Thanksgiving, A busy week

Believe it or not, Notre Dame does love me every once and a while. I basically spent this amazing weekend all on her tab.
It all started last Friday. Mallory, Marla, Kevin, and I all hopped on our 新幹線 in 名古屋,　東京 bound. We all managed to grab seats right next to each other on the train ride there (and back too, but that's for later) which was a real plus. If you ever ride any form of public transpo in Japan, you'll soon notice the eerie silence that often befalls the train/bus that you are on. No one speaks on these things except for in a whisper. So when 4 Americans board the train, you know that there is bound to be a turning head or two. Special thing about the ride though, out of the left windows we all spied Mt. Fuji! It was amazing! The snow-covered pinnacle rose up and over the clouds to our side many kilometers away like a connection to god. Below the clouds the massive form spread its weight over Japan like an enormous sumo wrestler, its form that of a long and flowing kimono. Truly inspiring! I captured some video.
We arrived tired and full of luggage but that was not the end. We met up with Bill Mora, alumni and main coordinator of this event, in 東京駅 where I discovered that I had left my $80 ticket back at Nagoya! (oops!) and had to sweet-talk the 駅店員 into giving me a new ticket free of charge (not normal really). So that was convenient. I was eternally grateful that I did not have to ask Bill to pay for another ticket for me! whew. After leaving the station he took us on a quick, somewhat awkward, tour of the immediate area with his two kids. The kids were not the awkward part. Taxis, his general countenance, etc. He finally led us to a restaurant in a mall with a giant spider statue outside of it where we had to wait for about 50 minutes before being seated. Mr. Strange decided to peace out on us for about 40 of those minutes while we were waiting and he left us with his daughter (she was like 4 and spoke English and Japanese, very cute). It was an Italian meal, the first non-Japanese meal that I had had in some time.
After eating he lead us outside where Kevin met his host dad and, strangely, departed with him while Marla, Mallory, and I all went to this other guy's house for what we had guessed would be just getting us all situated before I too left to go to my host fam's house. Not so. It ended up being a small welcome party with some pumpkin pie and drinks. My host father turned up (ND alum too) and soon conversation was flowing. Mr. Man got a little tipsy towards the end though and kept telling us the same story about the main man that started up the Japanese language program at ND....again....again....and again. He's an All-American, just-call-me-Jim, ND graduate,worked-at-the-FBI, loves football, beer, and speaking and laughing in the biggest, booming voice as he can conjure up kind of guy that made all of us a little more comfortable and uncomfortable at the same time. Marla, Mallory, and I all felt a little bad for Kevin afterwards....oh well, "Bingo, Bango, Bongo!"
My host fam was all Texas. They were in Japan for a year and neither spoke much Japanese and their son Christopher was a spoiled bum. Either way, it was incredible to wake up the first morning to sounds of football on the internet and someone else speaking English. I felt like I could be home!
That day we (M,M, K, & I) all headed out to do a little sightseeing that turned out to end without accomplishing much really...seriously, time was wasted.
That night though, no time was wasted, at all. We arrived at the Foster's home around 4pm for the main event! Turkey, stuffing, salad, mashed potatoes, gravy, they were all laid out before our eyes! I ate so much I felt tipsy. There was even pumpkin pie to be had! I conversed with the alums and their Japanese wives throughout the evening, was disappointed by one tipsy alum when he tricked me about a possible internship, and sang Christmas carols with Mr. Foster towards the end of the night (turns out he was a Glee Clubber himself. Times were a little different when he was in it and he had quit his senior year because they would not allow him be in club with long hair!)
After the reception M, M, K, a ND kid studying in Tokyo named Jake, and I all headed out to a bar. We stayed there for about an hour...maybe 2, before heading out to a club Gas Panic (yeah....don't go there if you can help it) The night was a success! All's well that ends well and I made it back to my host family's home safe and sound...around 3AM. hehe.
I woke up around 9:20 to the sounds of football and Notre Dame's win--woot!--oddly refreshed. All the ND kids headed out to meet Mr. FBI in his fancy military-only hotel restaurant for breakfast; a buffet the likes that were a sight for Japanese-food-sore eyes: Omlets, hash browns, cereals, orange juice, bacon (pork and turkey), scrambled eggs, grits, you name it. We stopped for a second at a gift shop and then headed out to do some more sightseeing.
The second round of sightseeing was much more productive. We said our goodbyes and then headed out to Tokyo tower. That was soo cool! Most people don't know it but Tokyo Tower is actually taller that the Eiffel Tower. It really does look smaller though. The frame is built of thinner material I think, which gave it a really light, frail feeling. There was also a lobby/building under the center of the tower so it was not able to create the amazing sense of immensity that I experienced when I visited Paris and stood directly beneath the tower. Also the line to ascend the elevator to the top would have taken us about an hour or 2 to wait through...so we left the tower.
Next we headed to possibly the biggest and best Chinatown in the world (I suppose, save except the biggest one...yeah, think about that one). Wonderful foods, mid-day drunks, crowded streets, wonderful food! We ate moon cakes, these deep-fried, sesame seed-covered, red bean paste-filled morsels, some real egg-rolls, something similar to a pot-sticker, pork-filled steam buns, and...well, maybe that was it, but there was a lot of food going around. It was really amazing. There were streets going out left and right from the center road, but our time was limited and that center road was so long that we didn't explore them. I suppose there was where "Made in China" was something that we all looked for in our souvenirs!
After a couple hours there, it was back to the Shinkansen for us; homeward bound. I mentioned that we all we able to sit together on the way back too. Unfortunately the train was so full that we all sat on the floor of the car...for...two...hours...
I'm still tired.

