Day 264 - 21st of May

9:54pm　特急

天気：晴れ

I’m on my way to Toji; alone! I slept in, so I was 30 minutes late to meet Carly. I’m guessing she’s already on her way, and I don’t blame her; I’m really not doing a very good job keeping time. I might catch her when I get there; hopefully I can find some nice souvenirs at the market today. I don’t really know what I’m looking for. I’m just coming out of Kuzuha now, so got a little while before I get there. It’s sunny, but there’s a thick haze in the air; no doubt because of how much humidity there was yesterday…

5:43pm　快速

We’re on the way back home now; hurting all over. Today was intense!!! When I got to the markets, I spent a lot of time browsing and buying. I bumped into Katie with her friends, and a few other people from uni, and I eventually found Carly; she was already laden with kimono. Since it was open to the public, I decided I’d go have a proper look at the pagoda; it was even more impressive up close. What was really cool was the fact that I could actually go inside the structure. The central pillar was surrounded be statues of Buddha; it was very special. I think it was about 1:30 when we finally left the markets, and I was really happy with all my purchases; I got heaps of gifts for people, and I even got a new wallet made from sea snake skin. Actually, having a wallet made from snake skin is supposed to be good for monetary luck. Now I just have to get used to it; it feels so light in my pocket. We walked to Kyoto station, and I noticed that the new mall wouldn’t be opening until the 4^th of next month; I was really disappointed. We walked through the station in the cool (it had actually turned out to be a really hot day), and took the subway to Shijo. We decided to go to Sweets Paradise for lunch. We were so hungry and exhausted by the time we got there that it was absolutely wonderful.

I got lots of cake, jelly and ice cream, and felt like I was going to explode; I will miss Sweets Paradise!!! We got out of there at about 4, and then went over to Teramachi once again; well actually, the street running parallel. On the way, I stopped at a few more places to pick up more gifts. Walking along the street, I spotted the sign for animate and had to go in; yet again, more gifts, and a few things for me! By that point, I had so much stuff that I had to buy my bag to put it all in. I decided on one from the store I had gone to yesterday. It’s a duffel bag, and I’m hoping it’s going to fit a lot of my clothes; it’ll be my second checked bag. Now I just need a carry-on bag and I’ll be sweet. There were a few there, but they were pretty pricy. So I’m going to wait. As you can imagine, we’re very sore by now and as soon as I get back I have to get straight into cleaning and packing; Yuji’s coming to inspect at 7. Then after that, karaoke time; I’m going to die…

10:07pm　カラオケ　－　牧野

Just got to Karaoke; feeling good… As soon as we got back to the seminar house this evening I started stressing, and got considerably worse over the next two hours. It was 7 by that time, and Yuji was already asking if I was ready for my inspection; of course I wasn’t. So, I was graciously given until 8:30 to get everything done; admittedly, I freaked out a lot. But, I got through it, and Carly was a lifesaver, doing most of the packing and helping to clean. It ended up that we got till 9, since Yuji was preoccupied; I needed every second. I didn’t end up cleaning out my kitchen box or fridge; there just wasn’t enough time. So Natsuki has to check that tomorrow; Yuji’s going to be out. After all that I was sweating like anything so had shower and washed my hair. It didn’t help that as soon as I got out of the shower I was sweating again. In that time, Carly had weighed my bags, and I’m a few kilos over. But, I think I’ll be fine because I still have to buy a carry-on bag, which I can stuff with the rest of my stuff. It just means that I’m not going to be able to buy anything in Tokyo!!! Oh well, I’ll still be able to do some awesome sightseeing. It’ll mean I have some money left over too... Ash and Roisin have joined us, coming from the 黒執事 (Kuroshitsuji – “Black Butler”) musical. Rachel’s flailing all over the place, envious that she didn’t get to go with them. They bought the program and a heap of other merchandise; looks like it was a lot of fun. Anyway, all night karaoke now, and then graduation at 9 tomorrow; YAY!!!

