Yet another year...

OK...so we're not very good at this updating our blog thing. Another year has passed by without updates, but here's the rundown on the lives of G, M, & W in the past year.

G: 3 job changes. Got engaged to a very special guy :). Travel-wise, went to North Carolina and went to Smoky Mountains National Park. Went to San Jose nearly once a month. Got back from Argentina 5 days ago!

M: moved to NorCal. Got a government job like a good girl. Got into grad school. Got back from the Czech Republic a couple of weeks ago!

W: moved to Norcal. Got a job in SF at an ad agency. Got engaged to a special guy :) Got married to a special guy. Went to Hawaii. Got a bun in her oven :))))))

I think it's crazy that the very first post on the blog is about how Wury started dating, and now she's a Mrs. and gonna be a Mommy!

Muahahaha

Don't think that I'm through with this blog yet. I still have a Kansai picture post to do. I originally wasn't planning on doing it but seeing Grace's strong will for posting her Patagonia pictures, I've decided to go out with a bang.

So! After my bacteriology midterm's over, I'll start doing a Kansai picture post during study breaks (since I have an immunology midterm the week after! x_X!)

関東 vs. 関西

I forgot that I never posted about my Kansai adventure.

If you want to see pictures, see 'em on facebook because there are just way too many pictures to weed through. Haha. And if you don't have facebook and you really really really really want to see the pictures, let me know.

Kanto (関東) is the eastern region on the main island (Honshu). That's where I lived, since Tokyo's in the east (Tokyo, 東京, literally means "Eastern Capital"). I've heard that the Kansai (関西) region is pretty different and there was even some kind of a rivalry between the two, kind of like the whole Nor Cal, So Cal thing. Of course, after living in Tokyo for a couple of months, I was ready to see just how different the Kansai region (especially Osaka) was.

Kyoto wasn't that bad. I heard a few people say, "Okini" instead of "Arigatou" and people saying "hen" instead of "nai." I giggled at it because it's so... stereotypically Kansai.

As a sidenote as to what we did, Yun and I stayed at this wonderful hostel near Kinkakuji (The Golden Temple) where yes, a building is coated in gold. It's absolutely beautiful, especially with the momiji (the autumn leaves). There's also Ginkakuji (The Silver Temple) but we decided not to go. We went around Gion, where you may be able to see some maiko (geisha in training) but they're kind of rare to come by, I think. But the coolest thing was that I got to see the Minami-za while on the bus! (The Minami-za is the Kansai equivalent of the Kabuki-za in Tokyo. They're both Kabuki theaters) There was also a statue of Okuni (the supposed founder of Kabuki) and it turned out that we were by the Kamo River (where Kabuki was first performed)!

We also went up the street to the Kiyomizudera (The Pure Water Temple) but didn't go in because we wanted to make it to the Fushimi Inari Shrine (it's the shrine that has the thousands upon thousands of orange tori, or gates) before it got dark. I really regret not going into the Kiyomizudera. Even though it was super crowded, we should've gone in. Because we got to the Fushimi Inari Shrine when it was dark anyway. D:

So yes. Fast forward. We got to Osaka and the lady who owned the hostel that we went to was Korean! It helped with communication a lot because we were having some issues talking about the reservation that I made in Japanese. -_-; She was really nice to me and when Yun and I left, she gave us these little cell phone danglys for free, saying, "It's hard to come across a Korean person like this. We have to look out for each other. Please take these." :)

Ok, so remember how I was talking about the "Okini" and "hen" thing a couple of paragraphs ago? IT WAS CRAZIER IN OSAKA. Yun and I went to the Kaikukan (I forget if that's correct or not...) which is the aquarium there. While we were there, I was trying to take a picture of this little critter that moved around really quickly, as was this girl next to me. It was really difficult to take and after a few minutes, she turned to her boyfriend and exclaimed, "Torahen!" In standard Japanese, you would say, "Toranai!" (meaning, "I can't take [a picture of] it!") so when I heard it, I literally had to choke down my laughter and then walk away 'cause I didn't want to laugh in her face.

