私の日本の経験
Thursday, August 13, 2009

Future Plans

Alright everyone, as you may know I have been back in the States for the last month or so, and therefore haven't had anything of Japanese interest to really report. For those of you who followed my quest and may have lingering questions, feel free to respond to this post with them and I'll get on it to respond.

In case you were wondering :

  • I am still listening to Japanese and Korean Music almost exclusively.
  • Taiko for the Wii did in fact work on my Wii after some "fixing", and it's very Japanese and very fun.
  • I do miss Japan, but the States aren't so bad.
  • McDonald's is not my lifelong dream job -_-;;
  • I miss having real ramen as American ramen that can be bought in stores is no substitute for the real thing. Think of it like this, you want a turkey sandwich but what you're given is a turkey lunchable.
Alright, so my plans. As some of you may have seen before, I threw together a 30 minute slideshow a couple years back about my school, life, and other things. Well, I was thinking on a more grand scale this time and what I'm thinking involves is a giant slideshow featuring hundreds of pictures with commentary, music, and free food. Alright, so maybe not free food, but the rest of it. But before you think like "Oh shit, this kid is going to make a slideshow that takes 4 hours to watch", fear not. My plans involve Chapters of sorts, complete with DVD menus and any options I can figure out. I have some software that should theoretically do this, but there are no promises.

So yeah, look forward to that, eh, I don't know when. Maybe by 2010? Depends how into it I get, as sifting through 7,000+ pictures can be a bit troubling, and putting it to music and commenting can be a tricky thing. The finished product, ideally, will be a DVD with Menus, ranging content from my arrival, to trips, to other relevant categories, all totalling maybe 2 or 3 hours. There is no obligation to watch it all at once, or all at all, but those are my plans. The finished product will of course be free, but you know... donations are happily accepted. =P When I get further along in the development process I'll update this blog again, so until then, enjoy the rest of August!

~ダミアン

Sunday, July 05, 2009

九十九里浜に行ったよ!

Meaning, I went to "Kujukuri Beach". It is on the East Coast of Chiba, it was pretty nice and a nice trip out of Tokyo. I went by myself with the hopes that maybe I could go swimming, but it turns out that they don't have places to put your stuff of change and whatnot (everyone drives there apparently, and 95%+ of the people were surfing) so I didn't get to. It was a really long walk, about 30 minutes from the nearest station, so I think they figure that if people get there than perhaps they either live close or have a car to put their stuff in. Either that or I didn't find the right place to go swimming, haha, but the water that I walked into was nice up to my shorts =P

So I don't have much to say, other than I have exactly a week left here, all my final papers are done, our class talked the History professor out of giving us a final, and all I have left is a few things in Japanese. I want to check out a few more places, but if I don't get to I'm content with what I've done / seen. I'm actually pretty excited to go back. To see Marissa, family, eat tacos, spend the rest of the summer with Marissa, Homebrew my Wii and play Taiko on it, maybe get a PSP and (for legal reasons text removed, haha) with it, among other things.

So basically, check out the new pictures and I'll see everyone (that is where I'm going back to) in about a week!

Oh, and I guess it was my birthday since I last posted. I honestly forgot. I only told like, 3 people here. Thanks for everyone that sent cards or emailed me though =)

Random! : http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2083225&id=3708410&l=39d34fbadc
Beach Trip! : http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2083384&id=3708410&l=a8e1f5fcb4
Day 100, Not Planned, but my Birthday : http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2083129&id=3708410&l=eb317398eb
Makuhari, I forgot I didn't post these : http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2083101&id=3708410&l=4a17a2caf9

Saturday, June 27, 2009

Here, Fishy Fishy Fish

So it looks like I've been updating my blog once a week, on Sundays, for the last half a month or so, so in the very least I should today.

Yesterday I went to the Tsukiji Fish Market with some fellow IESers! For those of you who don't know, Tokyo (as well as most of Japan) are huge consumers of fish. All of that fish comes from somewhere, and in terms of Fish Markets, Tsukiji has one of the biggest and busiest in the world. The place was pretty amazing, seeing all the stuff that goes on there and how busy everyone is. It isn't without it's flaws though, haha, the employees there over the last 25 years or so have become quite angry with Tourists and Foreigners, and are actually rather aggressive. It's almost to a point of feeling endangered, haha. Basically, the roads and paths are pretty narrow, and everyone uses this kart machine things, and with all the tourists in the way, they have to slow their work down and everything. I guess Tourism has become a big problem here, because the people don't go to buy fish, only to get in the way of what's going on. Regardless, I went, and it was pretty amazing.

