Day 202 - 20th of March

天気：晴れ、風が吹いている
Today was so much fun, though very exhausting… I woke up at about 9:30, and got ready for the day. Since it was such a nice, sunny day, I put on some laundry, trying to be as quiet as possible; Hugo was still asleep. At around 11, I heard the reception desk bell ring, and I knew straight away that it was Ash, trying to sign her parents in; by the sounds of things, Otousan wasn’t coming. Soon after, Ash came to my room, and asked if I wanted to go to the park for a picnic; of course I did. I went out to meet her parents, and then let them know I’d catch up in a bit, since I had some washing on. Like Katie, Hugo was going to the graduation at Kansai Gaidai today. I had wanted to go, but at the same time, I wanted to go to the lake with Ash and her parents. After putting my washing out, I left on my bike, and in no time at all, caught up with them; Rachel had also joined. The walk to the park was surprisingly hot, and I found myself stripping down to just my shirt. Getting to the park and some relief from the sun, we made our way around to the northern side of the lake; I abandoned the group to take photos of flowers at one point.

I met up with them at an undercover area, and we sat down to enjoy our “picnic”, which consisted of grapes, Ritz, chips, bread sticks, and chocolate. We sat for a while and just talked about various things; Ash’s parents are very well travelled. At around 1, we continued our walk around the park, and came across a grove of what might have been sakura; not entirely sure. Indeed, there were many people taking advantage of the warm weather, lounging under the beautiful blossoms. It was quite windy by this point, and it was an amazing sight to see all the petals flying about; many other flowers were out too. We circumnavigated the lake, wandering through the bamboo grove, and watching the carp, before making our way out. Ash had decided that we go straight to karaoke; we would meet a few others there. So, we made our way back along the river, a route I had never taken, on to Makino; it was very pleasant, with lots to see along the way. Getting to Sanko, we stocked up on a few supplies, before continuing on to Karaoke. Rachael and Katie met us along the way, and when we got there I went around to the back to park my bike; by this point it was more of a burden than anything else.

Getting inside, I signed us in, and then we had to wait for about 30 minutes to get a room. Peter arrived just as we were about to go in; perfect timing. Since it was almost 4, we decided to get daytime free time, which goes till 7. We soon found Peter to be an amazing singer; I was equally as impressed as I was jealous. Seriously though, his singing voice sounded completely different to his normal voice, and he really knew how to get into it; he was doing funny things with the mic chord. Rachael didn’t feel comfortable singing much, but we made her sing a few, as we did Ash’s parents, finding out that Ash and her Mum have the exact same singing voice. All in all, we had a wonderful time, although I was a bit disappointed we didn’t stay that long. Peter had to leave a little early, so he missed out on doing purikura with us when we got out; we had to do it with Ash’s parents. After that, we walked back, intending to go to Sandoru in Makino for dinner. When we got to Sanko, both Rach(a)els decided to go straight home, Rachel because she was going to Tokyo tomorrow and had to eat the rest of the food in her fridge, and Rachael because she isn’t too keen on Japanese food; Rachel was kind enough to take my bike back with her.

When we got to Sandoru, we soon realised it was closed; Friday and Saturday are regular holidays! So that idea went out the window. We walked back down the street, and ended up coming to a place called Zenya; the menu looked good so we thought why not. After a short while, we were seated; the interior was really nice, and traditional. After ordering, the conversation began to flow. For a Japanese restaurant, it actually took an uncharacteristically long time for our meals to arrive. And, there was a bit of a mistake. Ash had ordered two of the same set for both her parents, and they only ended up bringing out one. When we realised this, we promptly informed the waiter, and eventually Ash’s Dad got a meal. That sorted, we all had an enjoyable dinner, and I even got to finish off Ash’s rice and her mum’s meal; so lots of variation for me! After hearing Ash being referred to as Chirstina (or Chris or Chrissie) by her parents all day (it is her name after all), I had to bring up the, “Why is your name Ash,” question; and tonight, I finally got the answer, and not from Ash. Her mum proceeded to tell as that Ash was short for Ashley, a boy’s name Christina liked and would use as part of her pen name if ever she were to publish a book. Ash herself had completely forgotten this, so it was really awesome to have the mystery behind the name finally revealed.