This week will be really busy for me. I just registered for next semester's classes (which went really well thanks to my amazing dart time), I have a presentation in my Culture class on Thursday(on fish), a presentation in my business class on Friday(on Japanese and Chilean business relations), and then a take home test due the same day in the same class (that however should not be too difficult). So yea, busy.

A stack of souvenirs and a desire for shoes and a night out in 金山。

風を吹く

As winter slowly wraps her cold hands around all of Japan, a few points are to be made concerning life here at this time. Of course, random bits of information are also included. First, a little comment about Kyoto's entry: it turns out that the gate at Nanzen that I climbed up and into was one of the most famous gates in all of Japan! Whodda thunk?! That's typical me...and my dad I suppose (Taj Mahal?) Anyway...
It's getting colder...the wind will blow cold air now. The bike rides have become somewhat unpleasant in the morning wind and my fingers start to bite me from being exposed for too long. I am definitely going to invest in a pair of gloves soon! Now, that's all expected and well considering the month of the year we are in now, but consider this unfortunate truth: the Japanese home that I am living in (and many others, from what I have heard) do not have a central heating system...NOR any concept of insulation! I am almost certain that, except for the lack of wind, my room's temperature is nearly the same on one side of the wall as it is on the other. Now, I exaggerate...a little...but it is pretty cold here. I always need to wear long-sleeves or a sweatshirt if I'm not in the living room where they have the heater. Yes, that's true, thank god they have a heater. I'll admit it, Japan has thought of some pretty clever ways to beat the cold indoors: you can buy tables here that include the option of inserting a futon inside it that spreads out around it and over your legs while you sit to eat/study...but the best part is that the table has a built-in heater underneath it to really keep your legs and toes toasty! Second, a step down but still very convenient are the heat mats that you can buy to put under the dinner table. These are basically like heat blankets but spread out on the floor to keep your butt warm---気持ちいい！ There is also this one floor heater that they use...not to mention the thick futons that you can use...there are ways to stay warm, really, but you never forget that winter is just about here.
Now a couple random things. Last tues/mon I watched a Raku-go performance. These are traditional folktales that are told by a single actor while sitting on a zabuton [ざぶとん] or futon-for-sitting and using only a handkerchief, 扇子, and their arsenal of voices and facial expressions. Only their upper body is in movement during the performance. It was really cool especially because the actors were 南山学生。They acted out Jugemu (the boy with the ridiculously long name) and The Cat's Plate. The first became increasingly funny as the poor Rakugoka had to keep saying the name faster and faster. She never messed up either, that was awesome. I was able to get 95% of it on video before I ran out of tape (unfortunately I feel that the last 5% was very important, but once you watch it you'll get the idea after a few recitations.
Oh and today I wore a suit. No reason for it except that I wanted to. I even got a friend of mine, Rodney Reynosa, to join in on my suit-wearing and we both pretended that we were the two characters from Pulp Fiction: Vince and Jules (I was Vince). I guess he thought I looked like John Travolta! I can't even count how many times I was asked (in both Japanese and English) why I was wearing a suit...it bothered me so much!! I hope I never ask why someone is doing something like what I did today. In matters of fashion and such for example. Everyone is their own person so asking why they are wearing something is just dumb. They're wearing that because they want to or something. I know I ask the question myself though....
I think that just about ends this entry. There are still many tasty foods to eat here: Black bean juice (yum), dried salty moldy seaweed (not so yum), and Red-bean-paste-filled fish-shaped waffles (yum, but be careful 'cuz they're hot!). I really like the red bean-paste here. I am definitley going to bring some home.
Notre Dame is deliciously treating all of her Nanzan students to a dinner in Tokyo on her tab. So I'm off to Tokyo again tomorrow after class for a couple more days in the Big Sushi.