There were some unsightly things there of course, as not all the fish are dead by the time they arrive. There are people that hack apart the fish on tables more or less right in front of you, and some of them aren't dead before the hacking. The one guy nonchalantly just tossed the fish on the table, hacked off it's head (blood spatter a little) and threw it in a pile, just to continue doing it. Hey, it's a job. I just couldn't do it, haha. There are also things that are mostly dead, well, they probably are dead, but muscle spasms make them continue to move. Such as the eels that are pretty much in their own blood. Lovely! You should look at the pictures, although I'll warn you if dead fish are something you can't handle you might want to not look because about 20 or 30 pictures are dead fish related.

So today I think I'm going to try mock packing to see if all my stuff will fit to bring back home. I have since accumulated quite a few souvenirs for both myself and family, as well as having bought Taiko for the Wii that has 2 drum controllers of decent size. I may have to ship some stuff home beforehand so it all fits, I guess I'll know later today.

It also has come to my attention that perhaps I was a little harsh or poorly wording of a previous post. To my family, grandparents, and everyone who has done something for me, I regrettably did not mean for it to sound that I don't appreciate everything that's been done for me. I wouldn't be here were it not for my family and grandparents, and my life wouldn't be nearly as good as it is were they not there helping me along the way. It's true, I'm graduating next year from college and I would very much like to start my own life afterwards, but please don't think that means I don't appreciate everything that's been done for me up to now. Sorry for everyone that this hit the wrong way =/

So yeah, check out the pictures of the Fish Market, also of the last week or so before that.

Fish Market :
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2082728&id=3708410&l=489354272f
Other pictures : http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2082634&id=3708410&l=b91c8f4b27

Sunday, June 21, 2009

Kamakura & More

So this Saturday was our last IES Sponsored Field Trip, and it was to Kamakura. Kamakura information is here and in the first album's description, so check it out. Basically it's a town with many temples and shrines by the ocean. It was a nice trip, check out the pictures, there are about 300 of them.

Let's see, besides that, everything has been great! This last week I decided to do something crazy, and that was do all my final papers. I mean, the concept isn't that crazy, but the way I went about doing it was probably wrong. I decided that allow my impatience and OCD take over, and I spent about 25 hours in 2 or 3 days writing and researching papers. It was a hell of a week but I'm extremely happy with the results. My Marketing Paper and Pop Culture turned out really well, being 11 pages and 22 pages respectively, double spaced. The Pop Culture one was rather fun to read and research, I hope it's what my sensei is looking for, haha. The History of Tokyo one was about 13 pages I think, and half way through I struggled to find the right way of approaching what to do next, so I'm not sure how good that one is. I think the content was well written but I jumped around quite a bit, so I don't know. Guess we'll find out. I would say that I'll go back and revise them, but to be completely honest, I have a few weeks left here, so I probably won't, haha. Also, I'd be lying if I didn't say I'll have fun in the next week or two when everyone is frantically scrambling to get their papers done and I can do what I want because they are done. Yeah, tis' a great feeling.

So yeah, I'm going to finish up some of the homework I have for later this week because I'm currently not doing anything meaningful. I just had some Takoyaki, which are balls of bread and squid and stuff, and also some large balls of something that resembled a bready chicken or something. I really don't know but they weren't bad. I didn't want Ramen or Curry today and the Yakitori stand wasn't out today to my dismay which was where I was going to buy lunch. For dinner I bought some sandwiches and a pizza thing.

Alrighty, well, here are some albums below of Kamakura, and one that I don't think I posted of a week or two of randomness.

Kamakura Part 1 :
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2082282&id=3708410&l=bb03349c7f
Kamakura Part 2 : http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2082284&id=3708410&l=b62ec40c08
Random Days : http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2082133&id=3708410&l=f067d630f3

Sunday, June 14, 2009

A Month Left

Hello world!

Today I'm in a rather good mood, despite the current situations at hand. Before anyone gets concerned, they're really not all that bad, so let's just get into it.

First, for those who might keep up on my Facebook through whatever means, you might know that I've been a little sick the last few days. Correction, very sick a few days ago and recovering the last couple days. Good news first, I'm feeling pretty good today, a little sniffly still but I don't feel like someone threw me down some stairs into a patch of freshly cut grass while submerging my ears under water. Yeah... that was Friday, haha. Anyway, I'm feeling a lot better, can smell things, don't have to reach for a tissue ever 5 minutes (just every half hour or more). Whatever I had is definitely on it's way out.