Yun and I also went to Kobe (first we went to the Kobe station and then found out that we got off at the wrong station -_-;) to get some Kobe steak. It was incredibly... expensive. But delicious. I ate my steak with chopsticks. Hahhahaa. Mmmm... Kobe steak... I'll definitely be hitting up the next time I'm in the Kansai region. *-*...

As for other things to compare, people in Osaka really are meaner than people in Tokyo. Hahaha. Remember how in my last entry (if you read it), I said that people will always say, "Sumimasen! Gomen nasai! Sumimasen! HONTOU NI SUMIMASENNNNN!"? This usually happens in train stations and on the train and what not. Well. In Osaka, people get on the train, shove you around and don't say a word to you. Or they give you a dirty look. I actually got to take the Hankyu Line (the one that takes you to Takarazuka ^o^~) and Yun, her friend, and I were speaking in English and the people on the train just straight up stared at us. Even if we stared back. o___o じ~~~~~

And, just a note of reference for anyone who might go to Tokyo and then Osaka: in Osaka, everyone stands and walks to the right instead of the left. You know how in Asian countries, people walk to the left and stuff? Same dealio in the rest of Japan. Except Osaka. Even in Kyoto, people walk to the left. I don't know what it is about Osaka but it definitely is different. Hahaha.

Ok, that's all. I suppose that it was a very dry entry because there are no visual aids. :D

Good night.

Minor Reverse Culture Shock

I didn't think that it would happen to me. Afterall, I would only be in Japan for three months. How Japanese could I turn in such a short amount of time?

Don't underestimate what being surrounded by a different culture can do to you. When I first saw how Japanese girls dressed, I snickered to myself but a month later, found myself wanting to buy a lot of the things that I saw in the clothing stores (but didn't, because I knew that I couldn't rock the look in the States).

A lot of the habits that I carried back from Japan have more or less died in the past few weeks that I've been at home (since in the States, I'm surrounded by American culture).

But here are a few things that I carried back with me.

1. When I do something that would usually warrent a "Oh, I'm sorry," I would instead hold up my hand and say, "Ah, sumimasen!" coupled with "Gomen nasai!" really frantically.

2. In the situations described in #1, I will duck my head, as if bowing, to show just how sorry I am. Japan really is the culture of shame.

3. I walk to the left of everything. This took me a while to get used to in Japan since I grew up in the States but when I was in Osaka, I couldn't get used to how everyone stood on the right. (Oooh... I was supposed to write a post about how different Osaka and Tokyo are...) This still happens to me. While I'm climbing up the stairs or am on the escalator, I'll find myself on the left side, confusing the Americans around me. D:

4. Before eating, I'll put my hands together and say, "Itadakimasu!" It took me a couple of weeks to break this habit. I don't think that my mom appreciated it too much.

5. Instead of saying, "Oooh," I'll say, "あっ！" (Aa!)-ish things. The intonations are a bit different.

6. I feel like everything I do warrents a sumimasen. When you inconvenience someone, even slightly, you would usually say, "Sumimasen..." but in the States, you just kind of shrug it off with a "Thank you" when they do it for you. I find myself frantically saying to salespeople, "Ah, I'm sorry. Really really sorry." Let me repeat: Japan is the culture of shame.


That's all that I can think of, actually... the thing that was the most obvious was my "sumimasen!" and walking to the left tendencies. The rest were things that I noticed kind of sporadically. They weren't really a big problem.

As for reverse culture shock, it's nothing big, really... I remembered how Americans behaved and in a lot of ways, Japanese culture kind of irritated me a lot, making me long for American culture. So if you don't count my Japanese-y habits as reverse culture shock, I will go as far as to say that I didn't have any. If anything, it's just being pleasantly surprised when someone holds the door open for me (the Japanese do not do this).

:D

ただいま

I'm back. I've been back for a week and a half now. No more jet lag.

I am planning to make a post about coming back from Japan and reverse culture shock. It's not that severe for me. It'll probably be the most severe for Grace. Hahaha hope she'll be ok.