Notes: The WOnderful fall picture is from a small temple very near my house. It was especially beautiful because all the leaves were a bright red. The food is a 特別な料理 that my host mom won a prize for some years ago (the rice & fish) and a loaf of apple bread that she whipped up one day (yum). Lastly the picture with the two people in it is of Guy Wolfing and my friend Yuka. This was lunch on Monday or Tuesday I think. Oh yeah and HAPPY THANKSGIVING everyone back home!

京都

今日京都行ったよ～！すっごく楽しかった！ホストファミリーとホストファミリの友達ヒダさんとヒダさんの留学生ブライアンと一緒に行った。一宮から京都まで三時間ぐらいかかりました．遠～いね！　あそこでいっぱい神社と神宮とお寺があって本物れきしを見られた。妹と母に何かをかって帰った時上げましょう！永観堂禅林寺「えいかんどうぜんりんでら」をみたり銀閣寺をみたりライッタプをみたりしました。永観堂禅林寺は一O八二年に出来たお寺です。すごい～ね！あそこにスゴイぎょうぜんがあったよ！銀閣寺で西沢さんの豊浜（と思う！どこか東京の上に）で住んでいる娘がいた！７時ごろ帰りました。
　　　So basically I went to Kyoto today! Which was awesome in all regards. I left with Mr.nMrs.Nishizawa around 6:30am to head out to Nagoya station where we met up with Brian and his host mom to hop on a bus to Kyoto. It was cold waiting for the bus and when we finally boarded it took us about 3 hours to get there. We stopped at three places over the course of the day and we were driven to all of them and fed lunch as arranged by the tour. We stopped first at Ginkaku Temple which was crowded with people, and for good reason. The views there were fantastic and there were plenty of shopping options. There was a constant mix in the city of Buddhist and Shinto Shrines and Temples. These two types of building styles and religions seemed to be freely mixed together in Kyoto and no one seemed to mind. The buildings themselves have been in Kyoto for hundreds, sometimes thousands of years because is was spared from the allied bombing catastrophe of the Second World War. If you want to experience just what it must have been like in old Japan, I suggest Kyoto. Given, it is a modernized metropolis in many parts, and the construction companies are now doing to Kyoto what the war did to other parts of Japan, I firmly believe that the people of Japan will not allow such treasures as the temples, shrines, or even the small winding roads that define Kyoto to disappear.
Funny story, as we left the second, most impressive of Temple/Shrines Eikando Zenrin Temple, one of the few local workers dressed in traditional Japanese summer-wear noticed me and promptly gave me a surprised "Hello!" while I snacked on a Takoyaki-flavored senbei cracker. Needless to say I was a little taken aback but I responded and he seemed satisfied to have made an attempt to make me feel a little comfortable in the bustling street. (Ok I lied it was after the first Temple, Ginkakuji) I forgot to mention the the first temple's name implies that it is silver. You can see from the pictures though that it is not at all silver. The story goes that the at night, when the moon shines on it just right, the temple lights up in a fushiki (mysterious) silvery color. Yeah, sure....but the surrounding gardens were definitely a sight.
The second temple, Eikando Zenrin, was really the most impressive of all the stops and I definitely recommend it to anyone that goes to Japan. It was impressively huge and build around the year 1080. It looms on the hilltop in Kyoto and is a stylish (albeit confusing) mix of Buddhism and Shintoism. The Buddhist aspects are easily identifiable by their red/orange coloration, and of course...Buddha. It was at this spot that I saw an おぼうさん that was (excuse me) たくはつing. It was quite a sight with his large straw hat and warazori. Basically an Obousan is a kind of Shinto (or Buddhist) "priest-in-training", as it was described to me, whose job today was to stand in one spot all day with a little basket while praying for alms (たくはつ=
takuhatsu=praying for alms). I dished out 百五円 for 'im. The rooms in the shrine were huge! They were many tatami mats in length and width and the wall paintings were of the most intricate and delicate of design. Then there were multiple prayer areas, a half a dozen Buddha's, and hundreds of stone figurines of the faithful sprouted out of the shadows like mushrooms that I have to eat here everyday. Then there was a small waterfall that they called "holy" which attracted many a tourist and believer alike...and for a nominal fee you could get in line to wash your hands and face or even drink some of it. I'll pass.
The last place that we stopped at was 南禅寺 or Nanzen Temple where I took off my shoes and climbed up an into one of the main temple structures for a look over Kyoto and of the setting sun over the surrounding mountain range.　美しい. That's about the time I ran out of batteries in my camera!
Then we headed to where we would see the special "Light Up" event. With all of the trees finally changing color and the Japanese people's love for the ephemeral, you can guess that this place was packed yesterday. Really, it was for good reason. The reds were SO RED! The yellows were SO YELLOW! And those trees with green on them were still SO GREEN! So imagine all of those colors and all of them in between lit up under an orange crescent moon on a cool autumn night. It really was the perfect day to go!
There is so much that Kyoto has to offer; I can't wait to return some day!

