Day 263 - 20th of May

11:32pm　セミナーハウス

天気：曇り

Today was a very long day; I’m exhausted. But, I picked up lots of goodies, and saw a wonderful show, so it was worth it. And, it wasn’t nearly as hot as it has been recently, although the air was damp all day… After waking up at 9, to find Hugo missing, I got ready for the day and then took the bus to the station. En route, I rearranged all my badges and pins, so now they cover most of the bag and there is a decent space between each of them; it looks much better in my opinion. I met Carly in Hirakata at 10:30, and we went over to the bank so I could close my account, and she could cash some traveller’s checks. She ended up taking longer than me, because the bank wanted to know her hotel’s address; they couldn’t find it! Eventually everything was sorted out, and we came out a whole lot richer. Taking the rapid express to Gion Shijo, we walked around for a little while, me trying to figure out Katie’s instructions. It was getting close to 12, so I was getting a little anxious. We did end up finding the street though, and were seated just after 12; a bit early but anyway. Since all the regular seats were booked out, we had to sit in the second floor balcony on cushions. We were right next to the stage, looking at it at a diagonal. Unfortunately we were on the side where the walkway wasn’t visible; it was right under us. So we couldn’t see the orchestra or some of the action. Apart from that, and the mild discomfort, it was great; certainly for the price.

Of course, Katie had ended up with front row seats (she did end up having to pay more) and we soon caught her attention as she sat down. Her two friends are visiting from Canada and after the show we got acquainted. Seeing as it was getting close to 2 by that time, we decided it was time for lunch. After meeting up with Sarah near the station, we made our way over to Sukiya; it was cheap and delicious. After eating, we slowly made our way over to the Teramachi shopping arcade, the girls stopping it shops along the way. Once at Teramachi, I took them to the second-hand kimono place, and while they were browsing, I tried to sell my kimono. Well, that didn’t turn out very well at all. Not only did they not want to buy it, they wouldn’t even except it as a donation; this made me wonder where they actually got their kimono from. I don’t know, maybe I just wasn’t negotiating properly, or maybe it’s because I’m a gaijin. It just meant I had to haul it around for the rest of the day, and believe me it’s not light. After exiting the shop, Katie and her friends went to karaoke, and Sarah, Carly and I spent the rest of the afternoon shopping; separately!

Well not at first. We went over to the t-shirt printing place, and I got exactly what I wanted. I had to pay a bit extra because the expression was so long, but it was totally worth it. I now have a bright yellow shirt that says 豆腐の角に頭をぶつけて死ね (tofu no kado ni atama wo butsukete shine – “Go bash your head on the corner of a block of tofu and die”) on it!!! Extremely satisfied, I made my way over to ABC Mart, to see if I could find a pair of shoes for my brother; I couldn’t. I had left the girls at a fabric shop, and when I returned, they weren’t there. I waited around for a bit, then went back to ABC Mart; no sign of them. I walked back to the fabric store again, and they weren’t there, so I decided to just continue on; maybe I’d bump into them again. Well, I didn’t, but I went to a heap of shops, and found some really great stuff. I tried looking for some bags and found a few places, but I wasn’t entirely certain about any of them; I needed a second opinion. So, I’ll have to get them tomorrow for sure. I found another Village Vanguard (it’s also in Kuzuha Mall and has a whole lot of crazy, fun stuff in it), but didn’t end up buying anything. I also had a look around some of the small temples and shrine crammed between the shops; everything looked so lush in the rain.

I ended my shopping in a music store, hitting the jackpot on the 4^th floor; piano sheet music!!! I ended up buying four books: two Kingdom Hearts piano arrangements, the Advent Children piano solo, and Chopin; one of the pieces Austria always plays in Hetalia is Chopin’s Nocturne, so I want to learn it. I was so happy after that, but my legs were killing me. I had a lot of bags, but luckily one of the shopkeepers offered me a really big bag to put them all in; that was a huge help. I made my way back to the station, and after buying some sweets from the bakery, I decided I’d do a little more looking around before heading home; I had just enough energy left. Since Book Off was just upstairs, I browsed that for a while coming back empty-handed; oh well. On the way home, I drifted in and out of sleep; having a chair was very comfortable. I finally got home at about 8, and went straight to dinner; leftovers with rice. I stayed up there until about 9 and when Sarah came in, I asked her what happened; after they left the fabric shop they went into the 100円 shop so I must have walked straight past them. Anyway, it all turned out okay. I spent the next hour sorting stuff out, and then after saying goodnight to Carly, I went and sat down to watch the drama with the girls; this week’s episode wasn’t nearly as dramatic as the last one. Still, it was fun and a chance to practice listening. Well I’d better get some sleep since we’re going to the flea market pretty early tomorrow. And 0% chance of rain…

