School, Class, and Homework

Today I went to school a bit earlier and worked on school stuff. Had class like usual and headed home. On the way home I just thought about how cool it was that I live in Japan and how much I like this country. The area I live in has many famous places and I often find myself in a train filled with school kids on a field trip to see the area where I live.

Art Museum, Kamata, and Home Agian

Wensday was a school holiday so it started with sleeping and studying. I had off from Art History last Wensday and we took a field trip to the BridgeStone Art Museum near Tokyo Station. While I like Yokohama tires better it was a pretty cool Museum. Of course you can't take pictures inside the Museum so here is a link. http://www.bridgestone-museum.gr.jp/en/

The picture is looking out from the front of the Museum.

After the Museum I headed home for a sec and headed over to Kamata to meet up with Miho. We went grocery shopping and since she's says she isn't a good cook I made a Pasta dish with chicken. It was good. After that I showed her my videos that I had made on my trips to Japan and then headed home. The picture here is of some art in front to Kamata station. The two pictures below are a series of gates near my house that lead down the steps and the Staiton that I use everyday to get to school.

90's movies, Classes, and High Tech Toilets

Yesterday I started downloading a series of 90's action movies featuring Jean Claud Van Damme. Similar to Taco Bell it seemed like a good idea at the time but after you realize that it might not have been worth it. Tuesdays and Thursdays school starts at 2:00 for me so I have plenty of time in the morning. So before I went to school today I watched "Universal Soldier" It's not that good.

To follow up that disappointing event I went to Intellectual Heritage where the teacher assigned enough homework to take up our whole day off which is tomorrow. After that class I was copying some pages from the text book that I was borrowing from my friend and was going to return it to him before I had my next class but couldn't find him in time.

After Race studies let out I called my friend Charles and he had already returned home so I wound up meeting him at a station near where he lives and didn't get home till around 8:30. Enjoyed a tasty dinner followed by Green Tea flavored Ice Cream Popsicle which was followed with chocolate cake.

I took a picture of the toilet here because it's pretty complex and I think driving a car may be more simple then fully understanding all the functions on this toilet. I tried the Butt Washer on it and didn't realize that I need to hit the other button to stop the water spray so it sprayed my butt longer then I would have liked but I guess it works pretty well.

Tests, School, and Videos?

Got up early today for my 8:30 Japanese class which started with a test. I studied Kanji last night before I went to bed and this morning on the train and with the help of God I was able to remember all of the ones I needed for the test!

Kanji isn't my strong point for a number of reasons. Many Kanji have more then one way to read them depending on the word or if they are combined with another character. The Japanese use about 2000 Kanji on a regular basis. Kanji was imported from China so many Chinese speakers can understand some Japanese without knowing the reading. Sometimes the meanings between Japanese and Chinese differ. The Kanji for a "letter" like I wrote a letter, means "toilet paper" in Chinese. Some Japanese will see another person's name written in Kanji and have to ask the person how their name is said, there are also shows on TV where difficult Kanji are displayed and people have to say what they are to continue to the next round.

The picture is of the Main Temple building, they have that cool Metal thing out front with a big "T" on it. Today after class I was in the cafeteria with some friends and and camera crew came in. They started filming and Interviewing students, one of them being me. They were making a DVD or possibly videos for the website to let US students know more about the school. Hopefully you'll be able to see me soon in a school promo video!

After that I headed home, studied and watched TV. There is a show called "Hey Hey Hey" It's a talk show and the one tonight focused on musical artists. They have 2 hosts that are pretty funny who run the show and banter off of each other. Aiko, who is a singer that has been around for a while was on and she has improved since I first heard her in 2001 but still can't hit all the notes. Next was another Singer, Koda Kumi. She is Half Japanese and Half black and currently a Junior in College. It was interesting because she was saying how she would ride the train to school just like anyone else and occasionally people would come up to her and quietly ask if she was Koda Kumi. Tonight they also had Ne-Yo the R&B artist from the US on with a translator and kept calling him Neo. It was pretty funny. Apparently he had been to Japan 3 times before, maybe for other shows. They asked him if he liked Japanese girls and he said yes, then they asked him if there was anyone in the audience that he liked and he said all of them. It was pretty funny.

Hair Cut Laundry and Study...