For more pictures, click here!

Kitties

So the house cat slept in my bed last night. That was cute. Also, people on TV are not really celebrities....they're personalities. Lastly, do we get presents at funerals in the States? Cuz they get presents here. Hmm, not much to report today. I just really wanted to get those three points across. It's also getting really cold here, I mean this whole 20-minute bike-to-the-station thing is getting really old really fast. I'm still sitting at about 50 bucks right now for the rest of the month. Host mom is cooking up the most delicious of hirugohans so that I stay alive. Oh, one last thing, I'm going to try to give a presentation about Chile this Wednesday to the Japanese students at Nanzan. If should b fun...hopefully I have something to show for it! haha. Well, there is a lot going on now in class that I have to prepare for anyway....oh yeah and today there was this debate/midterm in my history class. I mean I don't know how he's going to deal with our grades if that was the midterm (I mean, I talked for a total of about 2 minutes)....he said that we all passed.
Some Japanese TV shows are educational in a trivial sort of way. IQ games are big here.

Keep that food coming

Yet another day filled with food. I mean, on the TV today there were twins that went around to all the top 50 gyoza (pot sticker) restaurants and sampled their best recipe. The must have eaten at a new place for lunch and dinner (if not breakfast and a snack too) for weeks on end. I would hate gyoza after that! I have been watching a few of Hayao Miyazaki's films lately. His older films are SOOOO different in animation style from those of his Studio Ghibli films. They are not nearly as perfectly carried out and his female characters' features have changed some (granted the idea of beautiful hair has changed somewhat from the early 80s) but he still retains the strong female figure in the film. Then there was this REALLY strange one that I tried watching today that had no voices, just background noise. It was actually really annoying and if it wasn't for the veery obvious Miyazaki life values I would never ever have guessed it was made by his hands. Not to mention that the translation job of the Clatorian's Castle's translation job was terrible! They translated 400 into 500 (even I could get that). So today I rented 3 more and I'll probably watch 2 of them tonight.
My hairstyle is a little different these days. Kids stare at me (more than normal) and I have gained a new level of respect from my peers at the University (though some do not appreciate my creativity. It's really thanks to Sydney that I have this new style. Yeah, figure that one out.
I havn't been staying out late these past few weeks. Life has just slowed down a bit I guess. That, and I have not money, are putting a damper on my weekend options.
Anyway, short entry for now.

