is the first instalment of my weekend adventures. It makes things easier for me if I split stuff up, so deal with it. Sorry, some of the photos pertain to the next installments, so bear with me.

Ok, so I got to the ninja restaurant. It's called Ninja by the way (yes, very creative). We tried to go last week, but you needed a reservation. Anyway, we made one for Friday at 8:45. You walk in and it's a small dark room with only a receptionist around. We were told to split up in groups at this point. When my group went in, we stood in the dark room next to the receptionist. We were told there was a ninja hidden in the room somewhere. Suddenly, the wall behind me opens (uh o, trap door!) and out pops a female ninja. She tells us to follow her down the trap door. We enter through the door. It's still pretty dark. She lead us down this winding tunnel that looks like it was dug out of a cave. There are doors and things all around. Half the time we had to duck, because there wasn't enough room in the "cave." Eventually, we round this corner and stop. In front of us are these steps that lead down to this stream. The ninja says some stuff and out pops a hidden drawbridge so we can cross the stream. Pretty neat, lol. We cross the bridge and enter this big cave. This is were the dining area is. Every table in here is a private little cave or room. Our cave room had a stream running through it and some wooden sliding doors on one side. There are wooden structures integrated in the cave which add to the complexity of the dining area. You seriuosly need a guide in this place, because it is so easy to get lost. And it's intimidating too, because all these ninjas are running around.

Our waiter lived in Califronia for 5 yrs, so ordering food was easy. It was a good time, except I ate one of the habenero peppers in my drink. Never again. I got steak, bad choice because steak is not readily available in Japan (i.e. expensive, there aren't a lot of cows in Japan and they don't like American beef). But I wanted to try Japanese steak, to see what the hype as about. It wasn't bad, but it was a small portion size. I also had french onion soup. All in all it is was an ok meal. After we ate, a ninja magicain came by and did a few tricks that were pretty entertaining. After we paid, another ninja guide lead us out of the restaurant. So, it wasn't bad I guess. I wanted to go mostly because I wanted to see all the ninja stuff. It was cool, but I probably won't be back.

Next day was sumo day. Ok, before sumo, we went to a sumo restaurant. I felt kind of jipped because my meal I had to cook myself. I got chicken something. They brought it out raw in a pot with other ingredients on a portable gas burner and I had to sit and cook it for 10 minutes, which was kind of weird. Next I walked around the part of the city where I was. I stumbled across a Shinto temple. I've never been in one, so I found it interesting. It was big, but no one was there. I felt akward inside it though because it had all these pictures from the Tokyo fire bombings of World War II. I've heard people say that they were worse for Japan then the atomic bombs. I think the pictures in this shrine helped confirm that for me.

Finally we got to sumo. Ah, sumo. After watching it, I wish I had broguht a book with me. Most of the time nothing happens at all. Let me describe a typical sumo bout: the wrestlers get ready in their corners. They wipe themselves down with a towel, stretch or loosen up briefly, then dip one hand into a bucket of salt. Then both wrestlers silmultaneously turn around, toss the salt in the air and start making huge stomping gestures with there legs. Then they walk out to the middle of the ring, do the stomping thing again, get down, stare at each other, ready to charge...the ref, in his very ornate garb, hunches over, ready to begin the match...then one of the wrestlers gets up. Both wrestlers go back to their corners and do everything all over again. This cycle repeats about 4 -5 times. When they finally get down and wrestle, matches can last anywhere from 5 seconds to one minute. Usually, they are under 30 secs. So for me, watching sumo can be frustrating because most of the time there is no sumo. It's stomping feet, throwing salt and having staring contests (by the way, the rituals like salt and stomping have religious [shinto] connotations. For instance, the stopming of the feet destroys evil spirits in the ring, etc.). Yea, so after 3 hours of 'action,' I went home. I appreciated seeing the culture side of things though. For instance, the good seats in the stadium, close to the ring, were not seats, but rather large mats. And the outifts of the sumo entourage were quite ornate and beautiful, especailly the refs. After each bout, a man would come out and chant, lamenting I think about the winner. It was also neat to see all the wrestlers walking around in the streets and on the trains. They all have the typical sumo haircut and dress only in tradtional sumo garb.

Here's a vid of a match that was surprisingly exciting. I guess it was more exciting for us, because nothing much was happening for a little while.

