Just been in the kitchen, re-watching Jazz’s Japanese game show debut; she had finally received the recording from them. Everyone sat eagerly in the kitchen, awaiting Jazz’s entrance, but we ended up having to wait almost 40 minutes before she did; there was a whole bunch of other stuff on beforehand. Anyway, it was cool to see that again; it’s already been more than two months since it occurred. Well, today was a nice warm day, albeit a bit cloudy… I woke up with little time to get ready, so I just had a banana, got dressed, and got out. There was no need to rush though, because basically as soon as I got to class, it was over. Today, we were meant to go around and interview Japanese people about our topic that we’re going to present in class. Instead, Jo, Nathan, Kim, and I sat around and talked, and also got a bit of homework done, in the cafeteria; I would ask Mori and Midori Sempai later. It soon came around to Reading and Writing though, and we did have a proper class; finished off the reading, and answered lots of questions. After class, I went to Kirindo and Fresco for groceries. When I came out of Fresco, I noticed a taiyaki stand set up, and decided I’d buy a couple; custard-filled of course. I was really glad I did, because the guy gave me and extra one for free; I thought that was really nice. So I enjoyed one fresh during the ride home, and saved the other two for dessert; yummy!
Getting home, I had lunch and then got a little bit of homework done, before having a nap. I also got to read a letter from Nanny, and I got an insight on why letter writing has become such an integral part of her life; it was very interesting. When I get back, I’m going to have to write down all of Nanny and Poppy’s stories of their early life; I think it would be fascinating. Eventually it was time to get back to uni for koto club. After a snack, I got to the room and found Brittney and Maarika. Neither of them was practicing, but I decided I would practice for a while anyway; stumbled through Miyabi a couple of times. 6 o’clock came round, so Mori arrived, and we got everything moved down into the practice room; I think for now on, I will pick up the keys for the room on both days. Natalie and Kirianna, and eventually Mori Sempai also showed up, but there was no sign of Riho or Miki; which was a bit of a shame. I worked on the strumming technique, which I found out is simply a tremolo. It was quite funny, because Mori Sempai told us the name for the technique in Japanese トレモロ (toremoro), and I looked it up, thinking it was a Japanese word.
When I found out it was an English word (well, technically Italian), I smacked myself, and so did Mori Sempai; she knew it was a katakana word, but never realised it was a borrowed word. Anyway, I’m getting slightly better at that; I’ve just gotta try and not be so tense. Since I lent Maarika one of my tsume, I spent the last 20 minutes talking with Mori and Midori Sempai about the Great Barrier Reef, which understandably they didn’t know that much about. Still, we made some interesting assumptions about what would happen if it suddenly disappeared; chain reaction. I’m going to talk with them some more about it tomorrow, and I’ll have to find some other Japanese students to ask questions too; hopefully I can get something out of it that I can use for my presentation, which seems to be the point of the exercise. After packing up, I rode back with Maarika and Mori, and then basically went straight to the kitchen; I was hungry. I made a heap of yakisoba, and I had hoped it would last for three meals, but it never seems to go that far; oh well, two is better than one. So yeah, spent the rest of the night in the kitchen, and now I’m going to get some sleep; Hugo and I are going to try to make an effort to get to bed earlier…
Today was a bit of a crazy day (just like the weather has been lately), but it produced lots of laughs and benefits… First off, I was adamant in getting my hair cut today so this morning, as soon as I got up, I rode out to find a hairdresser that was open. I rode down the main street, having a general idea of which place I wanted to go to, but not really minding; as long as the prices and facilities looked reasonable. I stopped at one place, which was just about to open for 9, but since I had a little bit of time till then, I decided to continue on. Not very much further down was “11 cut”, and I actually remember Midori Sempai mentioning the name yesterday. I decided to give this place a try, and I arrived just as it opened; I seemed to call to me. I was the second customer in there (a little boy was getting his hair cut), and after explaining what I wanted, I filled out a few things, and then was immediately sat down. I had a nice young girl as my hairdresser, and I did my best to convey what I wanted to her. The main thing was that I wanted my hair thinned out, but no length off, and I got that across fine; she was using the right kind of scissors for it, so I knew I’d got it right. Unfortunately, they wouldn’t dye my hair for me, the lady at the front saying that the product they use wouldn’t be suitable for the “Okyakusama” (The customer’s i.e. me) hair. That was okay though, because I knew if I did it myself it would work out cheaper.