At around 9:30, we made our way back out into the windy night, and Ash escorted her parents back to the uni, so they could find their way back to the hotel, and Katie and I went home. I was quite tired by this time, and was very grateful to Hugo for bringing my laundry in. I spent the rest of the night chatting with Carly and Alex. Much to my surprise, I found out that Alex would in fact be in Kyoto tomorrow; the time just stuck up on me. So, after going to Nipponbashi for the parade tomorrow, I’m going to go meet up with Alex, and her Aunt and Nan, and we’re going to go to karaoke; can’t wait…

Day 181 - 27th of February

天気：曇り
Against expectations, it did not rain today, which meant that I was at least active during the afternoon… I tried to get up at 9:30, but ended up falling back to sleep, finally getting up at about 11. Hugo was still in bed, so I had breakfast, and then went out to the lounge, and played Final Fantasy Tactics A2 on my DS; it was really great to be able to read most of the text. Shortly after 12, I went up to ask Ash if she still wanted to go to Yamada Lake. She did, so we decided to leave at 1; Rachel came along too. Since Ash doesn’t have a bike, we walked, and it was a very pleasant walk; the sun was out and it was warm. Soon enough we reached the lake, and circumnavigated it clockwise. There were many cats out enjoying the fine weather, much to the girls’ delight. We walked through the Queensland fauna exhibition (which was very familiar to me), and then made our way around past the bamboo grove. As we approached it, we noticed a large group of people with telescopic cameras on tripods set up. We were unsure of why they were all gathered around this spot but were soon to find out. From out of the trees came 1, 2, 3 beautiful green breasted, purple-winged birds that might have been parrots or doves; it was hard to tell. Straight away we knew that they were the photographers’ focus, as a flurry of flashing noises filled the air; I didn’t get a very decent shot since I was so far back. We figured that they were a rare species, or only came here during a certain time of year. It was really cool to be able to see them; the photographer’s must have put food there to coax them out. We came just at the right time, as they soon flew off.

We continued on to the plum grove, to find the ground a patchwork of pink and white. There were still a lot of flowers on the trees, but not nearly as many as the other day; yesterday’s rain had not been kind. It was still a very pretty sight, and I couldn’t help but to take another round of photos. We ended up spending about two hours in the park, walking through the woods, going out to the pagoda on the lake, and finally making our way back round the lake to the south exit; it was a lot of fun. Feeling hungry, Ash suggested we go to かっぱ寿司 (Kappazushi), a conveyor belt sushi restaurant. Since I had never been, and hadn’t had sushi in a while, I thought, why not; Rachel was keen too. It was only a short walk from where we were too, on the highway. I was really amazed by the set up; three lots of conveyor belts coming out from the kitchen, surrounded by booths. And basically, as soon as you sat down you could start eating, taking what you like off the conveyor belt.

Pretty much all the selections were 105円 each, with some items (like the desserts) being a bit more expensive; calculating the bill was just a matter of counting the number of plates. They mostly served 握り寿司 (Nigirizushi – lit. “hand-formed sushi), which is basically an oblong mound of rice, with a bit of wasabi, and topping draped over it. This could be some sort of fish, including salmon and tuna, octopus, roe, eel, squid, shrimp, or sometimes egg. There was also 稲荷寿司 (Inarizushi), which is a pouch of deep fried tofu filled with rice, and takoyaki, the octopus-filled dumplings. If you wanted to order something in particular, you could a touch screen system to make your selection, which is exactly what Rachel did; she wanted to try takoyaki. It was promptly delivered to our table on the back of a mini Shinkansen that came straight from the kitchen; no need for waiters. I was just content with the selection that came around. I really liked the Inarizushi, and the eel Nigirizushi. I also got a dessert; a sort of tiramisu pudding. Considering how small the portions are, I was full after 6 plates. As Ash explained, it probably has something to do with the break between servings, allowing your stomach to “catch up”.

Feeling very satisfied, we paid and left; I’ll have to go back again sometime. Actually, Saigou Sensei told our class about a really good sushi place past Yamada Lake, which is, in his opinion far, superior to Kappazushi; have to check it out. Ash wanted to go to the uni, and do some grocery shopping, so we walked back down the highway, towards Midori. On the way, I was informed of what, or rather who, Don Quijote was; a fictional character of Spanish literature written in the 1600’s. Apparently it’s really well known novel, though I’ve never heard of it; I’ll have to try and find it and read it now. Anyway, we walked over to the uni, to find it still open, and went to the CIE. Ash was expecting a parcel, and was disappointed when she found out it hadn’t arrived; it’ll probably be there on Monday. Having nothing else to do at the uni, we went on to Fresco, and the Lawson 100円 store (recently converted from the 99円 store), and I picked up a few things. When we finally got home it was after 6. I stayed in the kitchen for a while and chatted with Simon, then went down to my room and read some more. Finally feeling a bit hungry again, I went up and made dinner at 8; gyudon.