In case you didn't already, check out the last entry (Tokyo) because I added a little more at the end. Cheers!

TOKYO 東京

TOKYO! How do I describe it in one word? Insurmountable__________ (fill in the blank with a positive...thing). So to connect the dots, I was traveling all of Thursday...ALL of Thursday. Imagine waking up in Sapporo, Hokkaido around 8am (if you can. See pictures in entry below to get an idea) and embarking for the airport at 10am, right? Then taking an hour-long, cold subway ride to the airport where we flew out at 12:20pm. The hour and a half long ANA flight was relaxing (I tried to sleep) and we touched down in Nagoya again for the first time in two days (my longest absence from 名古屋 yet). At this time we made our way back to 金山 (Kanayama) before Regina headed back home and I headed out to the 新幹線 (Shinkansen) track in 名古屋駅 to catch one of the fastest trains in the world to one of the busiest cities in the world, 東京.
The 新幹線 brought me into 東京 at about 6:00 in the afternoon. TOKYO!! Then I rode the 山手線 (Yamanote Line) to 上野 (Ueno) ...and this is where I messed up. You knew it was coming! Yeah at this point I was supposed to get onto a subway and head to Asakusa Station. What I did at this moment was exit 上野駅　(Ueno Station) and walk in the general direction of Asakusa. It took me about a half and hour and it involved asking a local cop for directions ("keep going sraight") before I arrived at Asakusa Station. That's when I called up Britany and told her to come pick me up at the station (which is what she told me to do) and I waited....and waited....and waited. After about an hour of waiting I decided to do the most risky of maneuvers: walk on my own. So I walked to the biggest, brightest thing that I could see, which turned out to be Asakusa お寺 (temple), and I went to find a phone booth. Then I stepped in the booth and as I was about to place my 100円 in the phone when !WHAM! Brit comes up and slams herself against the booth window behind me! Apparently she yelled my name with such joy when she first saw me...wish that I could have heard her! Turns out that there was a second Asakusa Station. Nice. Then, to top things off the Hostel that we stayed at was about a block away from the temple which became a huge asset over the next couple days.
The Hostel was called Sakura and its design was much like a dorm's: rooms had multible bunked beds and there was a community bathroom. Breakfast was an all-you-can-eat-for-one-price (350yen) toast n' tea deal (trust me when I say I ate my $3 worth of toast and tea!) The first day, when I finally arrived at the hostel, I decided to nap and relax for a while before we all headed out to grab a bowl of ramen down the street. We called it a night after that (ramen was at 10pm) and just chilled in the hostel until we fell asleep. The next morning we got up a little late (11am!), ate breakfast, and headed out to see Yasakuni Jinja...that is of course after we stopped for some coffee at Starbucks. Yasakuni is probably one of the most controversial national landmarks that Japan has to offer. It is the shrine to honor the war dead of Japan (and some other countries too), nothing to fret about. The controversy comes from the fact that this shrine also pays tribute to noted war criminals too. This has caused quite a stir in some of the neighboring countries--namely China--especially when high-ranking governmental officials come to pay their dues on occasion. It was a superbly incredible sight to behold and I was moved to realize that such and oasis could exist in the middle of such a bustling city. It felt a little like that feeling you get when you first step foot into Central Park in New York: you are instantly transported to another time! The high-risers were gone and only the tall tori remained. Still, the funniest thing that I saw this day was probably when I saw a priest, who was dressed in his Shinto best, hop in his bright, new Mercedes that was parked outside the side entrance of the shrine. Ah the contrast! There was a small pond behind the shrine too that I was able to explore and watch some koi in. The koi were all iroriona with their oranges, whites, and reds...amazing! There also was an Ikebana (flower arrangement) display at the temple which was absolutely breathtaking. There are a couple that you can look at in the foto album below. I was feeling that there was only so much time that I had to spend in this vast city so I said, "jaa' ne" to my friends and footed it solo to check out 渋谷 Shibuya!
So I hoofed it in the direction that I thought was correct...and that brings me to 'Drago Gets Lost: part2'. Yeah, I basically walked east rather than south. Now that's not such a bad mistake but if you walk long enough then it starts to get worse. Well, I headed a long ways east before I finally ran into another subway station and found out that it would take me a full 20-25 minutes to get to where I wanted to be in the first place....by subway; lucky for me I had bought the all day pass (a must in Tokyo!) for about $10. SHIBUYA=TOKYO or 渋谷＝東京 k? Really. Imagine Tokyo--especially for the peeps who have never been there--and you usually picture Shibuya. It is a big, bustling center of Tokyo despite being some distance away from Tokyo station. I stopped there to film the intersection, then I headed north in the direction of 原宿。 Before getting there I was sure to spend some time in Tower Records. They had all the latest releases and a wide selection of good techno music to choose from; of course all the music was very expensive and I had barely any money by that time so I bought nothing. Mr. Children is big now (though they have been around for some time). I saw some cool headphones there too! Ooo, i should remember those (green with a single star on each ear). After about an hour I got bored and exited the store in a northwards direction...haha, got you! I didn't get lost this time! I just kept going straight and I made it. I felt a little stupid though when I asked this cop where Harajuku was and he was like, "This is Harajuku". I had arrived and I didn't even know it!
原宿はすごいよ！They have all the ritzy stuff and all the teen stuff wrapped up together within a couple city blocks. The big, ritzy stuff was all lined up on the wide main road whereas the teenage scene was all located in the winding back-alleys surrounding the Louis Vuitton, Roger Dubuis, and Harry Winston showrooms. I had a good time watching the peeps watching me (thanks Nena!) Yup, I was people watching people watching me. Be sure your camera's batteries are fully charged in Harajuku because you never know when a couple dressed for a really, REALLY fashionable arctic expedition might round the corner!
After an hour or two I was tired....really tired, and it was dark. So I headed back to the hostel. I tried to call Brittany before to see if I should meet up with her somewhere but I had limited funds and no cell phone so using the pay phone once or twice was my limit. So when she didn't pick up I just decided that I would just get on the subway and go. I was tired! When I finally arrived at Sakura about an hour or more later I was relieved to find her and all my friends there (as where they to finally see me again!). In the time that I was gone Sydney and Kathleen had both showed up. I really had only spoken to them in passing before but little did I know that I would spend a lot of time with them the next day.