After the cut was done to my satisfaction (and it really was), I was taken over to the basin; I couldn’t resist getting a wash. This turned out to be just as interesting an experience as my first at a hairdresser in Japan. After she rinsed and shampooed it once, she was like “okay, now it’s time for the shower machine”; shower machine?!! I didn’t really know what it must have looked like since my face was covered with a cloth (they like to do that here it seems), but I could feel it. Some sort of plastic hood was put over me, with towels stuffed around the sides. They were obviously to keep the water from getting everywhere during what could only be described as a spa treatment for your hair. Jets of warm water were shot at my hair from all directions, at different frequencies and sequences; it was quite bizarre. I did enjoy it though, and after it had finished the girl asked what I thought, and I just replied with “omoshiroi” (interesting or funny). After that, she had a bit of fun styling it and what not, and her product of choice was spray. It actually held my hair really well, and puffed it up a lot which looked quite cool. So, you can imagine, I walked away (well rode) very satisfied; and very hungry. I hadn’t eaten breakfast yet, because I didn’t have any milk. So I did a quick shop at Fresco and Kirindo before getting back; in Kirindo I got the dye for my hair.
I ended up having breakfast a bit after 10, and it was very satisfying (I’ve been using that word a lot tonight). After that, I quickly got ready for uni, and then made my way there. I was cool and cloudy today, but it never ended up raining which was nice. I went straight up to the 4th floor, actually a little early for class. So a waited around and talked with Nathan, soon to find Ash emerging from her Japanese class in a lilac wig and school girl outfit; she was cosplaying for her presentation today. I must say, she looked quite good, though the hair colour and style was a bit strange; I wish I had brought my camera. Anyway, today in class, we got the opportunity to talk with some of the Japanese students here at Kansai Gaidai, asking them questions that had been compiled by Saigo Sensei; we had each submitted two questions to him last week. Well, some of the questions were actually pretty deep and philosophical (including one of mine) like – when you go to shopping, do you receive plastic bags? What do you thing about plastic bags destroying nature or; what do you think about Japan’s declining population? What should the government do about it? Some of them were funny or strange like – if you got stranded on a deserted island, what would be the one thing you’d have to have or; what do you think about Japan’s pornography problem??? And then a lot of them had to do with university, study, travel, and the like.
We got circulated around 4 times, and were in pairs or groups of three; two Japanese girls (because they were all girls), to one of us. This was great because Saigo Sensei informed us that the last class only had two Japanese students come in; we were lucky I guess. We started off playing a game, and then got into conversation mode. For the most part I enjoyed it, although I was sometimes struggling for what to say next; I didn’t ask very many of the questions. I tried to keep it as natural as possible, trying to facilitate conversation flow. After class, I spent the break in the lounge with Rachel while she was reading her novel for class, trying not to distract her too much. Distraction came from elsewhere though, as Katie brought with her two Japanese girls who would be attending her university next semester; so I got another opportunity to speak Japanese. Pretty soon though, I had to leave for Religion, which was actually pretty depressing; it was about Buddhism. And basically, Buddhism teaches that life is suffering, and happiness is an illusion, and we are stuck in an endless cycle of pain and bitterness; reincarnation. The only way out is to find Nirvana, which anyone can do except, contrary to popular belief, Nirvana doesn’t mean paradise, it means extinction; we become nothingness beyond our conceptions of nothingness. Apparently, nothing is better than suffering. One good, happy thing that came out of religion though, was that we’re going to be getting a 1000円reimbursement for going on the Tenri fieldtrip! Admittedly though, it was an interesting class, though I’m not going to apply any of it into my own life. I like Tenrikyo much better; pursuing happiness!!!