After cleaning at 9 (it was Ash’s week, but Rachel and I also chipped in), we contemplated on what we should do, considering Katie and Sarah were still out; they had gone to Kyoto today. We didn’t want to watch firefly without them, so Ash invited the two of us back up to her room to figure out something to watch on her laptop. I suggested we watch Hetalia, and Rachel was immediately taken by the idea, having never seen it before; Ash was more than eager to introduce it to her. So we got set up on the futon, laptop on the table, and proceeded to watch the entirety of the first season; 26 episodes. Keep in mind the episodes are only five minutes each, so we finished up just after midnight. Katie came back in that time, having gone to eat at a Mexican restaurant; that would have been great. She soon went to Sarah’s room, leaving just the three of us. I was really tired by the end of it, and went straight to bed.

Day 179 - 25th of February

11:07pm　セミナーハウス

天気：晴れ

Today was a wonderful day, and went a little differently to how I had planned it; always a good thing… To start off with, I ended up staying home this morning (slept in pretty late), and getting my homework done for Reading and Writing tomorrow. I got to uni for my Speaking class at 12, and then went on to Religion, with a snack in between of course. We talked about 靖国神社 (Yasukunijinja – lit. “peaceful country shrine”), in Tokyo. It is a shrine dedicated to the Japanese war dead, in which they are all deified, the good and the bad alike. This has of course led to much controversy. Part of the controversy arises from the Prime Minister’s annual trip to the shrine, which in the citizens’ minds is a breach in the constitution, separating church (i.e. religion) from state. This brings back the question, what is religious, and what isn’t? And coincidently, the end of the war in Japan (August 15^th), and the day the Prime Minister is expected to visit the shrine, is the same day as the お盆祭り(Obon Matsuri – “Festival of the Dead”), the day which the dead are said to raise again; creepy right. Outside Japan, there is also a great unrest concerning the shrine, especially in China and Korea, where protests are held against the Prime Minister visiting the shrine; an act which is seen by them as worshipping their enemies in war.

And even the shrine itself is a little controversial. It has a war museum on the grounds, the first thing you see being a kamikaze plane. Also of interest are the bride dolls, that have been given as a kind of offering to the fallen soldiers, most of which would have never married, since they were so young. Our professor told us that they have a whole room filled with dolls; that would be really cool to see. Outside, there are statues in honour of the animals that aided the troops in war; dogs, horses, and pigeons. This is again an attempt to placate the spirits. So yeah, that’s another thing I have to put on my to-do list when I go to Tokyo. Earlier today, Katie brought up the fact that mid terms were only two weeks away, and likewise, the professor told us we’d been taking this class for a month now. I really believe how fast it’s gone; my time in Japan is rapidly running thin! But that’s why I have to make the most of the time I have left, and that’s exactly what I did this afternoon; Plum blossoms at Yamada Lake!!!

I got home, and Hugo was there, having come back in his break between classes to do some homework. I went up to have lunch, watching the Olympics, and then got my washing in, before going out again. I had my camera and tape recorder prepped, and sped toward the lake on my bike; probably only took 10-15 minutes to get there. I rode around to the north side of the lake, and was at first worried, and confused about the lack of flowers in the trees; where were all the blossoms? Then I rounded a corner and a flash of colour caught my eye, and soon enough a sea of whites and pinks stretched out before me. I quickly parked my bike, and then dived in, consumed by the intoxicating smell of the blossoms. I busied myself taking as many photos as possible, using the macro setting on my camera feverously. I was honestly overwhelmed; there must have been at least 200 flowering trees. And the colours were spectacular, with a huge range from white through to deep pink. There were a few people picnicking, but overall it wasn’t very crowded, so I could walk through at my leisure, taking video at one point.