Week 4

Short update. Another week of classes gone by. I got through my first chapter of Japanese. I can now read one of the three scripts that is used to write Japanese, which is definitely progress. I'm working on the second. I should be done that one in 2 weeks. The third, Kanji, will take years of study (no joke). I can say things realted to school, but not much pratical things, like say, when I'm in a 7-11 buying a candy bar and want to know if it has nuts.

This week it has been rainy and damp. On the bright side, it has gotten cooler, although it may get over 80 again next week. No earhtquakes that I know of either this week. I think a huge storm is heading this way over the weekend and into next week, which kinda is a bummer because I have a 3 day weekend and I plan on enjoying it. Not sure what's going on yet, but you'll here from me afterwards.

Well, I'm heading out now. Tokyo at night is a million times better then during the day. We're going out to a ninja restaurant tonite. I'll tell you what that is and what it's like later.

In food related news, I made a good dinner last night. It consisted of rice (easy), and this awesome curry I made. It had pork, red peppers, tomatoes, carrots, and onions. It was good, but the curry was a little sweet. The night before I had steamed vegetables and some chicken. I'm got better...

Adyos

Yokohama and food

Here are a bunch of pics this week. As usual, read the post first, then go to the pics. I also want to apologize for the straight up scenery pics and video. I don't take too many pics and vids of people or of myself. I'll work on that this week so that you can see me in action or something. Plus it's proof that I'm really in Japan.

Also, if you can not watch the videos, please make sure you have Flash installed on your computer. Please go here to download it.

Well, one thing I forgot to mention earlier this week is that we had another earthquake. I believe this one was a magnitude of 4.4. We hardly felt it. I was in the second story of the TUJ building and the building shook a little, as if a heavy set man person was sprinting down the hallway. We started to whisper to each other and the teacher got annoyed, not realizing there was an earthquake. When we told her, she got all upset and had to sit down. Funny, she was the only Japanese person in the room (class size was 40) and it scared her the most.

The Yokohama trip was interesting but wasn't run very well. Japanese TUJ students led us around, similar to our orientation. They procrastinated and did not plan well, so we ended up wasting lots of time. I liked Yokohama though; it's a big city and the differences between it and Tokyo are stark. If you don't know much about Yokohama, it's south of Tokyo, very close. Population is 3.5 million. Tokyo (pop: 8.5 mil, depending on how you define Tokyo)and Yokohama are pretty much just one continuous city.

First stop was the Raumen (Ramen) Museum. It was interesting for it's recreation of an old Tokyo neighborhood. There are 8 ramen restaurants spread around the "neighborhood, " each serving a unique bowl of ramen. I did not try any, as the lines were ridiculously long (I heard it wasn't anything special anyway). Instead I went to the soda shop with a friend and had an amazing cherry soda vanilla float. Simple amazing that thing. Here's a video walking through the "streets:"


Next stop was this really random walk around downtown Yokohama. That's pretty much all we did, walk around, not being told where we were going and not being able to stop at all. More vids:



Next stop was a little boat ride around Yokohama Bay. Not much to say here, it was just a boat ride. I suppose it was neat to see stuff from the water. Oh, did I mention we waited at the pier for the boat forever? I think half the time we were waiting for something, either a boat, train, people or our guides' brains to start thinking. Vid:


Next we just hung out in a park, walked around, through grass a each other (funner that it sounds). 3 of us walked to a convenience store and I was asked to try these bean paste treats. They weren't bad actually. They had red bean paste between to small pancakes. I forgot what they were called, but they didn't taste like beans. It was more fruity I think.

Exciting huh. Last stop was Yokohama Chinatown. Very cool place, I liked it here. Very happening, full of bright colors and things. 8 of us went into this Chinese restaurant for dinner. We got to eat in a room that had tatami mats (Japanese straw mats) with a table that had a giant lazy susan in the middle. It was a family style restaurant. We had a private room that was Japanese style (strange we were in a Chinese restaurant), with the paper walls, sliding doors, please remove your shoes before going in rule, etc. I thought it wasn't bad, we had plenty of food with plenty of variety: 2 kinds of soup, spring rolls, duck skin that you folded with other ingredients to make a taco like thing, 2 kinds of shrimp, fried rice of course, vegetables, some beef stir fry stuff, some other meat I think, tea, and lots of other things I can't remember. It was great. Plus, somebody had poured out roasted chestnuts for us to snack on which were also good. Video of Chinatown:


Yes, so that was that. I went home after that (which was hard because the people I was with weren't all together on how we were to get home). Sunday I did the church thing. I also went on the hunt for some needed stuff. Couldn't' find hand sanitizer or air freshener, but I did find white vinegar! And Datu Puti at that, an even better version! I was so happy, I tired some right after I got out of the store. They also were selling other Filipino stuff, like spices, Sinigang soup mix, etc. I'll be back. Weird thing about it is that it was a 100 yen store (like a dollar store) were I found these things, and the owners were European. Go figure.