I am also planning to make a post about the experience as well and perhaps give a review of the program. Since, after all, this blog isn't just for keeping in touch with people and recording things down but also as a resource for students who are considering EAP, especially these specific programs, and are doing desperate searches on Google (like I did). I did meet a friend through this blog after all. :)

Ok, that's all for now. I know need to think about what to write. Hhahaha. Bye!

Wait. What?!

It's 12/4! Guess where I am!

.
.
.

Not Foster City, California, USA. I'm at Hotel Nikko Narita, a five minute drive from the Naria Airport in Chiba, Japan.

What happened?

Good question.

I said good bye to Jessi this morning. She shoved me out the door (and I giggled at it... hahahaha). Then I went to Kichijoji to buy stuff for my nails and to get a case for my DS (yes, I got one here! Jessi found me a deal!). I went into Yodabashi Camera with my ginormous backpack. -_-;;; They didn't have big lockers at the Kichijoji station which blows me mind since it's such a popular station. :(

Anyway, I arrived in Shinjuku, ready to take the Narita Express. I got there an hour and twenty minutes early so I decided to eat at Doutor Donut (my first time, actually) and then waited down at the platform for a little bit. Then I hopped on the train and was on my way!

I fell asleep on the train but woke up when we arrived at terminal 2. I got off at terminal 1, found the kuroneko (black cat-- it's another name for the Yamato delivery service) stand, got my suitcase, then made my way to check in.

They took my suitcase and one of the United workers put my suitcase on the scale and as he did, he said, "Kono suitcase wa sugoi!" (This suitcase is incredible) Yes, my suitcase was very heavy. In fact, it was too heavy. It weighed in at 35.6 kg. And then he told me, "It's over, so it will cost 600 USD." I paused and asked, "... US dollars?" and he said, "Yes, 600 USD." I looked at the guy at the counter and he said that things over 32 kg are calculated differently so I owed 600 USD. I kept on staring at him, thinking, "My mom's going to KILL me," but he said, "If you have a second piece of luggage to check in, then you can maybe put some things in there." I sat on the floor of the airport and started to shove things into my backpack. When I reweighed my big suitcase, it came in at 31.something kg. Whew. It was only 3000 yen! Much cheaper than 60,000 yen!

I walked happily through security and then went into this bar/cafe, had a half pint of Guinness with a plate of cheese and crackers (I've been kind of beer tasting since my Sapporo visit). Then afterwards, I went over to gate 37. I was going to board in 45 minutes so I thought that I'd pass the time texting my friend Yuri (who applied to study abroad in UCLA, UC Irvine, and UC Davis but got "recommended" to go to University of Massachusetts, Amherst). I thought to myself, "I really don't want to leave Japan" and started to get teary cheeked, especially while texting Yuri. (Saying good bye to her at the Shinjuku train station on Sunday was the most difficult good bye in Japan thus far)

Well, then they called us to board and we were on our way!

I had changed my seat last second and got a window seat. I was ready to knock out as soon as the plane took off. I waited a bit and was used to delays and what not since I take the plane back home so often.

But then there was an announcement about this minor oil spill on the left wing of the aircraft. They said that they would give us an update in half an hour. So we sat there, thinking that it wasn't a big deal. They had boarded us early anyway-- what would half an hour do?

Then they proceeded to update us every half hour about how they would update us the next half hour.

...

Eventually, at 8:20 PM, after sitting in the plane for more than 3 hours, they told us that our flight was rescheduled to 4:25 PM the next day. I started to panic, having no way to tell my parents this. I resorted to texting Jessi so that she could sign onto my Skype account and call my parents. Hahhaa thank goodness! (She told me that a certain ckatsura started to talk to her. Hahhahahaha.)

We filed out of the plane, all really tired and frustrated, and they told us that they were going to try to work out hotel accomodations. They eventually found this place and said that United was paying for it. Along with a 1500 yen voucher for food. Woot. (Btw, the premium-whatever, 1K and some other people with those fancy membership titles were allowed to tag along on another flight. ;o; Us po' folks were left stranded.)