Being depressed made me hungry, so all I wanted to do was go home and eat; I joked. So, I went back home, and after lunch I did a bit of study. Before long, I had to turn around and go back to university for koto club. I was a little early, so after dropping my bag in the club room I went to photocopy 雅び (Miyabi – “elegance”), which is the new piece we got, at the convenience store; for both Maarika and I. Then I was on a mission to find the keys for the practice room. Since Midori Sempai had suggested it yesterday, I went to the CIE to see if I could find her; she was supposed to get the key out, and pass it on to me. I didn’t find Midori Sempai there, but I did find Mori Sempai, just about to get into the elevator. She let me know where to find the key, and what to say, and then she was off to class; it was up to me. So I went over to student affairs in the main administration building, and told the guy at the reception desk what I needed. It didn’t seem like he understood what I said; I used “sensoubu”, the correct name for koto club. Since that didn’t work, I reverted to using “koto kurabu”. He finally understood, and got me to fill out something before handing me the key. He gave me that look of, “Why is a foreign student doing this”… whatever!!! That done I went back to the club room to find Brittney and Natalie already inside; Natalie has a key too. Before setting up the koto, we had to clean the floor, just like old times, expect with a lot less people; Kirianna turned up about halfway through cleaning, and helped out, which was great.
The five of us (Tami-chan also joined us), then brought the koto and stands down, and got to practicing. Soon, Maarika too showed up, and she went to make copies of Kagaribi for us; so we were even. A bit after she returned, Sensei arrived. Mori and Midori Sempai weren’t here yet, so I was a little worried, but sensei was really great (and Maarika did most of the talking), so pretty soon the two of us were practicing Miyabi with her; and boy did my legs hurt after that. It was Natalie, Kirianna and Tami’s turn after that, and sensei went through the basics with them, and went through Sakura sakura. Mori and Midori Sempai, as well as Riho and Miki (another potential club entrant) joined us during this time. Sensei then went through Hanagoromo with Brittney, and part way through got me to join them; Sensei could sense Brittney was a little nervous playing alone. Sensei then proceeded to play the Shakuhachi part on the koto, which was actually really cool. Finally, it came around Midori and Mori Sempai’s turn, and they played 春の光 (Haru no Hikari – “The light of spring”), which we had never heard before; it was quite pretty. While Riho and Miki didn’t get to play (which I thought was kind of a shame), I think they got a good idea of what the club is all about; they seemed to like Sensei a lot too. After she left, Mori let us know that Sensei would be performing in concert on the 16th of May (a Sunday) in Nipponbashi, and we could all receive tickets for free; well, the club money would pay for them. Of course I want to go; I think it’ll be spectacular. And since I don’t plan that far in advance, I’m totally free for it. Soon after that announcement, everyone but Maarika, Midori and Mori Sempai, and I left, even though we still had half an hour of practice time left; oh well.
For that remaining time, the girls tried like crazy to get me to be able to do this particular type of strumming action on the koto, that is part of Miyabi; I just couldn’t do it. I was a little jealous that Maarika had gotten the hang of it so fast, but hopefully with a bit of practice I’ll be able to do it; just have to think positive. We ended up going a little overtime, which freaked Mori Sempai out to no end. After we packed up, she was so worried about getting the room key back in time, that she didn’t even lock the practice room first; this resulted in Mori Sempai having to chase after her. All I could do was laugh; Maarika on the other hand was up in the Spanish club room eating an ice cream. Everything turned out fine though, and I ended up riding back with Mori Sempai, after I caught up with her that is; she rides so fast! It was a bit past 8 when I got back, and I just heated up my leftover stew for dinner; always handy when getting back late. At 9, it was cleaning time for Katie and Ash, and Rachel and I helped out also; I had no problem taking the role of leader and letting others know what they should do. While washing up a bit of horseplay occurred, after I made a rather brash comment about staring at certain parts of Ash. Katie decided to take it upon herself to “defend” Ash’s dignity and chased me around the kitchen prodding me in the sides, which of course elicited rather loud cries from me; it was quite hilarious.
