21 posts tagged “japan”
Did some karaoke with Yuriko and her dad today, hahahaha. He sang some enka.
I sang the following:
Rick Astley - Never Gonna Give You Up (put it on "secret reservation" for rickrolling the karaoke place)
Oceanlane - Walk Along
the Kaiser Chiefs - Ruby
t.Rex - 20th Century Boy
Orange Range - Ikenai Taiyou
the pillows - Hybrid Rainbow
the pillows - Scarecrow
the pillows - NAKED SHUFFLE
the Predators - Lizard Man
Kyu Sakamoto - Sukiyaki
Monty Python SPAMALOT - Always Look on the Bright Side of Life
... lol
There was a festival in Mitaka tonight, so they closed the street down. Yuriko and I went to the Shiseido make up store and she got me some press powder and some peach flavored lip balm.
I have pictures but I'm too lazy to post them because my computer is being slow.
MATSURI PUPPIES IN MITAKA!!!
Last night, I went to some little bar in Musashi-Koganei with my host mom and a few of her friends. For a while, we were the only people in the place. There was a matsuri (festival/parade) in the area the same night, and my host mother wanted to show me a matsuri because I wouldn't be able to see the massive one in Aomori later this August.
The streets were crowded. The parade was huge, with tons of dancing and shamisen and taiko and flutes and kids running around in yukata holding bags of kingyo they caught from the games. So cool! I wish my camera's battery hadn't have died during it. It made me want to take up playing taiko. I think I'm going to do it.
When the parade was over, we headed back to the bar where it was pretty much filled up. There was a karaoke machine, so we could sing in front of people we didn't even know. A drunk salaryman serenaded me with an enka song (lol I don't think he knew I was not Japanese) but he had a good voice and kept blowing kisses at my host mom and her friends. Later, I sang Ladybird Girl by the pillows. :)
Today I'm going to see Yuriko. We're gonna do karaoke and eat yaki-nikku.
Finished up finals.
Last night was the farewell party for everyone in the class. Maybe it will be the last time I will see most of these people, I don't know, but I hope it isn't the last time.
My previous host dad showed up (the ones with the adorable kitten that wanted to kill me) and my current host family. My host sister Izumi was going on a class trip, so I won't get to see her right before I leave. She left me a very cute note which I read during breakfast yesterday morning and I started tearing up. I LOVE YOU IZUMI!!!!!! We went to an Italian restaurant the other night and the owner of the restaurant was talking to me, I told him the pizza was good (it was!). He looked like a bald, Japanese Mario. I also told him my last name and he was like "I know Italian!" and they sang happy birthday to someone in Italian (so funny, in Japan).
After the party I met this cool guy that liked the pillows and went to his apartment and we listened to music for a few hours. He was really nice.
I need curry.
Went to Chiba Prefecture today by car with my host family to visit my host dad's parents. While most people think that all of Japan is city-like Tokyo, Chiba is only two hours away from Tokyo and it's basically nowheresville, with farms and stuff. His parents have a nice yard, a garden, chickens, and a huge house.
We basically ate the whole time, then everyone took a nap (typical of even my grandparent's house when I visit hahahaha). Izumi played the violin and we watched some sumo and went for a walk.
Here's Izumi playing violin!
Guys, I just got back from a 100 yen store, where I heard the pillows play on the radio.
I spazzed of course.
It was the third eye.
This was the first time I've heard the pillows on the radio, anywhere. I'm so happy and I almost cried.
Here's the video for it:
Akihabara was the most overwhelmingly super place ever. A bunch of us Waseda students and some Japanese students went to the neighborhood and it wasn't what I expected. We found so many things there; from weird, to silly, to cute, to perverted. We had a blast running around the many-floored arcades, taking pictures of maids and played DDR in Tokyo (that was sweet). You could literally find just about anything there. I got 2000 yen in change and got way too many gachapon to give as gifts back home. Some of the stuff there was so ridiculous, and we found ourselves enthralled by the amount of awesome packed into a tiny area. While Akihabara was an electronic shopping district, I didn't do much shopping. Rather I just window shopped and took pictures of stuff I liked. I did get the Gachapon and a Gundam Emblem DS game for Seamus though (it came with a collectors book at a certain store).
When we got back, my roommate and I dressed up and took a taxi to Waseda University for the welcome party. We met up with all the students again, ate cute little desserts, and then Patrick, Mellanie and I got lost in Takadonobaba and wandered around until we ran into Takeshi who noticed how lost we were and got us going in the right direction. Takeshi is a huge Japanese indie fan so we talked about tons of music together. He's not from Tokyo, but Fukuoka, and is studying Tokyo like we are.
Tomorrow is going to be a long day; we have our first classes and we are going to meet our host families. I got my profile, and my family looks really cute. It's a small family of a mom and dad and a 12-year-old daughter, they like to play table tennis and have a cat. They live in Ikebukuro which is one stop away from Takadanobaba where Waseda is.
Today we went to Waseda University to take a tour of my new school; the campus is gorgeous, and everything is right there. The students in my class are awesome. I think that Harvard kids are totally my type of people because they're not only down to earth but also very inquisitive and curious about everything but at the same time can approach things in a respectful and mature matter (except when it counts to be silly).
In like 10 minutes we're going to Akihabara to check out some cheap electronics and lunch.
Where to start, where to start...
Well I'm at the hotel for
Waseda University Students finally. Two days ago, I went to Aomori
(North Japan). We took a long train ride to the very tip of Japan's
main island. It's very rural there, and they never see any foreigners.
The forest of Aomori was gorgeous despite the heavy rain. I have so
many pictures here.
Yuriko's grandmother passed away exactly a year ago, so we visited a temple and her grave. I took pictures at both places but I felt weird taking them. Later that night, we flew back to Tokyo and took a train to Takadanobaba (where Waseda University is) and got back late. My roommate in the hotel is really cool and has a LJ. We talked for like hours last night about Japan and then passed out.
This morning, we woke up and took a train to Shibuya and randomly wandered around until we got lost in the red light district and ran back to the train (it was weird because there was old people and kids in the district running around). I took so many pictures in Shibuya.
My roommate and I went to a pizza restaurant near our hotel and to a record store where I picked up the pillows New Animal, Electric Rays, and Shiina Ringo's Kuki Zamen Kuri no Hana, but then when we came back, a group of Harvard students were there and we went to Akasaka for a festival (lots of walking!). We also went to Harajuku shortly. Japan is really fun. I'll put some pictures here, but since I took 300+ pictures in the last four days, check my flickr account (or look at the pictures here on Vox!) for all of them! I'll post some soon but I'm really tired from all the walking now and I have orientation tomorrow and we might go to Akihabara.