Perhaps the most amusing part of this whole thing deals with my hair, haha. When you're sick the last thing you want is to feel sweaty and irritated, and my hair was in my eyes and making my head itch with sweat and also my ears. I decided to fix that problem with a pair of scissors and a razor, haha. It marks the first time I've ever given myself a haircut, and everything considered I think it turned out okay. I'm sure that anyone could have done the same job as good or much better, (maybe not Helen Keller, and that's a maybe XP), but it's comfortable and that was my goal. Success in my book!

Alright, next unfortunate event is the upcoming weeks of work. Well, maybe not work, but Final Papers around the corner. In roughly 3 weeks I am going to have 3 Papers of about 10 - 15 pages to research and write. Marketing will be a joke, so that one doesn't count, but the other 2 are actually a substantial amount of work. For what it's worth, I only have to pass the classes for my school to count the credit, and my GPA isn't affected, and while I'm not looking for an excuse to be able to slack, it's there nonetheless. It's not my style to blow a paper so I'm not going to do that, but I'd be lying if I didn't say it takes off at least a little pressure.

Being as sick as I was on Friday I decided to tell my teacher I couldn't stay in class and just went home and rested (I'm glad I did, Friday was a bad day), and we had review in class for a test on Monday that I'll probably have to take. Today I've been reviewing, so it's not too bad, and it's a 文法 (grammar) test mostly, so I'm good to go.

Let's see.... ah yes, the last unfortunate thing is probably the worst and in a way not so much the worst at the same time. That is my leaving of Japan in approximately one month's time. The last 3 months have been an incredible experience for me, but the dreams of me being back home leave me with an incredible empty feeling of missing here, and these dreams are perhaps even worse than nightmares where people die because of the impending emptiness. But they are what they are, dreams. As I think about what actually is at home I realize that the dreams are just tearing at parts I hold dear to here and not the truth behind what I really want, and that is my girlfriend. She's the best part of my entire life, and her not being here is the hardest thing I've ever done. For those who aren't familiar with my situation with her, we've been together over 3 Years now and it's not one of those things where it's a temporary thing, I very strongly would like to get married someday and live out my life with her. Having her back home makes the whole returning to America thing easier. In fact, and not to be intentionally hurtful to anyone non-girlfriend related, but if I didn't have Marissa I'm not sure I'd want to go back. This has been the single best experience of my life, and while I might not know the language or all of the culture yet, Japan is a great place. A month's time from now I'll be back in the States, and I promise you that this is not the last time I'll ever be in Japan. Living in Japan for reasons stated above might not be in my future, I couldn't make Marissa live here, I can't even get by with the language, much less someone who's never studied it before, or to my knowledge even particularly likes it. I definitely want to visit again though, if nothing else to share experiences with people that want to have them.

Sorry for the lack of updates as of late, as I said I really have been under the weather lately. Since the last post which was a week ago almost exactly from now, not a lot has changed. I've been playing Pokemon on my DS and that's been fun, the newest one out is great (Pokemon Platinum) and would strongly recommend it to anyone wanting to get back into Pokemon. Other than that I've just been studying Japanese, occasionally going to arcades with two of my Japanese classmates, and been trying different foods. I can't think of anything really, in fact, I don't even remember last week for some reason, haha, but if something comes to mind then I'll share it. I actually remember sleeping until 4:30 PM on Wednesday, the first day I started feeling not so hot, and 4:30 is NOT a time that I'm used to sleeping until, haha. I mean, if I stay up until 9:00 AM or 10:00 AM that morning, maybe, but I actually went to bed around 4:00 AM that night, so ~12 hours, come to think of it, might not be something I've ever done before. Might be a personal record, haha.

In completely unrelated news, I've been listening to a couple different musical groups the last week. Here are some samples!

Nesian Mystik - New Zealand Hip Hop Group :
For The People, Nesian Style, If It's Cool. Sorry for the not-so-perfect quality, but you get the point of the group, they're basically a non-violent Hip-Hop group. I love their style, they aren't vulgar and the only thing that makes them sometimes not a family suitable group are their occasionally sexual themed songs. Wikipedia says this about them : "Their cultural backgrounds unite a remarkable diversity of Polynesia by bringing together Māori, Tongan, Samoan and Cook Island ancestry." Good stuff.