Oh, I forgot to mention the Ecuadorian that I met up with the while I was out in Tokyo. There was a group of latinos in the hostel that we were staying at (they arrived the last night before the last day in Tokyo) and and I just had to say hi to them--it helps when you are a little tipsy. The just of the story is that I befriended these crazy foreigners and this one, Diego, gave me his business card and one of those small flute-type thingies. I was psyched! So I have a new friend in Ecuador (someone i'll visit after I see Gaby!).

But getting back to the flow of things. That last night all of the group, save me, Marla, and Kathleen, went out clubbin'. Kevin went to "the biggest club in Japan" that he had to get on an unmarked bus to get to off on an island that no trains ran to..yeah, sketchy. The others all went to the gay district. Marla, Kathleen, and I all just talked for a while before falling asleep. Of course, we were rudely awakened around 6:30 am when everyone returned from their escapades.
That morning I went with Kathleen and Sydney to grab some bus tickets to Nagoya. 東京駅はすごく難しいのでwe basically sent a ton of time there looking for the box where we could find them. After we bought them and decided to head out it was already 1pm. I went back to Asakusa Temple and spent some time watching this AMAZING 東京時代まつり. IT was truly an enlightening experience. There was so much to see! So many different kinds of costumes from ages past. Everyone was wearing their respective clothing from before all of Japan united and surely before the Meiji restoration. It was such a sight to see. Heck, there was even a small band of Americans in the parade dressed in old uniform! That was strange. There was also a wagon of people wearing very large masks. I don't really understand the meaning of those characters but my host mom recognized them right away. I made my way to the Temple to take a look inside and I must say that it was surely the most amazing sight that I had ever seen! It was not only huge, it was painted in the most impressive red and gold and black! It had so many lanterns that it lit up the sky at night! There was a massive, elaborately intricate interior section that no one save the big man up top could enter that just blew my mind with it's otherworldly beauty. There was so much that I didn't understand that I must return someday with a better understanding of Buddhism in Japan to fully appreciate its beauty. After forgetting about time for a while, I went back to the shopping area outside the temple and bought some goodies for myself and family (hehe).
My time at the temple ended early--because I really had nothing left to do there--and I went to pick up my suitcase in the Hostel and I headed out to Tokyo Station to get one last look of the city before heading out. I dropped my suitcase off in a box (500円） and hoofed it south toward lights. Little did I know that the lights were in fact Ginza, one of the biggest, brightest sections of Tokyo. I was able to walk all the way down there and look around once before realizing that everything was so hella expensive that I couldn't really buy let alone look at anything without feeling like a homeless beggar. So with 3 hours to go before my bus departed i headed back to a place that I saw earlier when I had come to look for bus tickets: An Irish Pub.
You read that correctly, and Irish pub. That is of course after I picked up a Newsweek magazine at the local Conbini (Convenience Store). It really didn't help much that the magazine was entirely in Japanese, but I tried my best to read it while babying a Guinness in the Pub. Some peeps approached me on the street before the pub too, they were way lost! They asked me if I knew where the station was...yeah they were about a block away from it....so...not so lost...compared to me. I watched futball and talked to an Englishman for bit in that bar. The really weird things: The Englishman swore that I was an Irishman even after I had spoken to him; there was a box of chopsticks in the bar next to the Guinness tap. Finally 11:30 rolled around and I made my way out to the bus. Kathleen, Sydney, and I all talked loudly in the front of the top floor of the night bus until we felt that we had annoyed all of the quiet, sleeping Japanese enough to leave a bad impression of foreigners on them. A few hours later we awoke and were in Nagoya! Presto change-o.
So that ends my travels in Tokyo. Things I should do next time: Climb Mt.Fuji, see Tokyo tower. If I think of anything else that needs to go here then I will not waste time to post it! Thanks for listening, it took me long enough to tell the entire tale!
Updates random.