So yep, here I am! All I had today was an onigiri, that puny sandwich at Doutor Donut, a Snickers bars and... well, I'm going to check to see if the restaurant downstairs is open. I need to shower first, though. And if it's not open, there's a Lawson downstairs! I forgot that it was a Lawson! :) I love the konbini.

Anyway, I have a double room all to myself! It's actually kind of nice to leave Japan feeling really relaxed.

So yes, I'll be back tomorrow for sure! I feel really bad for the person/people responsible for the oil spill... mistakes happen! I hope that they don't get fired! :(

Will be in the States soon

At a friend's place right now.

Will be here 'til I leave. Doesn't look like I'll be posting anything until I get home so hang tight!

My plans for Tokyo is just basically hanging out with Jessi (the wonderful gal that I'm staying with) and buying omiyage (but don't know how much I can buy since everything's cho-takai and too... Japanese-y).

Mkay, that's all. I must now sleep. Bye!

I am homeless

I am homeless in Japan. I am living in and out of hostels and hotels and stuff. Thus, I do not have regular access to the internet. A massive picture post will come when I can get some good wifi and am not in a rush.

I am going to Hokkaido tomorrow and thus, need to sleep soon. Oyasumi nasai!

It is 4:19 AM

Why am I still up? That's a good question. Last Thursday, I stayed up until 5 in the morning, trying to finish one of my essays. I halfway succeeded. I ended up finishing the essay on Friday evening, even though it was due on Monday. :) Meaning that I had a free weekend. :) But yes, that messed up my sleep cycle. Not that that's an excuse for my staying up this late. But it does tell you why I'm not tired at all.

I'm updating with probably one of the most ridiculous things that's happened to me in a long time. One of my friends, Bernadette, is an art major from UCLA. She needs to relate her study abroad experience with her major somehow. We both took Japanese theater together and have this strange kind of Kabuki obsession and thus, she asked if I could help her out. I told her that sure, I'd love to since, after all, I did a Kabuki mie in public and she did a pose from Aoi no Ue in public (with her right sleeve off and everything) so hey, why not?

I later asked her about it, asking when it was. She replied, "Next year, probably?" I was really confused. I thought that we were just going to dress up and she was going to take some pictures. But no, this was not the case.

It turns out that upon my saying ok, she rented out a space to showcase whatever she's doing. She's not entirely sure yet but it's going to involve me, some white face paint (I hope that she can get the real thing :D), and... Kabuki. Yes, this has turned into something that I did not expect but I'm ok about it.

So yes, I'm extending this invitation to whoever wants to come out to this event. 'Cause apparently, I'm going to be dressed like an onnagata. Or something. I don't know, she needs to figure out what she's going to do first. That's all she knows about it right now. Hahaha.

And this talk about doing a mie in public-- here is proof. (Bernadette dared me to do it. It was not my idea. And note the girl in the corner, giving me a strange look.)


Me.


Ichikawa Danjurou

Yeah, I tried.

Sick of my posts yet? :D?

I sent an email to my dad, telling him that I need more monies since I'm going to go to Hokkaido and Kansai. I did all the calculations and gave him the amount I needed. He sent this email back:


Hi Moonjoo,

How are you doing in Japan?
Haha, I knew that you are gonna need more bullets to have fun.
So, you need about ----------?
Mom'll call you tomorrow morning around 700am (your time at 1200am).
Thank you for being frugal but try to utilize your opportunity in Japan.
Money is maybe tribial when you consider once or twice in your life.
Understood?

Pretty soon we can talk on our couch.

Love,

Dad


******

At first, I thought, "... talk on our couch?" then realized that that's where most of our conversations take place. As we're both vegging there in front of the TV. Hahahahaha. Awww, it makes me miss home! The couch in our family room at home has this really fuzzy, warm blanket that Cookie and I love. Awww Cookieeee I miss Cookieeeeee.

Anyway, I also LOL'd when I read, "Haha, I knew that you are gonna need more bullets to have fun." Hhahahaa daddy, where are you learning all this from? Haha.

Ok, I need to shower. Yakiniku was good but I kind of had to fend for myself so I didn't get to eat as much. Professor Hwang paid for half the meal, which was super generous of him!