Today I got up and headed to Shinjuku to the Barber Shop that I frequented when I lived here in 05'. Got my hair cut and as usual they cut it a little to short but it's ok cause no matter the cut as long as I have gel I can make my hair look good. Before I headed back I couldn't resist a quick stop at the local Yoshinoya where I enjoyed a nice cheap bowl of Gyuudon, a Bowl of Rice with Beef and Onion on top. After that I headed back and studied for tomorrow's Japanese test and did some laundry.

I had another great dinner, had a chat with my host dad while we enjoyed Ice Cream for desert. After that I headed out to get some photos for this blog. Tokyo is one of those cities that looks best at night.

The top picture is of the Nomadic Museum near where I live. It's a really cool building and the walls are made of old shipping crates. You can see the reflection of the Ferris wheel in the first picture and the second picture is looking at the Museum from the back with a direct view of the Ferris Wheel and Tokyo Teleport Bridge.

The picture to the right is a area on the way to the Ferris Wheel that has colorful sculptures to look at, sit on, and walk through. The last picture is of Rainbow Bridge.

Beach and Pirates

Saturday I spent the afternoon relaxing at the beach. On the weekends they set up volleyball nets. There were about 4 or 5 nets set up with people playing. Out in the water were about 4 or 5 windsurfers although I don't know how much fun they could have been having. There usually aren't too many waves so they just kinda seem like they are hanging out on their boards.

One of the things about Odaiba is that it seems like every other person has a dog. The dogs in Japan are typically very small portable dogs.

Headed back home around 5:00 and hung out till about 7:00. We all headed out to a restaurant. After a really big meal we headed to the movie theater. Tonight there were a lot of boats in the harbor. They are mainly used for company outings and I guess there were a lot tonight.

At the theater were more examples of Japan cool stuff. Most of the theaters in Japan have assigned seating and you are able to buy beer along with your popcorn. Ticket cost ranges from $10-$18 so it can be pretty steep. The theater had a couple very cool light displays that moved around and the stairs were also lit in a way you can only find in Japan. The movie we saw was Pirates 3 which was in English with a Japanese subtitle, while subtitled films usually don't do well in theaters in the US, they are almost constantly in theaters here. One thing that you'll notice if you see a movie in Japan is that after the movie is over many people will sit and watch the credits and the lights don't go back on till a while after the credits start rolling.

Japanese class in the morning and Movie at Night

I think the rainy season is starting. Today it rained all day and it is supposed to rain tomarrow as well. Headed to class this morning and after studied and worked on homework with one of my friends till about 2:00. Around noon we hit the 7-11 for Bento and then back to school.

With the rain fall and the amount of people in the trains in Japan the windows always fog up and it can get very muggy in the train, good think I only am on a train for 12 minutes.

After I finished studying I headed back home and walked around Odaiba a bit so I could get some pictures for you guys. You can see the Statue of Liberty in the picture above another gift from France. I guess France just mass produces these things and gives they out to any country they feel like.

In the shopping plaza near where I live there is a chain store called Condomania. The image in the front says "Wrap it up" across the bottom. This is just plain funny.

The bottom picture is the dinner I had tonight. My host mom makes a awesome dinner everyday and it's always good.

After dinner we all watched a movie I wrote this, talked with Mom and went to bed.

Day off from school but not the Midtown girl

Today was one of the many holidays we have this semester and I spent it working on homework and working ahead a bit. Tomorrow I have Japanese class only cause Art History is canceled but we have a trip to a Museum on Wednesday which is another school holiday.

This is another great example of how the Japanese use English. "Eating food makes you beautiful! "Beauty" "Good Health" "Beautiful Shape" etc... Depending on what you wish, choose the special dish from the menu, which has the specialty for different purposes.

For dinner today my host mom made Gyoza, another dumpling that reminds me of dim sum, soup, and some vegetables. As usual it was fantastic.

I met up with the girl from Midtown, Miho at 8:00. We met up at the station and headed to the beach. She had a bag that had some Maccha flavored cookies and other snacks that she said she "wanted to eat with me". Maccha is a green tea flavor. So we walked along the beach, looked at the statue of liberty and headed to the Giant Ferris Wheel. It's funny cause on the Ferris Wheel they have signs saying that you are entering the "Shinmitsu Zone" Shinmitsu means intimate, familiar, or friendly. There were signs in the Ferris wheel measuring distances between where people would sit. I wasn't really focused on translating it but I know a couple of them said Shinmitsu Zone as well. Pretty funny stuff. The Ferris wheel takes about 16 minutes to go all the way around. It's huge. During the ride Miho brought out some Maccha flavored cookies for us to enjoy.