Day 258 - 15th of May

10:46pm　セミナーハウス

天気：晴れ

We ended up staying up until about 1, before finally retiring for the night; it was great. Somehow I still managed to get up at the decent time of 9:30; well, I think that’s decent. After breakfast, I spent the morning talking with a friend over skype, and then my family. I also sent my report off to the professor. At about 1, I went to get groceries and bumped into Katie and Carly on the way out, so decided to just walk with them; Sanko’s not that far. After getting back, I had lunch and sat in the kitchen for a while, before going downstairs to find Carly watching Twister. I had seen people watching it several times before, and had always managed to drag myself away; but not this time! After the movie, we came back to my room, and booked the night bus to Tokyo; not a moment too soon. We managed to get the last two seats on the cheapest bus, which I was so grateful for; extremely lucky. It doesn’t leave from Kyoto until about 11:30pm Saturday night, so I’m going to have plenty of time that afternoon for last minute things; hopefully not packing. After that, I got my JASSO report finished and then spent the rest of the afternoon studying; with breaks.

At 7, Katie came to our door asking Carly if they could make the Mac and Cheese now; bleh!!! I decided to go make dinner too, and was soon enjoying chicken parmigiana; haven’t made it in ages. I spent the next few hours talking with Ash and Rachel, and then at 9, cleaned the kitchen; on my own. Well, I didn’t end up doing that much, and Rachel helped me with the bins and wiping down the tables, which was really nice of her; especially since it’s not her week. I really should have come down here and kicked Hugo’s butt; oh well. It wasn’t too much of a hassle and as I said, I didn’t do that much; just cleaned the dishes in the sink and took the bins out. I finally came back down here, to find Carly asleep (again). She woke up a bit before 10, so decided it was time to go back to the hotel. With the night bus finally booked, I could schedule a time for my inspection and did this straight after Carly signed out. Not long to go now; in a week’s time, I’ll be almost getting on the bus to Tokyo. Tomorrow will be good; the morning at least. We’re going to Sensei’s koto concert in Nipponbashi; so excited. Then I’d better spend the rest of the day studying…

Day 254 - 11th of May

11:18pm　セミナーハウス

天気：雨天

Arggh!!! So close to finishing my field report it’s frustrating; definitely, definitely get it done tomorrow. In other news, Carly has arrived safe and sound, and popped in to uni today. Even though I knew it was coming, I was still surprised… Of course, the weather was crappy today; it couldn’t be a nice day for Carly. I worked on my field report until about 10:30 this morning, and then got to uni. We had our last presentation in Speaking, and then spent the rest of the lesson revising; this final exam is not going to be fun at all! After that, I went to lunch with Nathan, Jo and Kim, and we ate at the 3^rd cafeteria; I had kitsune udon, which was a nice change. Getting back to the CIE, I handed in the forms required for the refund of the seminar house deposit, and Carly snuck up on me while I was doing it. She’s dyed her hair a really nice brown, a bit similar to my natural hair colour. We soon got reacquainted, and then went to sit with Katie and Ash for a little while before class.

Religion was really short today. We just talked briefly about Christianity and ancestor worship in Japan and that was it; all gone. We also had to do a course evaluation at the end of class; we were done at least an hour early. From there, we went to the cafeteria to get ice cream; I got plum, and Carly got honeydew melon. I actually liked the melon a lot better; the plum taste was too strong. After that, we made our way but to the dorm, and then I spent the next couple of hours working on my report while Carly slept; she was seriously jet lagged. Eventually, 6:30 came around and that meant it was time for me to make dinner. I decided to make okonomiyaki since I had all the ingredients, so got to it. I made one for Carly too, but she turned it down saying she wasn’t hungry and she didn’t really like okonomiyaki anyway; oh well, saves me cooking tomorrow night. After eating, I working on my report a bit more, and then went up to clean the kitchen; about half the people came, but we got it done. Wishing everyone a good night, I went up to Rachael and Sarah’s room, to harass Carly and Rachael as they were watching FFVII: ACC; it really is pretty. Then it was time for Carly to make her way back to her hotel; at least it wasn’t raining at that point. Well, I’d better get some sleep now. I feel like I have things under control. I just have not try not to worry so much, and I’ll be fine…

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…