For those who are interested, Jess climbed Mt. Fuji Saturday into Sunday. Some people in my dorm went with her and from the sounds of it, they had a blast. I really wish I had gone. I'm not sure if I'll do it or not; time is running out before winter comes (on the mountain, that's in 3 weeks) and my schedule is pretty busy as well.

That wraps up this post. So, next time I promise a more personal post (in regards to pics, vids), and perhaps a video blog, lol.

A Week in this Life of Mine...

Welp, the second week of classes has ended. It doesn't sound like a lot of time, 2 weeks, but me and others here feel like we've been here forever.

Now that things are in full swing, there have been a few differences. AS you may know, I have a bicycle now. I thought it would be a good idea to bike to school save money. I am saving money, but I did not factor in the fact that Tokyo is hot and humid for a longer period of time during the year then say, the U.S. Plus It's about 8 miles and hilly. The first time I biked I was drenched in sweat. And it was only 8 in the morning and I had just showered. I did it a second time this week and I just got tired of getting to class and sitting there all hot and stuff. The next day I rode the train. I almost forgot what it was like to be in the train. There is immense freedom riding your bike, when compared to being smashed together with tons of people on a train, transferring twice, walking to stations with armies of people, etc. Thursday I tried to compromise by riding my bike to another station and taking the train in, to see if it was faster. This way I wouldn't stay on my bike long enough to get too good of a heart rate going, maybe save time (both train only or bike only are 50 minutes) and I would eliminate two line transfers and therefore save money. In the end, I did not sweat (probably because I didn't get to the hilly part), but I only saved a marginal amount of time and it was only 30 yen cheaper (about 25 cents) then if I had taken the train from home. I felt dumb about that, so I abandoned that idea. Perhaps I'll think of something different or just wait to bike when it gets cooler out.

What else. Well, my Japanese teacher is incredible energetic. She's literally hops around the classroom. She also takes pride in torturing us in regards to our knowledge (or lack thereof) of Japanese. Twice this week she gave us pop quizzes on things we learned no less than 2 minutes before the quiz. And she has this crazy, evil, happy laugh, which looks even weirder because she's like 5 foot tall, Japanese and tiny.

My eating situation has improved significantly. I have discovered a few fine dining establishments in the vicinity of my school to eat lunch at. One is the vending machine place which I mentioned before. It's cheap (total under 5 bucks), filling and good. I especially like their curry and rice. I also went to a cheap Italian place nearby as well that wasn't bad. Tonight, I fried up some beef strips, garlic and rice and had a nice meal, complimented by Cup of Noodles Kim Chi, which is surprisingly good. To top it off, I had this giant apple. I think all the fruits here are double the size of what we got in America. Actually,I think these are just normal fruits and the ones in American are prematurely picked or grown too fast to meet demand or something.

Wednesday night was the best. After being turned down by what seems to be the coolest restaurant in the world because we lacked a reservation (called Ninja, use your imagination with that one), we went to this other restaurant. I forget what they are called, but you sit at a table and there are these hot plates in the middle. Then you order and they bring out the food and keep it on the hotplates. I've got pictures that I'll post later that explain things a lot better. Anyway, the food was pretty artistic, not too expensive (but portions were on the small side) and it was good. There were 8 of us and we each ordered something and shared. I think many of you will be happy to know that I ate some seafood and enjoyed it, notably shrimp, squid and octopus I think. Food yesterday (Thursday) was OK; dinner was messed up. At the supermarket here, they sell meet fully cooked. You can come in, buy it and eat it there. They have chicken wings and kabobs, for starters. I had the wings and chicken shish-kabobs with some rice Tuesday night I think and it was real good. Thursday I decided to have the other kabobs. They looked like beef covered in BBQ sauce. Man have I got to stop assuming that things that look the same as things in America are the same here. I'm not really sure what it was that I ate, but it was most likely gizzard (stomach of a chicken or other small animal I believe). I ate it, but it wasn't that good. I also had another bad experience I think Monday night. I decided to eat some sushi. Someone later told me it was tuna that I had. It had the raw red tuna, with rice and seaweed wrapped around it. It was sick. I could not finish it at all. I had 4 rolls (out of 10) and I couldn't' take it anymore. I thought it was bad and I was going to die of food poisoning, but I realized this is just how sushi tastes like. perhaps that's what I get for buying the cheap stuff (under 2 dollars)

Ok, enough of the food exploits. Wednesday night I did karaoke at a karaoke bar with 7 other people. It was lots of fun. I can't explain why or what happened that night, it's just something you have to experience yourself. Plus, karaoke is probably in my blood and I enjoy it (even if it's at a relatives house with a home karaoke system, lol...).