Jonathan Coulton - Sings a genre I didn't know existed, and that is that of Nerd Rock, haha. Yes, songs about scientific / nerdy / geeky subjects, like Robots, Monsters, Zombies, Math, and other things. Here are a some of my favorite : Mandelbrot Set (so good, haha) I recommend checking out the full video but that video is so good, his most famous song Re: Your Brains, and some other ones are good but that's good for now.

RSP - What of my favorite J-Pop groups, and this song is so good. It's my current favorite song. 「アンマー~母唄~」 . It's a popular song nowadays here but it's not without it's criticism. First of all, I guess it's a cover song, and since the song is about respecting figures such as your mother, people think it's a dirty way to make money, that is, copying a song of this nature and releasing it to make money. I don't really care, I love RSP and I happen to like the way this one sounds compared to the original which I have heard.

Well, that's all for now, off to review a little more for my Japanese test then probably Pokemon, Supernatural, bed!

Peace Everyone!

Sunday, June 07, 2009

Pikachu, I Choose You!

So as you may or may not know, I still very much like Pokemon. It's something I've grown up with the last 10 years, this being the 11th, and I never grew out of it. If anything, I grew into it, heh. Regardless, they have a store in Tokyo called the Pokemon Center, a name taken from the anime and the games. What it is in Tokyo is a store that sells Pokemon goods of all kinds, from stuffed animals to figurines to games to tableware to towels to food and everything in between.

So I went there and bought stuff. Even if you're not buying stuff people go to play DS outside and get special promotional things for their games from there. It's really a Pokemon Fan Haven.

What I appreciate the most here, and this goes for Japan to, is that Pokemon and video games are not just kid things here. In the US if you're older than 20 and still like Pokemon you're a loser or some other things I don't want to mention here. In Japan you're just a person who likes Pokemon. There were people from 10 to 40 playing DS outside, and the same inside. I'm sure some of the older people were buying things for kids but some of them were definitely not. I love that about Japan. It's probably the single best thing about Japan to me; anime, video games, and Pokemon are not just teen things here. I really wish America would adopt this instead of being inconsiderate assholes about it. I mean, I never let it bother me, I wear tie dyed dragon shirts and freely express my liking of video games, cute things, and colors, because that's what I like and that's who I am. Oh well, no point in trying to change anything, people are to into trying to fit in in America and certain fashions here, it's too bad.

Well, now it's time to get ready for bed, perhaps by watching some Supernatural to ensure the best dreams >_< *end Sarcasm* But really, sometimes the dreams are nothing short of fucked up from Science Fiction shows right before bed. Gotta keep it interesting. So my new album has a handful of things, from my 4:30 AM stroll to the temple, to Hamamatsucho and then some of the Pokemon Center. Sorry I couldn't get more, I wasn't sure if cameras were allowed but I wasn't going to get it confiscated. Album :
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2081114&id=3708410&l=4c924c1df4

おやすみなさい~ / Good night ~

Saturday, June 06, 2009

行った小さい旅行 ・ A small trip I took

Today it rained in the morning, but the afternoon took me by surprise by not raining. Because I didn't have anything better to do at the moment, I decided to take a walk and see where I would end up. I wanted to see the river / whatever you call a body of water that comes from an ocean. Perhaps a bay? I don't know, it's not round, it's very river-like, haha, so make of it what you will. Anyway. I ended up there today and walked to a station and caught a train back to my own station. It was fun and along the way I saw some interesting things.

First were the cats. Japan has a lot of cats if you look for them. I have a new appreciation for cats and I think that they have a deeper purpose in life. For example, there is this black cat near our building that I see a lot and I've seen it near the temple out back, and I feel that it is connected to the temple in a way that only it knows. Perhaps I'm just making things deeper than they are, but making up things like that can make the world seem so much more interesting, haha.

Back to the cats I saw today. The first was a wild cat perhaps, and there was a guy trying to feed it something, and the cat was semi-interested and came up from the bank that it was on. Then an older guy with a bag of what looked to be cat food came up and gave the cat some, and the cat came right over. Perhaps it was his cat, perhaps not. The second cat was awesome, there was this lady walking down the street with the cat kind of perched on her shoulder. Having never seen anything like this in public, I was entertained. Pictures of both, along with the boatyard and my journey, are in my album marked with the 74th / 75th day in it.