Day 247 - 4th of May

11:31pm　セミナーハウス

天気：晴れ

Never thought I’d be saying this but I’ve got the air con on in here because it’s too hot; winter has definitely left us. It’s been such a warm day today, and while storm clouds were threatening this evening, it hasn’t rained at all. I’ve been working on my Japanese presentation pretty solidly all afternoon, and I’m still not finished; I’ve only got one day left now. On the plus side, I got out for a bit today to enjoy the weather… After breakfast at 10, I played KH for a while, and then got on my bike and rode down to the station. On the way, I took some photos of the abundance of azalea bushes in full bloom in front of the Komatsu plant, and also stopped at a local shrine I had rode past a few times, but never been in. It’s called 甲鉾神社 (Kouhoko Shrine), and it was small but peaceful. Going down the big hill today was great because the lights were timed perfectly so that I didn’t have to slow down for the traffic in front. Getting to the station, I parked my bike, this time in a proper park. It’s actually an automated “bike rack” (that’s the best way I could think to describe it) that charges you depending on how long you leave it there. The first 90 minutes are free, and had I known this earlier I definitely would have used it; that’s what lack of investigation gets you.

In the 90 minutes I had, I got a lot done. I went to animate and found the Hetalia character song’s sheet music book (I was so happy about that), and also got some Hetalia pins from a gatchapon. It’s funny because they weren’t there on Saturday when I went, and the machine was almost empty already; goes to show how popular it is. I had a look at the clothes on the men’s floor, but didn’t find anything I liked, so I went over to Book Off; I didn’t find anything there either. I got back with time to spare, and soon figured out how to free my bike from the clutches of the evil bike rack; just had to type in the number rack it was in into the machine nearby. Then I made my way back home; that was hot work. I decided I would buy the tickets to the Ghibli Museum in Tokyo today, since I heard they sold out fast. In order to do that, I had to go to Lawsons to use a machine that would print out a receipt that I could give to the people at the counter in exchange for the tickets; sounds complicated right. And it was, especially because it took me a while to figure out how to get the machine to do what I wanted it to do; these girls came up to help me, which was really nice of them.

Carly and I had tentatively planned to go the museum on Sunday, pretty much as soon as we get to Tokyo, but that day was sold out, so I went for the Monday. Thinking about it now, I’m actually happier with that. It means we don’t have to rush at all on Sunday; I’m sure we’ll be tired after being on the night bus for 8 hours or so. Simon was telling me about his trip to Tokyo this afternoon (he just got back), and it sounds as though he had a really great time; I’m looking forward to it. I worked on my presentation until about 7:30, and then went up to make dinner; pasta bake. I ended up making enough to last three meals however it wasn’t quite saucy enough, so I think I’m going to have to buy some more to put in it. After dinner, I was bombarded by more food; Julie was giving out cake, and Sam mochi. I also had another orange, and it wasn’t as sour this time; still really messy though. I stayed up there until about 9, and then got a bit more done on my presentation. I’m learning words like symbiosis and photosynthesis in Japanese, which is kind of cool even though I’m probably never going to use them outside this presentation; oh well. I’m mostly worried about being able to remember it all, as some of the sentences are pretty full on; I think I might get Yuji to check it over for me when I’m done. Anyway, I’d better get some sleep now; last day of holiday tomorrow…