I spied Sydney, capturing the moment in another way, with her pencil and sketchpad. She was so focused that she didn’t hear me come up to her (fair enough she had head phones in), and accidently took out her earring in surprise; sorry… It was fine though (she said it happens all the time), and we soon got chatting. She told me she came here almost every day, and had therefore seen the transition, which she said was very sudden; one day buds, the next day an explosion of colour. She also told me that I’d come on a good day. The wonderful sunny weather had brought the masses out here yesterday. I soon let her get back to her drawing, and continued taking photos. She told me about the bamboo groove to the east, and while I had indeed seen it before, I’d never ventured through it. So I made my way over there, passing a fair few cats. It was a bit more open than I had expected, but still very beautiful to walk through, and I came out by the Australian fauna part of the park; the wattle were already flowering. I slowly made my way back to the bike, taking some more photos from the top of a hill of the lake, and the plum grove. Keeping my bike company was a sad-looking black and white cat. He probably wanted food, but unfortunately I had none to give. I really do feel sorry for all the stray cats, a lot of them don’t look to be fairing very well. However I did see a rather fat ginger cat a bit earlier on, so I guess some of them are doing well for themselves.

I rode past more gardens, and cats, and decided to check out the open fields to the south, where I had previously gone for a BBQ with the clubs from Gaidai. There were many people with their dogs and a few kids too. It was getting dark and windy, and threatening to rain, so after taking a few more photos of a small corpse of plum trees, I made my way back home. I decided to go back via the highway, to see if I could find the park Simon had been talking about with all the plum blossoms, before realising (due to his directions), that it was indeed Yamada Lake he had been to. Since I was out this way, I decided I may as well do some grocery shopping (fun), so I went to Kirindo, and Fresco before finally riding home. I put away my purchases, and then soon returned to the kitchen to make dinner. Since I had to use up the rest of my vegetables (especially the potatoes), I decided to make stew, not exactly the right kind of meal for a warm day but still; this meant though, that I had to wait an hour for it to cook. In the mean time, I talked with Katie, Ash, and Rachel, telling them about today’s exploits, and urging them to see it themselves. Ash seemed eager and, weather permitting, we might go Saturday morning. Didn’t stay in the kitchen quite so late tonight; got back down here at about 9:30. I played Plants vs. Zombies for a while, and did my readings for Gender and Sexuality, and then got ready for bed. Hugo still isn’t back…

Day 55 - 24th of October

9:14pm　セミナーハウス

天気：寒い、曇り

Today was a lot of fun. In the morning, I made pancakes for the first time; Diego usually does it for me. They turned out to be a bit of a disaster, but Diego gave me some tips, so I'll do better next time; seriously though his turn out so perfect and round. They tasted fine though (I added banana), although one hadn't cooked all the way through and was a bit soggy; that wasn't so nice. Oh well, live and learn. After cooking (which always takes way too long), we walked to Midori (Carly, Diego and I). I found a firewire cable for my camcorder, so now I can dump the movies onto my laptop and reuse the tapes. Deigo got himself a new mouse, and Carly just got some batteries for her toothbrush - she was going to buy an electronic dictionary but they were too expensive.

There was a soccer match on this morning, between seminar house 2 and 3 that Eddy, in our house, had organised; Bianca and Stephanie were cooking up a storm this morning to feed the hungry mop afterwards. I got there just as they finished; they were playing at the uni fields. I felt a little bad about not showing up sooner to cheer our team on. Unfortunately they lost, 13 to nil; Seminar House three had an unfair advantage with most of the guys actually expecienced in soccer. I hung around for a little while, and then left for the CIE lounge, to wait for 12:30. I met with another girl from koto club, Maarika from Estonia. We walked over to the library and met with a bunch of Japanese students. It turns out a number of clubs were going to the BBQ, and Maarika and I were the only international students. We caught the bus Yamada Lake, and then walk a while to a part of the park I hadn't been to before. It was amazing; wide open space. People had tents set up, and were playing sports in the grass; a true rarity in Japan.

There was a huge blue tarp set up for us; which we never actually used to sit on. And on it... sooooo much food; too much food in fact. I basically spent the next couple of hours eating on and off: Beef, chicken, pork, fish, mochi, noodles, cabbage, sweet potato, peppers, onions, eggplant, mushrooms, apples, bananas... and they all went on the barbeque in no particular order; it was a free-for-all. I was so full by the end of it, and I even got to take home some chestnuts; Diego suggests that we grill them. I was a lot of fun; I didn't practice my Japanese enough though. I don't know, I just seem to choke and revert back to English; gotta try harder. Even from the park, the main administration building of Kansai Gaidai is clearly visible. It seriously is the tallest building around.