After my shower, it's paper time. Peace out!

YES

I'm done with all my written exams! All I have left is that paper that's due on Monday! :D :D :D My Japanese exam went much better than I thought.

Anyway, I got a new webcam! I'm installing the program right now so I can't plug the webcam in yet but I will be able to soon. :D

I have a yakiniku dinner at 5:30. That means that I have to go all the way back to school again. >_>;; I was just going to go straight back to school after getting the webcam but figured that since I have time to kill anyway, I could just drop by home for an hour then head back to school.

While I was on the train, I saw the cutestttt thing ever. There were little elementary school children, in little herds, all wearing these yellow hats. I didn't want to whip out my camera (one of the chaperones was standing right next to me on the train) and just snap a picture. So I used my phone to take it. The thing is, with phones in Japan, even if your phone is on silent mode, the phone will make a noise when a picture is taken. This is to prevent perverts from taking pictures up girls' skirts-- if they take a picture while going up on an escalator or during rush hour on the train, the gal will know. My phone made a beeping sound as it took but I figured that it wouldn't be that creepy anyway. :D Here's the picture that I got:


All the boys crowded on one side (which is what I got a picture of) and all the girls crowded on the other. Hahaha. So cute!

I am officially addicted to mitarashi dango. You've probably seen it in anime (even if you have minimal anime exposure). I want to learn how to make it but it seems like the recipes online aren't very good. I need to buy a Japanese cook book while I'm here or something. D: But here is the new love of my life:

This brand tastes better than the one that I buy at the grocery store, which, by the way, is 7 yen cheaper.

And since this is turning into a mini picture post, I asked my friend to leave a book out in front of my door for me and this is what I found. I asked her to put it in a bag or something and write, "To Moon Choi, rm. 319" so that the staff wouldn't think it's anything dangerous...:


What the heezies? A close up:

Thanks, Bernadette. (She's my twin, as we say... we say the same things at the same time. It gets really creepy sometimes. I'm not kidding. Hahaha.)

And just 'cause I can (and because Kabuki's awesome):

I want to strike this mie. It's awesome on so many levels. And the fact that the pose is derived from Aoi no Ue (a very famous Noh play), when Rokujo comes back in her demonic form makes it that much better.

Ok, that's all. :D I think that I'm going to have a tourist-y weekend so I'll be sure to post pictures!

Oh, btw! I'm going to be speaking at ICU's Worship Night tomorrow. The students kind of take turns and share a very brief message with the theme centered around worship. I snatched this opportunity when asked just because I wanted to share the gospel. I didn't hear a single gospel presentation the entire time that I've been in Japan (except at TMEFC <3)

Just thought that I'd post a video since I haven't talked to Grace in a long, long, long time. (Thank goodness for LJ!)

Webcam

I bought a webcam in July so that I could Skype with friends and family. Then one day, while talking to Cesar and Grace Mao, I was told that there was this strange noise in the background. I thought that perhaps it was all the fans whirring in my room so I turned them off. Still, the sound persisted.

Today, I tried to see just how bad it sounded. So I opened Sound Recorder and just recorded what sounded to me like silence. I played it back and it sounded TERRIBLE. Sorry for putting you guys through that! Then I tried to talk directly into the mic and I couldn't even hear myself!

So I'm going to have to go to Akihabara to buy another webcam tomorrow. :( I had to go there for an errand anyway, so I suppose that it's alright. It's just sad that my webcam's doing this to me. D: I took good care of it too!

Anyhoo, I'm not going to Kyoto this weekend after all. I wanted to spend at least a week in the Kansai region but if I were to go this weekend, I wouldn't be able to do that. So my friend Yun and I decided to just go next week after she finished all of her finals. :D We're going to be there from the 19th until the 24! I decided to take the shinkansen (bullet train) back, which does cost a lot of money but with a gakuwari (student discount), it lowers the cost by A LOT. We'll have roughly 3 days in Kyoto and 2 days in Osaka. :)

My Japanese final is tomorrow! I barely studied for it. :( I looked over the review packet that they gave us but it's not doing me any good. Also, my friend left her textbook at school so I gave her mine to study. I've learned 95% of this already so it's ok-- for her, it's the first time that she's ever learned it so I figured that she needed the textbook more than I did. That's ok, I hope that I'll be ok! After tomorrow's final, I just have that dissertation to write, which I'm planning to finish after I get back from Akihabara so it'll be a nice, fun weekend for me! :D I should tourist it by myself in Tokyo! That is, if I am able to finish my paper by tomorrow. -_- I hope I can-- I want the professor to look over it before I turn it in.