Day 236 - 23rd of April

天気：曇り

While threatening clouds dominated the sky throughout the day, it never did actually rain; it was still cold and windy though… Waking up this morning, I got ready, and then had a little bit more time to study for my test; not that I really needed it. I rode to uni with Rachel, and then got to class with plenty of time to spare. The test turned out to be pretty easy; I remembered all the kanji and grammar patterns. That done, I went to Speaking, and we spent half the lesson going over the pick-up lines people had come up with yesterday; some of them were quite funny. We quickly went over the grammar patterns (which again were from level 3), before watching an animated short in Japanese; it was interesting, to say the least. After that, I was free to go home for a little while. After picking up some groceries, I had lunch, and then did some reading. Getting back to uni, I met with Ash and Katie, who were on their way to USJ this afternoon; making the most of their season passes. I was soon in Gender and Sexuality, and after short discussion about host and hostess clubs, we went onto our final topic; sexuality and gender minorities. Today, we discussed homosexuality. It was interesting to contemplate homosexual as a sexual activity, and homosexual as an identity, because they are different things. There are many examples of what is called “institutionalised homosexuality”, activities or behaviours that do not reflect sexual preferences or lifestyle, but are simply parts of the norms of the institution or society.

Throughout Japanese history, there have been numerous examples of age-structured practices of men-loving-men, from Buddhist institutions to the warrior class. These acts were done in order to strengthen the relationship between priest and acolyte, subordinate and commander. Kabuki and the urban class also have a long tradition of homosexual practices. During the Edo period, homosexuality was banned for just 8 years, and the fact that no other effort has been made since to restrict male/male sex indicates that Japan doesn’t have an elaborate, punitive view of certain sexual acts, unlike other countries where religious beliefs come into play. Another interesting thing to note is the shift between homosexuality as behaviour to homosexual as a person (the medical model), which brought about new terminology in Japan. The word 同性愛 (douseiai – lit. “same sex love”) came about in the early 20^th century, when the occurrence of female/female sex was identified in many girl’s boarding schools; before this, there had been no context for putting men and women in the same category. The funny thing is, the word for heterosexuality 異性愛 (iseiai – lit. “unusual sex love”) was derived from the homosexual term. And that was me done for the day; the weekend upon us once more.

Getting back home, I tried to do my homework but failed, and a look at my Alice in Wonderland ticket stub, lead to a chain reaction that resulted in me having a huge chuck-out. I went through all my draws and tidied them, got rid of all the bits of paper, magazines, flyers and the like that I really didn’t need, dusted my shelves and started getting the books and merchandise I had collected boxed up, and then vacuumed the floor; it was quite invigorating actually. It about two hours, but I was really happy that I was able to start getting things sorted out for going home; I probably threw away about 10kgs worth of paper and plastic. Of course, I kept the important things, like the pamphlets and tickets from places I’ve been, and some nice wrapping paper; I can handle lugging that home. Afterwards, I managed to get my homework done, and then I went up to make dinner; it was about 6:30, and the kitchen was empty. I was well into cooking my chicken pasta dish before Rachel and Sarah arrived. Sitting down, we ate while watching Doraemon on TV, and at about 7:30, Julie came in asking if we were still up for watching ゲド戦記 (Gedo senki – i.e. Tales from Earthsea), directed by Goro Miyazaki; son of Studio Ghibli’s Hayou Miyazaki. While I hadn’t particularly liked it the first time I’d seen it, I was willing to give it another go, so Julie, Rachel, Chelsea and I all went up to Julie’s room and squished up on her futon, in front of the laptop.

Honestly, I enjoyed the movie a lot more this time around and I think it might have had something to do with the fact that we watched it in Japanese; poor dubbing can see the downfall of any good movie. However, in comparison to other Ghibli films, it’s definitely not up there for me. This was the first time I’d seen it in Japanese, and something that confused me was the use of a female voice actor for the main antagonist, Lord Cob. In the English version, the character (which is male, although I suppose it is a little ambiguous) had a creepy man’s voice, but in the Japanese version, it was a clearly a women’s persona; not a womanly-man. So that was a little strange, especially considering it had been produced in Japanese first. After the movie, we lounged around for a little while and then, since Chelsea was hungry, we decided to go to Fresco to pick up some food; it was already past 10:30 at night. In the hallway, I bumped into Katie and she had candy canes to give us. Going to her room, I asked the two about their day at USJ, and they said they had a wonderful time, and got a chance to go on the new ride, which was amazing; I kinda wish I’d gone. Then I received the candy canes from Katie (which were left over from Christmas), and a Hetalia pin from Ash; I have to go collect more now! I went to the kitchen, and handed a bunch of the candy canes out, and then got rugged up for our outing. We ended up riding to Fresco, and I couldn’t help buying an ice cream while I was there; everyone else was. Chelsea got some gyoza and fresh yakitori so she was very satisfied when we returned home to eat. It was about 11:30 when we gathered together once more, but in the kitchen this time, since Jazz was going to bed. To end the night, we ended up watching Aladdin, and I enjoyed watching Rachel mouthing the script throughout the entire movie; it’s clearly her favourite Disney movie…

