Day 225 - 12th of April

10:55pm　セミナーハウス

天気：　雨天

Well, just for fun, it decided to pour with rain all day today; and heavy rain at that. This meant that by the end of the day, my jeans and jacket were quite wet; they’re hanging up to dry now. I’m just hoping the weather improves by tomorrow. I really wanted to get my hair cut today, but the relentless downpour completely put me off. Anyway, another Monday… I finally rolled out of the futon at 9, and hurriedly got ready for the day. I managed to get to class just in time, racing on my bike through the rain, icy drops pelting my face; okay, so I’m being a little dramatic. The test today went pretty well, although there was one sentence that I wasn’t happy about at all; I couldn’t think of the grammar pattern to use. Jo revealed to me later that I was a passive sentence; I can’t believe I didn’t think of that. Oh well, I’ll still get part marks for it. The listening part was okay; not the easiest, nor the hardest I’ve had. And I remembered all the vocab words; that part seems to be the least of my problems now. I finished in a little over 30 minutes, and then went down to the lounge, and spent the next 1 and a half just chilling with Rachel, Sarah, and Katie; and Rachael when she came. I did do some kanji practice, and some readings for Gender and Sexuality, so I was at least semi productive.

In Reading and Writing, we started chapter 5, which contains a whole bunch of crazy kanji; it’s going to be fun learning them. After class, I went home (the rain even heavier now), and had lunch before basically crashing for the next 2 hours on my futon; I guess today decided to be a lazy day. Sooner then I wanted it was time to return to uni. Koto club started up again, at the regular time of 4:30. This was the first day for freshmen (and what a lovely day for them… not), so the uni was absolutely packed; especially all the food venues. I dropped my bag in the club room, and then went to the convenience store to get a quick snack. Getting back (snack already devoured), I was just about get started reading Hitman Reborn when guess who arrived; Brittney. She hadn’t been for weeks, so I was quite surprised. Also, considering that Midori and Mori Sempai, and Maarika all have classes until 6 (which is a real shame), so I wasn’t expecting anyone to turn up for a while. Another unexpected arrival was Riho; I think we met once before. She’s a second year student, and seems really nice, though a little reserved; well, I guess that can be expected from a Japanese girl.

So, I thought it would be a good time to set up downstairs in the practice room. Brittney and I both took down koto, but unfortunately when we got there, and I tried the key… it didn’t work; I guess that would make sense. So back up to the club room we went; I felt a pretty bad. We still got a bit of practice in though. Riho practiced sakura, and Brittney Hanagoromo. Soon, Brittney left, and was replaced by Natalie; she helped Riho a lot with Sakura, which was really great. At about 5:30, Kirianna also arrived, although she didn’t stay for very long; and Natalie and Riho were soon to follow. So, then it was just me again. I decided I would have a crack at Kagaribi, so I tuned it and got stuck into it; so difficult. Maarika arrived a bit after 6, and just sat as I played around. When Mori Sempai arrived we could finally get set up downstairs. She was so happy when I told her so many people had showed up today; she had been worried about the fate of koto club. Soon after getting set up, we had another unexpected visitor; Tami-chan. She’s from Puerto Rico, and was Maarika’s roommate during orientation week. Midori arrived soon after, and we all ended up chatting for a good while; a bit too long, as I really wanted to practice.

Today, Maarika and I got started on a new piece, which I can’t remember the name of, but nevertheless it was quite fun, and very challenging; it’s one of the pieces the girls have played before. I’ll get a photocopy of it tomorrow, along with Kagaribi; with the time I have left, I don’t think I’ll be able to get good at that one. Anyway, since it’s a duet, I immediately decided to take second koto; it seems to be a fact that the second part is always harder. Midori helped us a lot, so we had a general idea of what to expect from it. I’m looking forward to the sensei coming tomorrow, and hopefully she approves of us playing these pieces; last time she saw us, we were still on Hanagoromo. So enthralled in practice, we ended up finishing a little late; not that I had to be anywhere. After packing up, and saying goodbye, I rode in the rain for the last time today, and got home around 8. I went straight up to the kitchen, and made gyudon for dinner, catching Katie as she made her way out; she’s just received her certificate, and a generous sum of money for the article she wrote for a competition earlier in this semester. Ash and Rachel we also leaving, so I spent a little while talking with Julie, eating white chocolate and drinking Milo; great combination. At about 9, I went back downstairs, had a shower and then got settled in bed; I guess I felt I deserved a bit of a break. I’ve spent most of the night just playing bejewelled and uploading photos on dA. Well, hopefully the weather’s improved tomorrow, so that I may be a little more productive…

Day 194 - 12th of March

11:47pm　セミナーハウス

天気：晴れ

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...