We finished at around 4:30, then I walked home and this time I didn't get lost; the sunset was beautiful. I ate leftovers and bread for dinner, and then an apple. Tonight was basically a repeat of last night, just without the Potter Puppet Pals. Amber's gone now, but Carly's still here. We've all been trying to study for our exams next week. I won't be doing too much study tomorrow though; going to a rice festival at Fushimi Inari in Kyoto; I'm so excited. Lol, I burnt off some of my finger hairs in the barbeque today; there were 5 set up and we basically had chopsticks and a plastic plate, and went for it. I hope we do something like that again; it was great. Anyway, I shall be off now, Carly's going to draw a still-life of me; if I can stay still that is!

Day 11 - 9th of September

2:09pm　セミナーハウス
天気：涼しい、曇り
Wow, it's the 09/09/09 and the first cool day I've had here. It's really nice to be able to walk to and from uni without melting. I had my speaking class at 10. At the moment we're just revising stuff like the potential and volitional forms of verbs. It's worked out really well; I'm up to pretty much exactly the same place in the Genki II textbook here as I was at USC. Still, I've forgotten quite a bit. After hanging out with Christina, and buying my reading for History, "A History of Japan", I went to my reading and writing class. Motohashi sensei seems really nice. We've got a lot of work to do though. I'm going to have to stay focused to keep on top of everything. I've already got so many handouts to look through. I've also got to buy my reading for the Culture and Everyday Life in Japan course, which I'll do tomorrow. Its been a pretty uneventful day for the most part. Makes it easier for me though, cause I don't have to write much, xD. Oh, on the way back from uni I went to the clothes shop. There's this shirt I really want to get, but I think it's a bit expensive for what it is. I'm going to what until it is, hopefully, marked down. They are clearing out their summer clothing at the moment, so I could get lucky.

5:55pm　山田池
I'm sitting in a pavilion out on Yamada lake. From the seminar house, it took me about 25 mins to get here. It was well worth it!!! The vast lake stretches out before me. It is peaceful. I can hear crows crying, the crickets chirping, the cicadas chiming. And yet, just beyond it all, I can hear civilisation; but I can't see it. Trees all around form a wall of green. I feel detached from the outside world. The restful flow of the lake, a uniform motion, broken only by the flopping of a fish above the surface. There is a grove of hundreds of peach trees, which will be wonderful to see in the spring. Right now though, everything is lush and green; the trees not yet ready to shed the leaves of summer.

There are so many stray cats around; they must take pleasure in calling this sanctuary their home. The breeze is light but crisp, reminding me of the autumn that is to come. The sun has almost set; I should be getting back. And yet, I find it hard to move from this spot, as if the spell of serenity will be broken if I make to depart. This journal is almost full; one page left. I'll have to buy another one tomorrow. At this rate I'll be coming home with a box-full. I stand, and cast my eyes once again over the lake. I look forward coming here again. I see a group of egret over on the opposite shore. Ducks swim in a line back to their homes in the rush. This seems like an adequate end to this journal; immersed in the beauty that is Japan!

11:01pm　セミナーハウス
So yeah, I walked to Yamada Lake on a whim. I just had an urge to get out so I did. I'd never been before but it was easy enough to find. Coming back at night though was a different story. I ended up getting a little lost. It was all good though, and eventually I came out onto the main street which I know, and then had to walk back up to the seminar houses. When I got back I went up to the kitchen for dinner, and Stephani and Phil were talking about going somewhere. My ears perked up and I asked them where they were going. To the 銭湯　(sentou - bathhouse). I had never been before so of course I wanted to go. We left about 8 with two other guys from seminar house three. The one we went to was only about 10 minutes walk away.

OMG!!! Such an amazing experience. After getting completely clean, you're allowed to enter the baths. The water is so nice and warm, and now I feel so relaxed; my muscles feel like jelly. Something I had to try there was the 電気風呂 (denkifuro - electric bath). It sounds crazy, I know; electricity + water = death right. Well apparently not in Japan. It was the weirdest sensation. An electric current courses through the water, and the closer your body gets to the source, the more intense the feeling. Your muscles feel like they're spasming and going numb. They also had a sauna, a cold bath (going from hot water to cold was certainly a shock to the system), and a kinda lying down bubble bath with overhead lights. We stayed there for an hour. I feel good now. I'm going to sleep soundly. It was a great experience and I can't wait to go again. Wow, I ended up doing a lot today, xD