As for the 73rd day, I went on a field trip to a History Museum and to the Imperial Palace. Well, to the Imperial Palace, but didn't walk around the outside. The teacher gave us the option to leave if we wanted, and I did, but only because I went by myself a couple weeks ago. On the trip though I got some neat pictures of the history museum, not so blurry like the first history museum we went to. At this one they had a second floor of older era Tokyo toys, but the camera rules were unclear there so I didn't get pictures, but the downstairs exhibits I did. I also got a really great (not to mention super creepy) picture of elderly Japanese ladies. I don't know why, but it's an amusing picture to me, because I was just walking by and snapped a shot of some older ladies >_<

Well, here are the albums. For those of you with Facebook Accounts with access to all my albums, the Day 73 you're looking for is the one with "Re-Upped" in it's title, Facebook somehow lost my other album and is going under maintenance on it... for the last 3 days. So I just reuploaded it, no harm done. It might come back at some point, but it wasn't that hard just to put them all up again, haha.

Day 73 - History Museum, etc : http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2081048&id=3708410&l=1518ea8cad
Day 74 - 75 : Little Trip to Myoden : http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2081045&id=3708410&l=7eb3017881

Enjoy! ^_^ PS. It's okay if you don't get to them for a bit, I realize that I dumped the Okinawa ones on you all at once, haha. 1,350 pictures probably takes a while, haha.

Wednesday, June 03, 2009

Ghibli Museum : 私のおすすめ!

Title means, "My recommendation", because this place is awesome. I'm a very large fan of Miyazaki's films and I think that maybe in terms of role models or people I look up to, he might be the top. I just now realized this though, but his goal in life with his animated films fits in very well with my outlook in life. He creates films that are not only for children, but for people of all ages, and no matter the age, wants to make them feel like children in a way. His films are spectacular, and Spirited Away is a movie of animated film records.

"The film received many awards, including the second Oscar ever awarded for Best Animated Feature, the first anime film to win an Academy Award, the first (and so far only) non-English speaking animation to win, and the only winner of that award to be traditionally animated or win among five nominees (in every other year there were three nominees). The film also won the Golden Bear at the 2002 Berlin International Film Festival (tied with Bloody Sunday). Spirited Away overtook Titanic in the Japanese box office to become the highest-grossing film in Japanese history."

Anyway, the Ghibli Museum was great. So great that if someone asked if I wanted to go again the answer would be an emphatic yes. The ticket's were only 1,000 Yen, and you have to buy them a few weeks in advance, and specify what time you are coming. They do a great job in keeping it not too croweded, as Studio Ghibli fans around the world come here. There were so many people of different ethnicicities all having a great time, and despite the very childish themes, 90%+ of the people were 20+. It's just such a great place.

Now, if you're interested or if I may share my emotions with you, visit the following:

Studio Ghibli Homepage (English)

Video of inside the Museum (With Subtitles)

My Photo Album! (With me!) : http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2080891&id=3708410&l=1dfd46d933

So, I'm not really sure why, and I'm not necessarily saying it's a bad thing, but when I watch Miyazaki's films and even think about the Museum or watch that video, I start to tear up, haha. Every time I watch My Neighbor Totoro (which is soooo cute), I end up crying a little from how much I like it, haha. Same goes with a lot of really cute things. I think they just get through to me in a way that I really can't explain, so this museum, everything in it, really was just such a great experience.

If you're ever in Japan / Tokyo area, take a train to Mitaka 三鷹 and go here. Well, first buy a ticket in advance, haha. But do it. You won't regret it. And if you do regret it, you should probably stop reading this blog because I'm really not sure I can be friends with people who don't like Miyazaki or Studio Ghibli. And I might not even be joking. =P Really though.

Enjoy the album and video!


Tuesday, June 02, 2009

Okinawa Video Clips!

You should go here to check them out! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CUAV6zs_IBA


Monday, June 01, 2009

Okinawa Up!

Alright everyone. Here's more pictures than you could ever hope for :

Okinawa Set #1 :
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2080585&id=3708410&l=519e8ab838
Okinawa Set #2 : http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2080587&id=3708410&l=531ea4aae4
Okinawa Set #3 : http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2080594&id=3708410&l=71eee54155
Okinawa Set #4 : http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2080691&id=3708410&l=342d79b049
Okinawa Set #5 : http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2080694&id=3708410&l=24df5fa641
Okinawa Set #6 : http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2080697&id=3708410&l=946dc273de
Okinawa Set #7 : http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2080700&id=3708410&l=aa2dbd4061

As I mentioned before, I took a dozen or so short videos / clips, I'll be upping them, maybe in a compilation video or something tomorrow. Whenever I get around to it =P

Not like you'll get through 1,343 pictures in any reasonable amount of time anyway.

Enjoy!