After that ride we headed to the nearby game center where we played Taiko Drum Master, and a Game where you throw balls at targets on the screen, which is always fun. From there we headed to the "Purikura" which is a super crazy photo booth. The booths are sometimes large enough for 5 people. There is usually a section in every arcade that is just these booths. Some arcades have signs posted telling people that if you are a guy without a girl or you can't go to the Purikura floor because guys would go there just to try and pick up girls.

After you put the cash you can select different setting or backgrounds on a touch screen in the booth and it will go through a series of about 10 pictures or so. After the pictures are taken you select 4 or 6 of your favorite of the ones taken.

From there you go outside the booth to another part of the booth where you can edit the picture. The other booth is smaller but features two screens with pens where you can add different graphics, Draw lines of hearts and write stuff.

After that we headed back to the beach were we talked on a bench for a while before I walked her back to the station and headed home.

Meeting the girl from Tokyo Midtown.

This morning I woke up from the sunlight spilling into my room and looked misread my analog clock in my room to say 7:30. I thought I was late for school and quickly got dressed and combed my hair. Then I looked at the clock in the living room and realized that it was only 5:45. When I realized this I went back to sleep and woke again at 7:00, ate breakfast, and headed to school.

I had Japanese and Art History classes but before I headed back home I stopped at the 7-11 to pick up a Melon Pan, which is one of my favorite Japanese treats. Once I got home I finished watching "Children of Men" which was a pretty good movie but a bit different from what I had expected.

The picture is from outside Shinagawa station. They have big stone hearts on pillars on both sides of that street. There is a ton of public art in Tokyo so I think there is always something cool to look at. Also in that picture the Orange store front is one of my favorite Japanese food chains called Yoshinoya. They are famous for their Gyuudon which is basically a rice bowl with beef on top. It's super good and super cheap!

Shinagawa station is a pretty large station and it seems like it's almost as busy as Shinjuku station. When I got to Shinagawa I realized that I had been there before in 2005 when I visited the Mitsubishi Showroom.

Anyhow, I met up with the girl from Tokyo Midtown at 6:00 and we walked around the area looking at different restaurants. We wound up going to a Thai restaurant where I ordered Pad Thai, and she ordered Thai fried rice, a salad, and a appetizer. She's not a big girl at all but she sure could eat a lot. From there we headed to Starbucks and talked for a while. She works as a "receptionist" kinda? At Tokyo midtown standing around all day, smiling, and handing out maps and telling people where places are. She recently has been working PR stuff for Toyota and Lexus explaining about the cars at different events. Like me she also sold Toyotas in the past. From there we headed back to the station where there was a girl that had set up with a amp singing to audio tracks that she made. We watched that for a bit and headed home from there. Tomorrow is my day off and her's as well so we made plans to meet up tomorrow night in Odaiba where I live.

Meeting up with the teacher and school

Today I met up with the teacher for lunch. We went to a Omuraisu place in Shinjuku called Rakeru. The inside of the restaurant is decorated with a Alice in Wonderland theme and there are many interesting things hung on the walls. When I asked about her plans for her days off she said that she is going shopping today and hanging out with her boyfriend tomorrow. She mentioned a co-worker that she wants me to meet next time they have a party. I guess it's cool for now, so I'm just keepin' it on the friend level.

After lunch we headed to Club Sega where I kicked her butt in a 1on1 shooting game and almost beat the game! I guess it's cause I'm American and all Americans have guns. Then we played Typing of the Dead which she kicked my butt in and finished the arcade with Taiko Drum Master 9 where I won the first song but she won the second song.

From there we went out separate ways with me going to school and her going shopping. My first class was Intellectual Heritage which has become a lot better then the previous classes and I'm starting to look at the clock less. The class still has the most homework out of any of my classes. Then I had Race Studies which is always good.

I picked up the movie "Children of Men" from the library and I'm in the process of watching it. My host mom made a great dinner like always and we had Watermelon for desert.