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Hokkaido!!!! 北海道！！！

If you can imagine a long couple of entries....then you can read a couple of long entries. I just got back from a week long trip to two of the more famous cities in Japan: Sapporo and Tokyo. This entry is about 北海道の札幌。Last Tuesday started off the festivities. After finishing class around 12:35 Regina and I waited for about an hour before heading out to Chubu International Airport. Chubu, like many Airports in Japan, was built on a man-made island out of Nagoya. Check in and all of that was a little bit confusing because you had to constantly scan a bar code to move onto the next level like some kind of video game (leave it to the Japanese). The flight to 北海道　takes about an hour and a half and so we arrived by about 6:30pm or so. The cool/strange feeling of it all was that we left when it was light out, then fell asleep on the plane, and awoke to a pitch-black sky with the lit-up city of Sapporo beneath us--eerie. Now, if you ever go to 札幌 be sure to beware and pack some extra cash for the g-dizamned subways which will eat you up (the ride to the center of 札幌 from the airport cost about $10!)
Honestly thought, 3 days is not enough at all to do 北海道 or 札幌 any justice. However, with limited time on my hands, I feel like we did as much as we could with the time on our hands! The first night we arrived in the city relaxation was on my mind. Regina's friend Phillip is studying in Sapporo so we met up with him that night to devour some of the worlds freshest すし！写真を見て下さい！After stuffing my face with easily 12 plates of the stuff (24pieces) we paid (about $12) and made our way out to check out this place called Don Quixote's....sound strange? Well, it was! The Don is a store to destroy all other stores. It was a Spencers/grocery/Kohls/arcade/Walgreens all wrapped up into one chaotic mess! WHAT A MESS! しかし。。。。you could find anything that you wanted to in that store. So after spending some time there we headed out to go back to the hotel (Green Hotel 2) where we all chatted the night away. Phillip didn't end up leaving until about 1am and he had class that day! The next day, after some forceful rousing of the sleeping beauty, we headed out to see Hokkaido Shrine 北海道神宮....and it could NOT have been a more BEAUTIFUL day!!! The sun was out! There were no clouds!! The temperature was cool and brisk but we were in 北海道 which lines up with southern Minnesota for the most part and so I wasn't phased. I wore the hat and the scarf that わかえさんmade for me along with my sweatshirt and I was actually quite warm in the fall sun. The leaves fell in the breeze and colored the paths that we walked on until it seemed that we were walking on an artist's palette of orange, red, and yellow (not to mention some brown from earlier leaves and green of the leaves yet to fall). The massive structure stood almost in the middle of the city in a dense forest of 昔の北海道 and I felt a sense of transportation to an ancient time (except for the fact that I was using my Cannon camcordoer to capture this amazing experience; note to self: buy a better camera for still shots--dad, I have officially become interested in those cameras that you spend so much time around! haha) We spent the morning there, taking in the smells of fall and the crazy likeness to Minnesota--Stillwater in particular. It made me very はつかしい to be quite honest. 札幌 is known for its corn, milk, and ramen....but why their ramen? Well because they put their corn and milk (butter form) in it of course!! When in Sapporo take some time to check out the famous Ramen Alley (refer to pic) and sit down and one of the nearly 50 shops that serve the famous dish: コーンバータラーメンCorn butter ramen！