Day 228 - 15th of April

天気：曇り

Hurting all over from yesterday’s practice… Getting up at about 9, I spent the morning doing homework, before getting to uni for my 12 o’clock class. Staying in the same class for Religion, I got the homework done, and then chatted with Julie before class. Today, we continued with Buddhism, looking at the ways you can be reincarnated and the concept of Karma. Basically, depending on your Karma, which can be the positive or negative actions of this life or any of your previous lives you can be reincarnated as – a god (deva); a demi-god (asura); a human; an animal; a hungry ghost (preta); or a being in hell. In order to reach Nirvana, you’re actually best off being a human, a wealthy man living in a Buddhist country to be precise; you have the most opportunity to become a devout Buddhist monk. If you’re reincarnated as a god (which will last for about 50,000 years), you’ll find your life too comfortable and not worry about learning the Buddhist teachings until it’s too late; if you became a demi-god, you’ll just be angry and war-like the entire time; if you become an animal, you do have a slight chance of reaching Nirvana, but it’s more likely that if you’re a good animal you’ll get reincarnated into a human close to Buddhism (pets are the luckiest); if you’re reincarnated as a hungry ghost well, you’ll wander around unseen in the human world, never able to slake your insatiable hunger (they can’t swallow as their necks are too thin) and; if you’re sent to hell then you’re going to have a pretty rough time for the next 30,000 or so years.

Buddhist hell is quite different to Christian hell. Firstly, you get taken to the king of hell (閻魔王 – enma o), who’s there to judge you, and make sure that everything’s running smoothly. You’ll be shown what you did in your past life, and then by punished appropriately. Now there are many, many different types of hells, cold hells, hot hells, each with their own elaborate tortures and finite period of time the punishment will last for; they were very specific. One that the professor described to use was – drowning in a river of burning faeces while being pecked at by a bird (I later found out from Biancha that this was called the “blazing cock” hell). Now you could say well, I guess you’d get used to continuously dying after a while; it is a long time. But no, every time you experience the torture fresh, as the previous time is erased from your mind; of course, when you are finally reborn into another existence you won’t remember it anyway. The most interesting thing to note though is that, the Buddhist hell isn’t a physical place, it’s a mindset; you are punishing yourself. The torturers and even the other beings being punished are just extensions of the mind; I don’t know where enma o fits in though who incidentally is also a reincarnate. You keep on experiencing that same, appropriate punishment until all the bad karma is used up. So yeah, that was Religion. Afterwards, I rode back home, had lunch, and then spent the rest of the afternoon, updating my blog and watching episodes of Courage the Cowardly Dog on YouTube; that was very “natsukashii” (nostalgic).

I also got started planning the trip to Hikone, and I’m really excited about it now; there’s a lot of great things to see. One thing I especially want to do is take the ferry out to 竹生島 (Chikubu island) right out in the middle of Lake Biwa; it looks really beautiful. And of course, we have to see the castle; it’s still in its original form like Himeji castle. At around 6, I went to Sanko to pick up a few things. Getting back, I chilled in the kitchen for a while, before actually cooking; it was nice just to talk with people. I ended up cooking a chicken pasta bake, and made so much that I have some leftover for tomorrow. Sitting with Ash and Rachel, we absent-mindedly watched a detective/drama show on TV, while Yuji and Natsuki were making bandanas out of a red cloth for the Seminar House 2 sports team. I had to go over and investigate, and since most of the team was in the kitchen, pretty soon we all had them on, and were posing for the camera; that was fun. After helping with the washing up again, I spent the rest of the night in Katie and Ash’s room, watching Hetalia and AMV’s on Ash’s laptop; Rachel joined us too. Katie and Sarah were working on their skit, and they are portraying characters from Lord of the Rings; I think it’ll be hilarious. Well, hopefully I’m feeling a bit less sore tomorrow…