I got a call from the girl that my Japanese teacher from the US introduced me to at Tokyo Midtown and she seemed very happy but a bit nervous to talk with me on the phone. She asked me if I remember what she looks like and told me that she wants to hear about me and my school. After she apologized for her English and reminded me to meet her tomorrow.

another day in Japan

Woke up early today for Japanese class which starts at 8:30. This is probably one of my favorite classes because I am able to see how it helps me instantly, unlike Intellectual Heritage which serves no purpose other then to make money for colleges around the world.

After that I had Art History where we talked about Egyptian Art which is something I have always been interested in. I'm one of the only western students in the class so the teacher seems to relate to me. One thing I noticed about school in Japan is that the Japanese students don't really seem to participate in class and usually sit there with blank stares waiting for class to end or just sleep through it.

I got a E-mail from the teacher saying that she had the next 3 days off, so I asked her what she was doing with those 3 days and she said that she didn't really have any special plans. I told her we should meet tomorrow for lunch and we are meeting up in Shinjuku at 11:30 where we will go to a good Omuraisu place I know of.

Omuraisu is a omelet typically filled with rice, ketchup, and some type of meat. It's usually served with a gravy over the top of it and there are many variations of it. It's good.

I didn't really take any pictures today but I will try and take some tomorrow to keep this interesting for you guys.

Boat Race

This morning I woke up to the sound of Taiko drums. I looked out my window and saw many more people on the beach then I usually see.

After breakfast I ventured out to the beach where they were doing Dragon Boat Races. This is a very cool thing to watch. They have somewhere around 20 people on the boat paddling it while one person at the head of the boat plays a Taiko drum to keep everyone rowing in time. Some of the boats seemed incredibly fast and I think there were a couple different teams. I set up in a chair on the beach and read over some papers for school. They had an announcer that kept people informed of the events that were taking place in the race. I wasn't listening intently cause I was reading over school stuff but one of the teams was called the Yokohama Darth Vaders and another name I head often was the Tokyo Dragons. I thought the Darth Vader name pretty good.

After that I headed back home. This picture below is of the living room / dining room. We had sushi today and it was sweet!

Karaoke and Wedding Party

Today I went to Daimon and did Karaoke with two friends. Karaoke in Japan is a blast because you get your own private room for just you and your friends. They have phones in the room so you can order drinks or food and they bring it to you while you sing. Some of the Karaoke places have really unusual themes too. One of the places called the Karaoke Zone always has some kind of giant cyborg skeleton on the front of the building and the halls are like caves, Other places are pretty normal but have different designs on the wall in the the Karaoke room or crazy lights. The place we went to today is called "Big Echo" and they had a great example of how the Japanese use English without it needing to make any sense. In the picture it says "A lot, a song should eat a delicious dish and should dance it all together." If anyone can tell me what this means, please let me know.

After that I headed home and hung out till about 6:30. From there I left to Shinjuku and went to the Park Hyatt in which is where they filmed much of "Lost in Translation". One of my former students got married and I was able to go to his wedding party. It was held on the 39th floor of the building and offered a great view of Tokyo. They had a table of different ordure's and waiters were serving drinks all night. When I first got there Nishida, my student and his wife were greeting everyone in Traditional Japanese clothes which was really cool. From there they changed to the traditional Western style wedding clothes and joined everyone for the reception.

One of the guys I met there is a CEO of his music production company and he played a couple songs on the Piano.

Another person I met is Nishida's current English teacher. He also wrote a script for a short film that they are currently producing for a film festival.

It was great cause I was able to meet my previous student, and meet many interesting people.

Honda show room in Aoyama

Today was a holiday so I had the day to do whatever I wanted to. The day started with a trip to the Honda show room in Aoyama. They have a couple different models parked outside the showroom and more inside along with their bikes and a Asimo demo.
Inside they had the Civic Type R which was pretty cool to see. It's 225hp and had a very cool interior. Outside they had the Honda Stream. That is a pretty cool wagon with a aggressive front on it.

That picture below is of a clock I pass everyday when I change stations.

















After that one of the previous students that stayed with the host family that I'm staying with came over for dinner. From there we went to one of the large Game Centers that is open 24 hours. They have a really cool game by Sega; It's a gun game with a foot peddle that allows you to run your character back and forth through the level.

School and Sake tasting

Today I had Intellectual Heritage which is pretty much philosophy all over again, so it sucks and Race Studies which is always interesting. From there I went to a club in Roppongi with a couple girls for a school event.