Day 193 - 11th of March

10:57pm　セミナーハウス

天気：晴れ

Just finished watching the Star Trek movie with Rachel and Sarah, on Rachel’s laptop; it was pretty good, though a little corny in parts. Today was cold, but at least it was, for the most part, sunny… I got up at about 10, and made pancakes for breakfast; for some reason, they didn’t come out very well at all. I got to uni a bit after 11:30, and sat down as a side dish to the Rach(a)el sandwich; Katie was the sandwich filling. We continued with keigo in speaking, and also heard our last speech; we’ll be having our oral exams next week, which I’m not looking forward to. After class, I went downstairs to find Katie and Sarah, and Katie was in the process of getting her new laptop; her former one was blue screening constantly. So, I accompanied her to the CIE office, where she found out that she needed to pay the tax in order to get the post office to send it to the uni. Since she didn’t have the exact change, she decided to just go pick it up from the post office directly, later in the afternoon. That sorted, we went upstairs to our respective classes; I talked with Peter in the hall for a while before getting seated.

We continued with Soka Gakkai in Religion, and learnt more about Nichiren Buddhism, Soka Gakkai’s associated political party (Komeito), and what Soka Gakkai members believe in; the power of their chant apparently. It was all very interesting, and again, the sense of foreboding lurked in the background. The professor also told us some of the conspiracy theories surrounding the possible connection between Soka Gakkai and our Kansai Gaidai; the dean of the CIE is in fact a Soka Gakkai member. It seems very much a cult of personality, where Ikeda (current president and founder of Soka Gakkai International) is an idol, placing himself among the ranks of Martin Luther King, and Ghandi. And yet, for all his awards, all his dialogues with people in power, none of us foreign students had ever heard of him before; his presence really isn’t felt outside Japan. Well, except for in China… oh and guess who else is a member of Soka Gakkai; Orlando Bloom!!! I found this quite interesting. And yeah, it is definitely a religion; they do a lot of praying and chanting as frequently as possible.

After class, Peter, Jeremy, and a guy from Denmark whose name escapes me, met with Katie, and we went to Makkas to get fries; this month, all sizes (S, M, L) are 150円!!! We got there just before it closed at 3 (since the Gaidai students are on spring break they have shorter opening hours), and all enjoyed our fries, sitting with the professor; I’m sure she appreciated us disturbing her quiet time. Everyone had stories to share (especially Peter), and we had quite a good long chat. During that time, I couldn’t help but to notice the Japanese girls, hip-hop dancing right out front of Makkas. Jeremy had devised a cunning plan for just this scenario. Just as Katie came back from getting the information about her laptops whereabouts, we all went over to the window the girls were in front of, and Jeremy passed as all a piece of paper with a single number typed on it, ranging from 1 to 10; and what did we do? As the girls danced, we held up the numbers in unison to mock judge their performance. As soon as they spotted us, they all burst out laughing; and so did we. They even took a few photos; it was hilarious.

Happy with our fun, we split up, Katie, Peter, and I going to Fresco for supplies. Although, when we got there, Katie was the only one who actually bought anything; I realised I had no money left, and Peter technically didn’t need anything since he’s in a home stay. From there, we rode back to the Seminar House, and Peter got reacquainted with Otousan and Okaasan; they didn’t recognise him without his long hair and beard. Bumping into Simon out front, we decided we’d go get shoes today, since we were both free. So I said goodbye to Peter and Katie, and I was off again; I guess I was feeling industrious. When we were coming up to Sanko, Simon insisted that we bike along the road as opposed to the path, thinking it would be faster, and I flat out rejected it; so we had a race. In the end, I technically won, since he had to go around and under the train track to get back around to the main road, closer to where we were headed. Actually, when Simon went under the tracks, I lost him for a while; we eventually met back up. Then we were off again, following the tracks east for a while, and then crossing under, and heading south. I had never been to this area of Hirakata before, and it was really interesting to see; it was almost like the outskirts. There were so many restaurants along the way, and heaps of community vegetable gardens. Finally we reached 靴 (Kutsu – shoes), which turned out to be a branch of the same store in Midori. But whatever; it was much bigger, and had some great discounts.