It continued when I referred to Ash as “sir” (she’s asked me to call her that before), and she proceeded to call me a “prized plonker” as I said good night to everyone; it was the most British thing she’d said in a while, and it made me so happy. Another bout of prodding ensued in the hall, just as Katie and Sarah were about to get into the elevator; I don’t know what got into Katie. My night of fun wasn’t quite over yet though; it was time to colour my hair! After getting everything ready, and got straight to it and the whole process ended up taking about an hour. However, I was extremely happy with the result; I’m a red head again!!! This red is really nice and subtle though, and covers my roots really well; although I did miss a few spots. I am now very satisfied (there I go again) with my hair, and won’t have to do anything else to it until after I return to Australia. I spent the rest of the night just listening to music, and studying a bit for my vocab quiz in Reading and Writing tomorrow. Also tomorrow, is the practice for the inter-Seminar House sports festival we’re having on Saturday; it’s going to be heaps of fun, as long as everyone shows up. Wow, this was a really long blog post for a weekday…
As predicted, today pretty much mirrored yesterday, save a few aspects… I got up at around 9:30, and again find Hugo getting home just as I’m going to breakfast. I got started on my speaking exam guideline. I say guideline because I can’t actually take anything in with me when I do it; it’s basically one on one conversation with the sensei. So unless I can memorise it (which I might be able to), it’s probably not going to come out exactly the way I wrote it anyway. I had lunch around 12, after going to Sanko for some supplies. It was a beautiful, sunny day; a perfect day for walking the streets of Osaka. Oh well, it is better off I didn’t go out today. After lunch, I talked with my family for about an hour and a half, and then continued with my guideline. I was basically finished by 6:30, when I went up to make dinner, after talking with Simon; he still hasn’t found his bike key. I made shepherd’s pie for dinner, which took a while but was worth it. Then I sat and chatted until about 8:30. I realise I won’t be able to do this for the rest of the week; I’m going to be that busy studying that I’ll have to resist. Well, I’m going to started memorising my sakubun for tomorrow; I’ll be so happy when this week is over…
I have been in the kitchen for the last 4 and a half hours just talking; pretty awesome. Since the lounge hasn’t been free all night (and we had originally planned to watch a movie in there), we all just decided to stay where we were; the kitchen… Anyway today was another one of those kinda sunny kinda cloudy days; it wasn’t too cold thankfully. I got up at the sound of Hugo’s alarm, and readied myself for one last day of uni; weekends are so nice. In Reading and Writing this morning (seems like such a long time ago now that I think about it), we read some more Japanese folklores including “The mouse bride”, and “The poisonous starch syrup”; no joke. Then, in the last 10 minutes of class, we got to watch the animated version of “Tsubutorijisan” (the story about the old woodcutter). It was quite funny in parts, and I could understand most of it; there weren’t any subtitles. After that, it was straight to Speaking, and today was our last speech (my mistake). We finished off with keigo, and then got to watch a short movie; can’t remember the title. It was something like “the Samurai cellular phone”, and basically a Samurai in the Edo period finds a cell phone, and is contacted by a guy from the future (obviously) who wants to confirm a historical event; namely, the assassination of Kira Yoshinaka.
This is the story of the 47 Ronin (masterless Samurai), and I remember it from history. While you only saw the lead up to the assassination, it was very funny how the presence of the cell phone, and the guy talking, subtly caused history to go the way it was supposed to, mainly because it motivated Oishi (the leader of the group), who wasn’t at all interested in avenging his master; Lord Asano was made to hara-kiri (cutting of the belly) after attacking Kira out of anger (he was very annoying) in the palace, which was against the law. While reciting a most moving speech to the guy on the phone, he doesn’t realise his men are behind him listening; this inspires them to attack. Eventually, Oishi accepts his fate, and the story ends with them all donned in armour, marching towards the castle; they end up killing Kira (cutting his head off and burying it with their lord) and then they turn themselves in, and are eventually all ordered to commit suicide. Right at the end of the movie, the guy who is talking on the phone is finally revealed, and it zooms out to show a huge room filled with people talking to historical figures; very cool. This one did have subtitles, though it was still cool to pick up bits and pieces.