Ok, that's all for now! I really should start studying forreal 'cause I have to wake up at 8. Peace!

The Home Stretch!

I have less than a month left in Japan. In three weeks and three days, I'll be on a plane bound for SFO!

School's ending this week for me. I have one exam for Japanese left, as well as a short 5 page dissertation for my Japanese theater class. Which, by the way, I can just send via email to my professor. ;D

My friends and I are planning to hit up the Kansai region this weekend. I'm super excited! Kantou is all modern and what not-- the Kansai region is more Japanese-y. I'm also going to go to Hokkaido on the 26th-28th with a friend from UCLA and a friend I met in my Japanese theater class who, by the way, is a regular 4 year student at ICU. The Hokkaido trip kind of ballooned from the three of us just wanting to hang out. When Jessi (the girl from UCLA) and I joked around, saying that we should go to Hokkaido to hang out, Yuri (the regular 4 year student) immediately said, "Ok!" We thought that she was kidding but she wasn't. o_o;; So I'm going to Hokkaido, folks! And it really helps to have a native Japanese speaker with us!

I'm not sure what I'm going to be doing in between all of that, though. I'll probably have to extend my lease with the Weekly Mansion. In comparison to how much it costs to stay in hostels and what not, it's actually kind of cheap to stay here. I'ts roughly 30 bucks a night at the Mansion.

I'm excited! Nearly three weeks of travel! I finally won't be tied down to having to commute 2.5 hours every day. :) I'll be sure to take lots and lots of pictures! Please pray for traveling mercies! I'll be taking the overnight bus, the train, flying... all sorts of modes of transportation. :)

Can't wait to finally venture out of Tokyo! And can't wait to go home!

Hello, president-elect Obama!

The election coverage in Japan hasn't been as crazy as I imagined it to be. Every morning, I wake up and turn on the TV and watch the news while I get ready in the morning. I can somewhat understand what they're saying and with the aid of being able to see the news, it's easy to piece together what the big news is that day. I was expecting to see a lot of stuff about McCain and Obama, especially last night and this morning, but didn't see much.

But I do remember seeing the town of Obama (Yes, there is a town called Obama in Japan, it seems) celebrating over Obama's win.

Haha I'm only posting because Grace & Wury posted about the election coverage in their respective countries. I didn't see too much hype in Japan. But then again, I'm never home to watch TV anyway, so...

:D

Yeahhhh sonnn!

Lol, oh momma.

My parents check this blog because this is the only place that they can see my pictures.

I skyped with my family yesterday and my mom told me that they had seen the pictures that I had posted.

I asked what they thought of them. You'd expect my mom to say that she's happy to see that I'm doing well and having fun and what not. ... Right?

Nope.

She says, "Ya know, in your pictures with your friends... I noticed that you look kind of chubby. When you come home, I'm going to run you to death. :D"

Oh momma. [Insert nervous laughter]

Speaking of nervous laughter, my grandma knows that I'm in Japan. She asked my parents for my phone number but they feigned ignorance. >_>; She's insisting that I go to Korea after my time in Japan so I can get the moles on my face removed via laser. And I knowww where that'll lead. "Since we're cleaning up your face anyway, why don't we get a little work done on your nose?"

D: D: D:

My parents haven't disclosed when I'm going to go back to the States either. Hhahahaha. I'm not kidding when I say that my grandma's the kind of person who would literally force me to get a nose job. :( People really think that I'm kidding or exaggerating but I'm not. My dad (her son) seriously said, "Yeah, she's the kind of person to do it... we won't send you to Korea after Japan."