Finally, there is this incredible loud, super hyper Japanese girl at TUJ who I see every so often. She's learning English, so things get interesting real quick. Apparently a few days ago she learned everything bad to say in English. Me and 2 other people had to work on correcting that for about 20 minutes, because she had no idea what she was saying or how bad it was. If you've ever seen the movie "Can't Hardly Wait," she is exactly like the German exchange student. She's so loud too, way way too happy, and I think she likes me.

That's it for now. I'm going to Yokohama tomorrow. Jess will be attempting to climb Mt. Fuji. I'll update with pictures next time.

Sake and Randomness

Here are a few pictures I recently took. You might want to read this post first, then look at the pics. I think some people didn't know that if you click on the picture above, it takes you to a gallery of pictures, with captions that tell their own story.

Where to start. Ah yes, last post I was bitter about my bike ride. Later that night, TUJ sponsored a sake tasting event at a club in Roppongi, a center of nightlife entertainment in Tokyo, especially among foreigners. It cost only 10 bucks and was well worth it. Among the things that happened were: a performance from one of Japan's best shamisan (traditional Japanese instrument, see video below) players; an educational talk on sake; two rap performances by TUJ students, one a solo MC and the other a group of 3 guys (they weren't too bad, but the videos I took of them don't do them justice); a guy who was writing anything you want in Japanese calligraphy; and an after party at the end. Oh, and did I mention we were allowed to sample no less then 7 sakes? Each sample came in a small cup slightly larger than a shot glass. They were handpicked by our esteemed sake expert, so our samples were apparently of high quality. I guess they weren't bad. Oh, I also failed to mention that the legal drinking age in Japan is 20. So don't worry mom and dad, I'm not a bad person; I was merely obeying the law.

Video of Shamisan Player:


Of course I had all 7 sake samples (plus some of the 'leftovers'). The after party was a very good time. I met lots of new people and learned how much alcohol they could handle. Apparently sake has the highest amount of naturally occurring alcohol out of all alcoholic beverages, so much in fact that it is sometimes watered down. Me and most other people that night have never had sake before, which leads me to the last bit of entertainment: TUJ students. Absolutely hilarious.

So the after party was good, the next part was difficult. The condition in which many of the students were was not good. I think we walked 2 blocks in about 45 minutes. A lot of people go to TUJ and they seemed to have taken over this part of Tokyo that night, as we kept encountering students everywhere as we walked. Those of us who's brains still functioned tried to delegate what to do next, but we couldn't find consensus. Some people had things to do the next morning, so we decided to go home. I apparently was the only person out of 8 who knew how to get to our dorm (there are 4 TUJ forms spread around Tokyo, plus home-stay people and those with their own places), so I led (very slowly I might add) us back to the dorm. I have to say it is kind of difficult to get back, sober or not. Tokyo trains are a mess of lines criss-crossed in non-sensical patterns.

Another little video from the sake tasting:


One last interesting tid-bit: trains in Tokyo stop at around 1 a.m. One kid in my dorm got tired of clubbing at around 2 - 3 a.m. I think and decided to walk back to the dorm. I am not really sure why he decided to do this because taxis operate 24/7. The dorm in around 7 - 8 mile away from Roppongi. It took him over 3 hours to walk home. I am amazed he was even able to find his way back.

The rest of the weekend was meh, meaning nothing happened that's worth mentioning. I did my laundry, went running, did school work. So I'd like to take this time to list some random facts and observations I find interesting:

- Japan has lots of mosquitoes. I went to hang up clothes to dry outside and in about 5 to 10 minutes I was eaten alive by them.

- Japan is short on basically all natural resources. There are no napkins to dry your hands in the bathrooms after you wash them (and strangely no dryers either) and paper is expensive to buy.