It was a Sake Tasting at a club called Super Deluxe. It was through the school and they had some traditional cultural stuff. When I got there there were some ladies rockin' out on the Koto and later some guy tore it up on the Shamisen which is the traditional 3 string Japanese guitar. Apparently he was pretty good cause he ranked as second in the nation and had been playing since he was 9.



After that there was a group of girls from school that did some dance, which was pretty cool. That was followed by a talk from John Gauntner who is one of the world's leading experts on Sake. He gave a speech all about Sake from how it's made to how it should be drank. It was pretty interesting. After his speech they had about 7 different kinds of Sake that were available for sample. Since I knew the girls that were working the table I was able to sample those 7 different kinds about 7 times.

After that a couple hit hop artists came and did their thing which was pretty fun. We all talked about going to a club after and headed out around 11:00. From there we went to some club called "Flower" and were able to get in free cause of the people we know. There really wasn't much going on, I guess since it was a Thursday so I headed home after that and caught the second last train home.

Second Day of school

Had my second day of classes today.

My first class was Mircoeconomics which sucked. That class was followed by Art History. The teacher for Art History is a goofy British guy. The teacher is pretty cool though, while I walked back to the main building he caught up with me and we talked a bit.

After that class I found out that Microecon is not a required class I dropped it and replaced it with Japanese 2001. I also dropped Oral Intensive Japanese which is ok cause it was a little below my level anyhow.

Tonight for Dinner we had Sashimi which was great and I studied for tomorrows classes.

First day of school

Tuesdays and Thursdays I have 3 classes which keeps me at school from 11:00-7:00. Each class is about 2 hours long with 5 minute breaks after the first hour.

My first class is Oral Intensive Japanese which as the name implies focuses on Speaking. I'm actually at a higher level then the class but because of the way my schedule is set up I can't take the higher level class. The classes are all 2 hours to help make up for the shorter semester.

After that class I have about a hour between classes that I use to grab some food, and hang out in either the Cafeteria or the lounge which has a Guitar and Nintendo 64 to play with.

My next class is Intellectual Heritage which is pretty lame. It's basically philosophy class all over again. Big waste of time. The class consists of reading and summarizing. On the plus side there is a cute girl in the class who is kinda into me. Most of the reading is small passages from various books so they have copies in the library that we can copy which is great cause we don't need to buy text books.

After that class I have about 15 minutes before Race studies starts. This class is also a good amount of reading and summarizing but it seems like it is actually interesting, plus the teacher is pretty cool while for Intellectual Heritage the teacher is just kinda goofy. Race studies unfortunately doesn't have any hotties in the class but It seems interesting enough that I should be ok.

Roppongi Hills

My Japanese teacher from the US and two of her students and my classmates came to Japan this week. Today was my last day off before school starts. I met up with my teacher, and the two students in Shinjuku and we went to Roppongi and met up with another student there.

From there we went to Roppongi Hills which is a Amazing building that has just about everything. The complex has apartments, shops, restaurants, offices space, and a bunch of other stuff with the concept being a almost self contained world. The whole structure is on rollers so in the event of a earthquake it can roll side to side 3 or 4 feet! It's pretty cool. Roppongi Hills is one of many developments made by Mr. Mori. He is a super rich guy that has built many famous places throughout Japan.

We went to a Tonkatsu restaurant and walked around the grounds from there. There is a interesting but kinda creepy spider statue there and at night is lite up and looks even crazier but it's one of those things that you only see in Japan.

Not far from Roppongi hills is a newer place that is probably in direct competition with Roppongi Hills called Tokyo Midtown. This is another building that is amazing but not as cool to look at.

When we first came in the building we went to the reception desk to get some information about the building and where we should go. My teacher was talking to the girl that was helping us and thought that the girl was nice and asked if she was single. The girl said that she was single and my teacher recommended me. The girl seemed pretty happy about the whole thing and I wound up giving her my number and E-mail.

From there we walked around and found that SoftBank was running a promotion at one end of the building. SoftBank is a newer cell phone company that bought Vodaphone who bought J phone. From what I've heard they have a lot of hidden fees and aren't that great. Right now Cameron Diaz is doing their adds and her face was all over Tokyo Midtown. I think part of that is because Yahoo! Japan has their offices there and they are linked up with SoftBank.