After a quick browse, we settled on buying the 990円 shoes out front. Yes, they were cheap rip-offs, with “triple win” as their logo (which I think is actually really cool), but they would serve their purpose as gym shoes; we were most satisfied. After paying for them, we were on our way back home; as soon as Simon found his bike key (well, actually I found it for him in his bag). We decided to chance a different way home, which turned out surprisingly well; we came back to the street that Sanko’s on. This way was also much quicker and much less roundabout. I decided to go to Sanko, since it was right there, and Simon joined me. I picked up the necessary ingredients for tacos tomorrow night, and also got some great, cheap meat. We decided to also take a look at the gym (actually go inside this time) but it was already closed; closes at 5. Getting home, I unpacked, and then rested until dinner time; about 7 o’clock. I had the leftover yakisoba, and added some of the meat I bought today; I also got to try some more of Julie’s vegetable pancakes. After dinner, Rachael and I went down to the lounge to set up for the movie, and Sarah soon followed. We also watched the bloopers and deleted scenes afterwards, which are always enjoyable. Well, time for bed; I had a wonderful day today. Starting gym tomorrow…

Day 192 - 10th of March

10:37pm　セミナーハウス

天気：曇り

Finally back on top of my blog. It’s been another cloudy day, and I’m really craving some decent, warm weather right now; it is spring after all! Anyway, I didn’t let the weather stop me from having a pretty good day... After getting ready in the morning, I spent a little bit of time studying for today’s vocab quiz in Speaking, and then got to uni. The quiz went fine, and we basically spent the rest of the time going over some more keigo grammar patterns; all stuff we’ve seen before. As usual, I went to the convenience store in the break to get a snack, and then sat with Henry, finishing my homework, and doing some reading for Gender and Sexuality. In Reading and Writing, we finished reading the story about the old wood cutter with the big lump on his cheek; we had to practice retelling parts of the story, which was fun. Then I went straight to the 4^th floor, before realising I still had about 20 minutes before my next class. So what did I do; I went and bugged Rachel and Katie in their class (Monsters). It hadn’t started either, so we just talked for a while, and I found out that Katie still wasn’t enrolled in the course; she’d just been sitting in on it the entire time. Which means that, she’s been learning heaps, but doesn’t have to worry about exams, or assignments, or anything; I wish I could’ve done that. Ash and Rachel were going into Hirakatashi after class, so I decided I’d join; with that, I left.

Then it was straight on to Gender and Sexuality. Hester started off explaining mid terms; we have a take home exam, and an in-class quiz. I’m a little concerned about the exam; it needs to be 5-6 pages, and it’s due next Friday. I guess I’ll try not to do too much this weekend; wish me luck. Then he asked for some feedback from the people who went to Takarazuka and everyone had a really positive, enjoyable experience; including me. Then the rest of the class was spent going over OL (office ladies i.e. Japanese women in the workforce), a topic that I’ve already covered in his other course last semester; so it wasn’t anything new to me. Still, if it means that the quiz will be easier for me, I’m not about to complain. Getting out of the classroom, I walked over to monsters, and found that they were still watching a movie; a very gory and disturbing one at that. Finally, it was over and, after figuring out that they had a catch up class this afternoon that they didn’t actually have to go to (since it would be covered in monsters), Ash and Rachel were ready to go.

We walked down into Hirakatashi, which was pleasant apart from the cold, and made our way over to the Saty building. We were, of course, going to Animate on the 5^th floor; both Ash and Rachel were looking for stuff. And when I got there, I couldn’t help buying some stuff. I got another FFXIII clear poster, and found the complete FFVII novel, “On the way to a smile”, in Japanese; Rachael had showed it to me before. So now I have something else to read. I also got an FF: Dissidia post card book, which is really, really cool; not bad for a day’s work. And not nearly as bad as Ash; she really is a compulsive shopper. That done, we had a short browse around the rest of the department store, and then headed out, and back towards uni; but not before a stop at Kiddy Land’s gachapon (again Ash). Getting to the uni, Rachel and Ash decided to continue on the Fresco to do some grocery shopping, so I bade them farewell and made my way home.

I was extremely hungry by this point; it was almost 5, and I hadn’t eaten since 11. So I made myself egg on toast, and felt very full afterwards. Getting back to my room, I skyped my family for a few hours, and got my homework done, finally feeling like eating again a bit after 8. When I got to the kitchen, I found Ash and Rachel, and decided I really wasn’t all that hungry, so I just sat with them and talked for about until 9. It was then, that I finally got up and made some dinner. I made yakisoba, even though I hadn’t defrosted any meat; my vegetables were going bad and I had to use them. Still, it tasted great, and as usual I have plenty left for another meal. I sat with Alvaro, Rebecca, Jeremy, and Chelsea, and we talked about Studio Ghibli, trips to Tokyo, and politics. Before leaving the kitchen I had a Milo, which was a sweat treat. I spotted Simon in the computer room, and caught up with him; we hadn’t had much of a conversation in a while. He told me about his getting lost on a bike ride for 7 hours on the weekend (typical), but said he’d found a shoe shop during that time. So hopefully on Friday, we’ll be going to check it out and finally by some shoes for the gym! So that’s been my day. Got mid-terms coming up next week, and then it’s spring break; it’s all going so fast!