- Speaking of bathrooms, I've noticed some toilets are just holes in the ground which I haven't figured out how to use yet. On the other end of the spectrum, there are toilets here with remote controls. They have buttons that shoot out water jets and deodorizers, among other things. I'm definitely not used to this, so these advanced toilets scare me.

- Speaking of random things, I don't know what this was. I saw it on the way home from the train station. I'm going to guess it's Shinto and they're carrying a Shinto shrine. But it could be Buddhist. Or maybe both. Japanese people have no problem combining religions I here:


- Vending machines are too popular here. It's ridiculous. You can pretty much live off of vending machines. Everywhere you go, there are drink vending machines featuring every flavor known to (the Japanese) man. A vending machine at school I think is capable of giving you fries and chicken nuggets. And some restaurants use vending machines as essential parts of their operations. At the door there is a vending machine with pictures. You put in money, then press the button of the picture of food you want. It prints out a receipt and you take it to a counter where a guy cooks whatever is written on the receipt.

- Some people here take way too much pride in their jobs. i once read a story of a Japanese grocery store worker nicknamed The Samurai. He would speak Japanese in out-dated samurai slang and work with lightning lethal precision. I think I've encountered some of these people in stores as well. I don't speak Japanese, but they yell stuff out at me and work diligently as if there life depended on it. I got scared the first time I went to the convenience store because I thought the check out guy was yelling at me.

- I biked to school today. I thing I noticed while riding was that there are lots of police in Japan. There are Kobans all around (small sub police stations). I think New York City is thinking of implementing this system. I also saw the dreaded bicycle cops. They chase after foreigners on their bikes to make sure they didn't steal their bike or come into Japan illegally. I've heard of people being stopped every day for days on end and some people even being stopped four times in one day. I passed three bike cops today. When we got close, I squinted a lot, so I don't think they recognised me. Phew.

- The pillow in my bed has beans in it. I think it works out in the end.

- I do not know why there aren't more parks in this city. There is a large one near my dorm. Last night I went running through it and tons of people where out. The park lines a river and follows it down stream. Because of this, it's long, but not wide. So there are paths on the outside of the park and fields in the inside. The part of the park I've seen has a driving range, a few soccer fields, grass tennis courts, and numerous baseball fields. Baseball field after baseball field. And people are always playing organized games on them all the time. I did a longer run yesterday. I didn't notice that the park was getting thinner and thinner, so thin in fact that there wasn't enough room in the fields for baseball. But people were playing anyway, they just extended the field past the paths that people walk on. Oblivious to these fact, I accidentally ran through center field of a baseball game. People were yelling and getting up and I was wondering what was happening. I realized what was going on as I ran past the right fielder who was standing in the middle of the path.

- Speaking of sports, I've seen a few tennis courts around. But only natural clay and grass courts. I even saw a high school with grass courts.

- I went to an ATM on Sunday. It was too futuristic for me. It was on the second floor of a sushi restaurant in Roppongi, right next to a giant TV monitor. Anyway, I got out of the elevator and in front of me there is this giant glass door. On the other side are two guards at attention. The door had a card reader and I thought 'O no, I think I walked into the bank vault.' The card reader reads your ATM card I figured out. Actually the guard on the other side of the glass was signing to me how to work the card reader, because it's upside down from usual card readers. Anyway, I get in the ATM. By now, I'm thinking to myself this is ridiculous. I felt like I was in Star Trek, with all these guards, sliding glass doors and generous use of aluminum trim on everything.

- I'm sorry to hear that Steve Irwin, a.k.a. Crocodile Hunter, died. R.I.P. See, I do keep up with current events back home.

- Last comment: Japanese people. I'd like to thank them for contrasting us Americans so well on Friday night. Large groups of Americans, loud, obnoxious, taking up all the side walk, laughing and having a good time seemed to be the exact opposite of the Japanese people we saw that night. Those Japanese that were out were mostly in suits, silent and walked around us. On the trains, as we laughed and joked, they were silent. Japanese people do only the following on trains: 30% sleep. 30% stare at the ground and then sleep. 30% read a book, read manga (Japanese comic books that all ages read), read e-mail on their cell phone or play games on it. Let's just say that they are reading or staring at something in silence. The last 10% might actually be talking face to face with a real human being. I'll leave it at that.

Last, here's a message from Jess. I think I'm in there too. You can't see us, but you can here us, lol.



Ok, I think that's it now. If you got any comments, suggestions, etc., leave them in the comment section at the end of this post.