After that I had a bit of a break, so after going grocery shopping (again), I went home and had some lunch, and then had a little nap. I got back in time for Gender and Sexuality, in which I got to watch yet another movie; what a great day. This one (called “Ripples on the Water”) was about women’s lib in Japan in the 70’s; and I seriously didn’t even know they had had one. Well, they had, and while it wasn’t as dramatic as in the West, the efforts of those women have slowly been affecting Japanese society. It was narrated by a women who had gone to America (to escape the restraints of Japan), and had met a women named Fumiko who was part of the lib. After she died (of lung cancer), the women returned to Japan, to seek out Fumiko’s family and friends, and other women who took part in the movement. These women believed not in changing society, but changing themselves, so that society would slowly change around them; interesting logic. One thing that struck me in particular was when she visited a couple who had a family, but weren’t married. The kids of this couple were discriminated at school, not only by other students, but also by the teachers; I thought that was disgusting. Their parents were really supportive though, and I think they’ll grow up to be strong; fighting against conformity just like their parents.
So yeah, that was all very interesting and imformative, and it basically last for the entirety of the lesson; then I was free. Reaching the parking lot, I met up with Peter, and we rode together until the library, since he was going to Kuzuha; I on the other hand, was just going home. Simon and I had decided to meet up at 3:30 to go to the gym. Well, 3:30 came, but Simon didn’t. I waited in the lounge for about 10 minutes, and then decided to just go on my own; I was too pumped not to go. Getting there, I signed in, changed shoes, and descended into the basement where the gym was. It was bigger than I had expected and had a plethora of equipment. After putting my stuff in a locker, I went in to check it all out. I soon got chatting to another guy there (can’t remember his name – I really am terrible), and had a go on the bikes. 15 minutes later, I went onto to the hydraulic equipment. Half the fun was in figuring out how to use it, but I got a general understanding of most of it; although I was scared that some of them would blow up. A lot of the equipment seemed very well worn, which wasn’t comforting at all. There were also free weights, but I even going to touch them. After about 30 minutes of arm and leg exercises, I did some stretching, and then a warm down bike ride for 10 minutes. In that time, Andrew (whom I had met last semester and gone out with on one occasion) came in. He went over to the bench, and did some weights, which was actually a bit scary to watch; I was afraid the bar would fall on him. But he did a decent amount; I was impressed. After my bike ride, I went over and we caught up, as he tried some of the hydraulic stuff.
Soon after, he left, and I followed suit, saying goodbye to the other guy; it was almost 5 o’clock. I felt pretty good, though my muscles weren’t sore enough. I’m sure I’ll get a good routine going soon enough, to make the most of everything. Getting back, I found Simon in the computer room, and was about to give him the reprimand of his life, when he explained to me his plight; he lost his bike key, again! He spent a few hours looking for it, and failed, so he had to leave his bike at uni; he’s hoping he can find his spare key now. So that was permissible, and I did feel kinda sorry for him; even though it’s stupid that he lost it in the first place. Anyway, he still very much wants to go, and we’ll probably go Monday afternoon; I might go tomorrow too, if it’s open. With that sorted, I went to my room, and waited for dinner time, uploading some photos to deviant art. Sarah and Rachel had decided to take up my invitation make tacos, so I told them we’d meet in the kitchen at 7. I was very hungry by that point but with their help, everything was done in no time, and the three of us were soon enjoying tacos; a very messy, but tasty meal indeed. Then as I said, we spent the rest of the night chatting; it was great. Very sleepy now; probably just do some laundry, study, and get started on my take-home exam for Gender and Sexuality tomorrow. Hugo's not back yet...