@_@

Anyway, I have to finish my reading for my theater class. A 40 page long play. Not too bad. It's actually really interesting? And I have yet to finish reading the Robertson book on Takarazuka. It's been a very interesting study!

Peeeeace!

More pictures-- Odaiba & Okutama

Long story short, I ended up sleeping from 4 PM until 12 AM today. @_@;; I've been really tired the past two weeks.

Since I'm up, I figure that I might as well post pictures again! It's been a busy weekend. Went to Odaiba, a man made island made by the Tokugawa government. Then today, a couple of us from TMEFC went to Okutama to meet up with the rest of the English department that had a retreat this weekend! We couldn't join them for the whole weekend (it was too much monies) but we were able to be with them today! (Okutama, as beautiful and rural as it seems, is still part of Tokyo. :D)

On the Yurikamome Line. In other words, the monorail to Odaiba! That's the Rainbow Bridge. :D The monorail goes on that!

We passed by the replica of the Statue of Liberty. It's really tiny.

This was actually before we saw the Statue of Liberty. Sorry, the pictures are a tad bit out of order. This is the famed Fuji TV building. We were supposed to stop by and see it but we were really hungry. D: This was taken on the bridge.

On our way to the Miraikan (I will explain what this is later), we happened upon this sculpture outside. There were no signs that said do not touch or do not climb so we figured that we'd climb it! It was really sturdy, so no worries!

The 未来官(Miraikan)! Mirai means "future," as in the distant future. (As opposed to shorai, which means the short future, e.g. the next few years or so. If you ever take Japanese, keep this in mind! It confused me for a while.) The Miraikan is short for "National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation." Hhahaha. It's a very hands-on museum so a lot of parents bring their kids there. There are exhibits on life sciences, space, robotics (there was this cool robot named Asimo! I'll post videos later.), and a whole bunch of other stuff. There was a dome theater too! :D

This really cool globe thing was hanging in the Miraikan. The clouds move! And the earth "rotates!" It was so cool. :D

This was obviously in the life sciences department. Yeah, DNA replication! This is tRNA doin' it's thing.

We left the Miraikan and started to make our way towards food. There was a field of flowers and the girls couldn't resist it. I decided to take my obligatory flower face picture.

This is where we ate. It's a shopping center called Venus Fort. We ate and wandered around a bit, but not for too long. This is how the inside looks like. There are no windows in this shopping center so that the lighting can be controlled. It's very faux European but it's really pretty. :)

Then we went to the Toyota City Showcase. Basically a lot of cars by Toyota. And games like this for free. :D You only get to do one lap, though. And if you can't finish a lap, then you only have three minutes or so? I finished a lap. :D

There was this precious oldman in a suit and sneakers. It looks like he's doing well. Hahah.

We went on the giant ferris wheel. This is us at the top! You can see the Yokohama ferris wheel in the distance (the little white orb on the horizon to the right).

This is us, making our way down. It was a quick ride-- 16 minutes!

This was early this morning at the Ogikubo station. We were very excited about waiting half an hour for the train. (This is a horrible picture. I tried taking it but my face got cut off and we're totally off center. But because it's so epic fail, I think it's hilarious.)

Ah, we arrived in Okutama safely! We thought that this was the bridge that we had to cross. We were very, very wrong. Needless to say, we got very lost getting to the retreat site.

But somehow, we still made it. :D

This is after the service. We were making our way back to the station. That's Amy that you see there. And the Trail of Death. The trail that you need to go up in order to get to the road that leads you to the retreat site is seriously one of the steepest inclines that I've ever walked on. It would make for good skiing/snowboarding. It's a really short trail but it was so, so painful.

Well, that's the end of that. It's now 2 AM and I haven't washed up or showered yet. :D So I need to get crackin' on that and then it's bed time again! :D Bye bye!

Hikinuki

I finally found a hikinuki, after weeding through some kabuki videos on youtube.




Go to 3:20 if you don't want to watch the entire dance. Hahaha I knew that there had to be a hikinuki somewhere!

Very long picture post.