No one markets products quite like the Japanese do. To help promote the Yahoo! SoftBank merger they had huge adds everywhere and used a entire section of the building just for promotion. They had a phone hooked up to a big screen and PA system playing music. The girls working the place were all wearing silver miniskirts and giving out bags with info about the phones in them. There was also a American Baseball player there posing for pictures and they had a slot machine that you could play to win cups, key chains, and some other stuff.

Tokyo midtown is mostly just a shopping mall with a museum in it. I guess in Japan anytime you build a mall you need to include a museum of some type. The building like most Japanese buildings had a lot of cool visual stuff. They had a set of strings arranged in a circle hanging from the third floor and connecting to a pool at the bottom of the first floor. It was a really cool thing because they had water cascading down the strings into the lighted pool below.

You can kinda see the strings with the water in the picture above.

From there we went back to Shinjuku. My teacher and the two students had a room that they won at the Park Hyatt which is the same Hotel that Bill Murry stayed at in "Lost in Translation" It was really cool and the room was really nice. This was just kinda the hang out room. The bedroom had a very large TV and there was another TV in the bathroom. The room itself was on the 40 something floor and had a great view.

After that I headed back home for dinner. My host mom always makes great food and her son who lives in the same building but 3 floors up joined us for dinner. He is a pretty cool guy and he backpacked across the US when he was younger.

When dinner was over I was surprised to find that I had received a E-mail from the girl from Tokyo Midtown. We had a little small talk and she sent me a picture of her and her friends at work. So I guess we are planning on meeting up sometime next week.

Shopping

Today I went to the store and exchanged the camera for a different one. The first one I bought was a Olympus that used special olympus cards which I don't want to buy so I exchanged it for a Nikon that uses SD cards. After that I got a cell phone from AU because they have a student discount. While the phone isn't that cool looking, it does everything I need it to and it's still cooler then most of the phones in the US.
After that I met up with one of my teachers from KCP language school. I had a crush on here back when I was at KCP and I guess I still kinda do. We met up at the Tokyo Teleport which is a station near where I live and went to Starbucks. There we had some coffee and talked about whatever.
After that we went to the pet store which consists mostly of very small dogs and cats, some birds, and a Monkey. There are some other pets too but those are the only ones that anyone cares about.
After that we went to the store right next to the pet store which is like a Japanese Spencers. They have all kinds of interesting junk there that you don't need at all but want, for example a stuffed Mario Hat which cannot be worn but used as a pillow.
From there we headed to the arcade where she kicked my butt in Taiko drum Master, and Basketball. We played a game together where targets show up on a screen and you throw balls at the screen to hit the targets. That game was a lot of fun! From there we played a racing game where I finally won.
Next we went to the beach area and walked along the boardwalk next to the beach. She really seemed to enjoy it and took many pictures. The weather was perfect and there was a cool breeze blowing. We walked along the beach till we came to the Japanese Statue of Liberty which is about 1/4th the size of the US one but it was also a gift from France. Walked around the area a bit more before we headed to a Tonkatsu restaurant for dinner. The Odaiba area is a pretty popular date spot because of the view of the Ocean, Rainbow bridge, and the city itself. The Tonkatsu restaurant is on the 5th floor and actually has a balcony that we were able to sit on while we ate. It provided a great view of the area and a very cool atmosphere. When it was time to leave she paid for the meal which I didn't expect, but I guess it's ok.

May 12

Today I went on a student guided tour of different places in the Tokyo area. We went to Shibuya, Harajuku, and Akihabara.
Shibuya is the scene from Lost in Translation where it shows the dinosaur walking across the big screen on the front of the building. Also that building is home to the busiest StarBucks in the world, pretty crazy.
After that we went to Akihabara which is the electronics town where a lot of the "Otoku" or dorks go to buy Anime or Computer stuff. We tried to go to a maid cafe for lunch but they were all pretty full and had a long wait. A maid cafe is a cafe where all the staff are girls that dress in maid outfits and speak in super a respectful way as if you were a king, none of us had been so we wanted to try it but just couldn't get in. We wound up going to a pretty cool restaurant near the station that had a very cool atmosphere and good food.
After that we shot over to Harajuku, which is the place that Gwen Stephnie sings about in a couple songs. There is a bridge there that we crossed and there was a group of about 5 or 6 Japanese kids all holding signs that said "Free Hugs". Naturally I asked to barrow one of the signs and received a hug. After crossing the bridge we headed to Meji Shinjuk shrine which is behind Harajuku station and apparently a place where people get married cause I saw 3 brides there.
From there we went to Nakano Meguro where we met up with all the other short term students at a Izakaya which is a cool J-style restaurant which you sit on Cushions on the floor which is typically made of Tatami matts. They served Miso soup, Yaki Soba, Karaage and some appetizers.
After that one of the teachers showed us around the Meguro area and showed us about 3 really cool places there. The first was a sweet little restaurant that was on the 6th floor and had tables like a regular restaurant as well as beds near the window that people can kinda lay down on and eat as well. I guess it's pretty popular and you must call ahead to reserve the beds but the tables you can usually get with just a short wait. Next she showed us a Okinawan style surf bar which was pretty good and what he claimed was the best pizza place in all of Japan which is also reservation only.
After that a couple friends and I went back to Shibuya to a standing bar that had pretty cheap beer and then headed home.