You might run into some of the locals there and surely you will be able to see the cooks whip up your bowl of soup right in front of your eyes. The best part of the ramen in Sapporo? (forgive the abundance of rhetoric) It warms you up from the inside out! So bye bye chills, hello shopping! All of Japan seems to pride itself on its covered/open air strip malls and 札幌 is no different. We all wandered around there for about an hour or 2 in search of some gifts for ourselves and to bring back home. That's when I saw that Ainu shop. The Ainu are a small race of native Japanese that have lived exclusively in the northernmost island of 北海道 for centuries. Their facial features are similar to those of the Native American, with darker skin and slimmer eyes. I couldn't resist the temptation to invest my time and money in a little bit of this dying culture. So I walked in and attempted to not look to strange (being that it was me vs. 4 Ainu women) by browsing around. They immediately approached me and inquired as to who I was and what I was interested in. They marveled at my Japanese (to which I replied "no no, you musn't") and admired my eyes and my Chile bag before asking...if I was a girl or a boy....yeah...pause here for effect...They just thought I was really pretty I guess! Everything was really 高い but in the end I bought a good luck head-band which they said I could wear around my neck (I prefer that instead). It's the same concept as all other good luck charms: bad stuff out; I just couldn't help buying it though. It's colors echo the season.
That night we all went to the famous Sapporo Beir Garten: the renovated brewery-turned-restaurant serving it's signature Yenghis Khan or 焼き肉。Basically you order a plate of raw meat and you cook that deliciousness right there at your table. You pay for the novelty of it all but it's worth it. They have an all you can eat and an all you can eat & drink option for $25 and $30 respectively but we went for a set menu for about &17 with a medium stein of Sapporo's freshest brew. What an amazing meal! What an amazing experience! There was this group of four businessmen sitting next to us that must have devoured a couple pounds of the meat within the hour and a half that we were there. They were a satisfied bunch of Sapporans! Oh yeah, i almost forgot, to grease the pan you can forget Pam because they hand you a couple cubes of pure beef-fat that you stick right on top of the cooker and just let the juices ooze. Yeah, after that meal you don't really have to eat too soon afterwards (except now just thinking about this meal is making me drool at the mouth!) Karaoke later in the night with Regina&Phillip. The best part of the experience there was that we all sang America the Beautiful as our last number as loudly as we could! Then adios to Phillip and we returned to the hotel to talk about the last couple months and the coming many months. It was a relaxing & enlightening night.
I woke up with the worst headache the next morning...and it didn't go away until later that night (but that's Tokyo's entry). It was raining the day we left 札幌 and I couldn't have been more thankful for the perfect weather that we were blessed with the day before. The airport became manageable. The flight attendants were more than accommodating (hell, they spoke in English just for us --being that we were the only 2 Caucasians on the plane) and we touched down in Nagoya an hour and a half later. That's when I purchased my 新幹線きっぷ and headed out on my first ride aboard the fastest way to travel in 日本。。。東京へ！

So that sums it all up. Oh and Corn Chocolate, pigeons in parks, dropped flowers to the dead, and hotel yukattas & slippers. BTW that really pink picture is of at Pericura arcade. That was my first time (sob!)

Check out more pictures aqui!