This is a compilation of photos from the past month or so. Hahaha. I forget to update this thing with new pictures but my parents want to see and they don't have facebook! Some of these pictures, I posted on facebook, but I uploaded these straight from my computer without looking at what I have on faceook. So keep an eye out!

Pretty lights at the Roppongi Station! That station is just a lot of fun. :D

A shop at the shopping mall at Roppongi. Was that Roppongi Hills? Or is Roppongi Hills where the Mori Tower is? I forget. "/ But yeah, this shop sold chopsticks. Mostly chopsticks. Beautiful, fun chopsticks. :D And this is their display window! I tried to get some close ups of the dolls that were on display but it was kinda hard.

Switching gears, this is the thunder gate at Asakusa.

Me, wafting smoke over my head in hopes of getting smarter. :D

I got a half fortune. It told me to never get married or to get a new job. To thank the fortune, I tied it to the bar and abandoned it. :D Bye bye.

Switching gears again, this was at the Tsukiji fish market! Look at the size of that tuna!

And so I had this for breakfast. From left to right, that's fatty tuna, tuna with avocado, and horse meat. Yes, horse meat.

After that Tsukiji excursion, we hit up Ginza. There were a bunch of these Hello Kitty bouquets! But they were expensive. And I can't take it back to the States.

And we found that the Imperial Palace was close to Ginza. So we walked over there and got a peak at it. The palace is that little bit of building peaking out from behind the bridge.

The Imperial Garden was beeeeautiful. I would've stayed longer but we were sleepy, tired, and hungry, thus making us cranky. D:

More garden!

And more.

We went to Roppongi again. This is near Tokyo Midtown. There was an odd sculpture. So Becky and I decided to take a picture with it. I think of weird poses, don't ask me?

The Mori Tower in Roppongi. All 54 stories of it!

Here's the Tokyo Tower! I wanted to buy Grace a keychain from there but it looks like the Eiffel Tower, so no fun.

Ferris wheel at Odaiba. It changes colors! It was beautiful. :) (We're planning an Odaiba excursion for this Saturday.)

Ah, what typically comes to mind when you think of Tokyo. :) It seems all romantic and stuff but man, don't base your judgments of Japan off of these pictures. I'm just not taking pictures of the mundane. But will soon.

The Rainbow Bridge!

So yes, I went to the Kabuki-za. This is to prove that I was there. And Bernadette's head is to the left. Haha, hello.

The Kabuki-za! I love this place!

A group picture of us. I'm standing next to two of my professors. It was very strange. Hahaha.

I've been seeing this pollack roe (명란젓? Is that how you spell it, 엄마? In Japanese, it's tarako.) crackers and it weirded me out a lot. But I bought it and tried it. And liked it.

Another strange cracker. Ddukbokee! I didn't dig it too much. I got it at Shin-Okubo (aka Korea Town) in some Korean market. Bleh.

And look at what I got in the mail from a certain someone in Santiago, Chile! :D This was taken on the bus. Hahahaha.

Look at my ecstatic joy.

And the goodies! Orly? Yarly. (Thank you, Grace!)

We had to go to the Ghibli Museum. Like, it's mandatory for my core class. The Ghibli Studio is where Miyazaki Hayao does his magic and it's located in Mitaka-shi, where my school is!

We arrived! This is me venturing into the magical forest through the mythical gates. (This isn't the end of the strange poses.)

I can't jump too high, I soon found out...

The museum is three stories tall. It's an absolutely delightful little place. If you're a Miyazaki fan and you're in Japan, you must come here! This is the spiral staircase that leads up to the garden on the roof! There's also a statue of a giant (from one of Miyazaki's films that I'm unfamiliar with.).

Hello, giant. I wasn't sure if he were friendly or not so I figured that I'm better safe than sorry. Hahaha. (I'm totally posing for this picture.)

Well, that's the end of it! I'll probably only upload a couple of the Ghibli pictures on facebook since it's not all too exciting or Tokyo-esque.

That's all for now. This picture post took such a long time. And I lost three games of chess against the computer while waiting for the pictures to upload. Hahaha. Good night!