May 11th

Today I went to school to sign up for classes. I had my Japanese level check which I actually did pretty good in, but I still suck at Kanji. Signed up for 5 classes so I'm taking 15 credits this summer. It seems like a lot but all my junk classes will be done and I'll be able to concentrate just on the classes for degrees.
Tonight I went out with my host family for Shabu Shabu which was awesome! With Shabu Shabu you have a pot of water and oil over a burner on the table. They bring out all you can eat meat and vegetables that you put in the pot of water to boil it and eat. After that they bring a ton of Ramen noodles that you put in the water and eat with the water for delicious ramen soup. Then we had green tea ice cream for desert.

May 11th

Today I went to school to sign up for classes. I had my Japanese level check which I actually did pretty good in, but I still suck at Kanji. Signed up for 5 classes so I'm taking 15 credits this summer. It seems like a lot but all my junk classes will be done and I'll be able to concentrate just on the classes for degrees.
Tonight I went out with my host family for Shabu Shabu which was awesome! With Shabu Shabu you have a pot of water and oil over a burner on the table. They bring out all you can eat meat and vegetables that you put in the pot of water to boil it and eat. After that they bring a ton of Ramen noodles that you put in the water and eat with the water for delicious ramen soup. Then we had green tea ice cream for desert.

May 10th

Today I didn't have to go to school so I just kinda hung out at home for part of the day. In the afternoon I went over the the Toyota Showroom. It actually spans 3 different buildings. The first has almost every model that Toyota makes which in Japan is a ton. There are ATM style machines that you can set a appointment to take a test drive in one of the cars and they have a track that goes in and outside of the building where you can drive a electric concept around. The next building is more of a concept building where they have a wall of nothing but different from past and present models. They also have a display of different dash boards and seats. The Third building is the History building, which I think they change the display once a month or so. This month they had 1st to last generation MR-2 and a Racing MR-2 on display. They also had a bunch of older cars including the 2000GT.

The whole thing is attached to a arcade, big Ferris Wheel, and Mall. I wondered around the mall a bit and found a pet store which had one lone Parakeet for about $18 but he seemed a lot less skiddish then the ones in the US pet stores. Right next to the Parakeet were Parrotlets for about $26 which is crazy cheap.

Next to the pet store they had a Japanese version of Spencers. That was pretty interesting, they had lots of stuff that would be cool for a desk at work or just around the house.

May 10th

Since I got here I've had some type of orientation every day. Finally I have a day where I am free to do whatever I want all day. My host family is nice and I showed them my videos from Japan and my music video, they seemed impressed but it may have just been politeness that the Japanese are known for. I'm living in Odaiba and whenever I tell any Japanese that they always say it's a nice place to live and that I'm lucky. The first day here my host family showed me around Odaiba a bit and took me to a awesome sushi restraunt. Today since I have plenty of free time I'm going to explore around the area a bit more. Yesterday I went the the City Hall and Applied for my Alien Registration care and national health care. Since I'm a student it's only $10 a month for health care. Not bad. The picture is a view from my room. We're on the 7th floor and I have a great view of both Tokyo Tower and the Rainbow Bridge.

Day 1 in Japan

After a 3 hour and 13 hour flight I'm back in Japan. I'm staying with a Host Family in Odaiba which is a cool part of Tokyo with a lot of interesting shops. Today they took me to one of the more famous Sushi restaurants in Tokyo. Needless to say it was awesome. They have all you can eat Sushi every day which helps keep the place packed and it has a awesome view of Rainbow Bridge as does the room I'm staying in.