Mt. Fuji is For Learners

Mt. Fuji

Climbing Mt. Fuji was, hands down, the most physically challenging thing I have ever done in my life. Emotionally, it was pretty high up there, too.

I knew Fuji-san would be demanding of me; I’m not a person that usually goes hiking up hills and mountains just for the fun of it, but I knew if I could accomplish this, I would be so proud of myself, it’d be like a badge of honor. I also knew that by going with the group of friends that I did, I would be supported and motivated the entire way, which is what I needed to keep going.

Before heading up, I’d read a few different sites about the experience of going up the mountain. All the information I’d seen said the terrain was easy enough for walking shoes but the seven-hour climb was what gave me the most apprehension. Well, that and the risk of being blown off the side of the mountain by Fuji’s strong winds. Nevertheless, I was determined to do it; to succeed; to prove it to myself that I could do it. I wanted something to be really proud of.

The bus ride from Osaka took a few hours with some stops along the way but when we finally came in sight of the mountain and the bus slowly ascended to Station 5, where we were to begin our journey, a lump of fear began to form in my stomach: was I really about to do this? A friend’s reassuring eyes told me, Yes.

After putting on our warmer gear, having a nice warm meal and a bit of a safety lecture barely understood by me because it was all in Japanese, we set out to conquer Japan’s highest peak.

From Station 5

Starting up the mountain from Station 5 was easy enough. It was 5:30pm and there was still enough daylight to enjoy the flora and fauna of the lower altitudes with nice cool breezes blowing down the slope.

We got to Station 6 without any problems and not much challenge. The way to Station 7 is where it began to get more difficult. The sun was setting fast, the terrain was getting tougher as the altitude got higher and the lush greenery turned into rust-colored volcanic rock. I begin to take more breaks that are a little longer each time.

After Station 6

I’m not breathing properly on the way up to Station 7. Instead of nice, big breaths in through the nose and out through the mouth slowly and evenly, I’m breathing quickly in and out of my mouth. Soon enough my technique (or lack thereof) coupled with the ever-increasing altitude practically brings me to my knees as I struggle up the last of the stone steps to Station 7.

I’m dizzy. I’m practically hyperventilating. A friend squeezes my hand. A Japanese woman generously offers me some oxygen from a small aeresol can in her pack. Another gives me a caramel. The tourguide bringing up the rear phones ahead to the lead to tell him and most of the others that we’ve stopped for an unexpected rest. I stand up. They ask if I’m alright. If I want to continue. I look at my friend, squeeze back, and tell them I can. I will. 出来るよ‼

I’m ashamed now that I’ve shown so much weakness. That I fell behind. I’m ashamed that I needed help from so many strangers. I was more than appreciative of their kindness and concern, but I hate feeling like the weakest link. Especially so early on in the journey. From this point I know I can’t do this again. I have to do better. I have to make it all the way. From this point I am constantly aware of how I’m breathing: big, deep, even breaths in through my nose and out through my mouth. Every once in awhile I get a comforting squeeze in the hand or an encouraging word.

Before I started, I promised myself that I wouldn’t complain. I wouldn’t talk about how tired I was. How difficult it was. And I would never say that I wanted to quit. I promised this not only for myself, but also for my friends. I didn’t want them to question why I would even come on the trip if I was just going to complain and whine the entire way up. I wanted a noble effort.

Moving Up The Mountain

By this time, night had completely fallen. We were now using our headlamps to see the trail ahead of us. The lead and the tourguide flanked both ends of our group carrying flashing blue and white sticks of light. It was extremely helpful seeing as how there were several other tour groups on the mountain following the same trail and in the darkness and growing fatigue it was becoming more and more difficult to determine if the Nihonjin with the dark grey North Face pack belonged to my “Fuji Yama nantoka” group or the “Kyushu nantoka” group. Around 9pm, though, we were heading towards Station 8 which meant a few hours of sleep and a bit of a meal. After almost four hours of climbing and snacking on Calorie Mate, both of those things sounded just heavenly.

Before I could rest, though, I first had to MAKE it to Station 8. I had to keep my head down and my hand in someone’s tight grip because everytime I looked up, that station just seemed further and further away. I was tired. I cried a little. I just wanted a rest. But I refused to complain. I just kept pushing. I went at a slightly slower pace than most of the group but by this time, many others were having their own struggles and I wasn’t the very last person in the group anymore. To me, that alone felt like am accomplishment. I had to help cheer them up, too! 頑張ってしましょう (gambatte shimashou – Let’s do our best)!!

I made it to Station 8 after some time. I got my bed placement (in a hostel-like setup), a small bento of salmon and rice and a much-needed bathroom break. I gobbled down my dinner, popped out my contacts and settled in for just under three hours of sleep.

At 1am we were woken up with lights and a few “Ohayou gozaimasu”’s (although some really loud gaijin outside who had just arrived thirty minutes earlier woke me up with their loud chattering). We had half an hour to get ready before trekking the last three hours to the summit and the sunrise. While we slept, though, the groups had just kept coming so by the time we were ready to leave, the number of tour groups on the mountain had doubled and there was a literal human traffic jam of people wanting to catch that same sunrise.

Now, generally, I don’t like huge crowds of people, and HUNDREDS of people simultaneously crawling up the same path I am would have normally irritated me; but the sheer number of enthusiastic climbers slowed the pace down to a speed I was very comfortable with keeping while maintaining my breathing and constantly telling myself that I could do this.

That was before the collective pace slowed down to a full stop. The last few hundred meters to the top consisted of a path made up of various-sized volcanic rocks that required much careful climbing and maintaining a sure foot lest you lose your balance and what once was a light breeze now evolved to a full-on gust assists in pushing you onto a part if the mountain you would have much trouble returning from with your life still intact.

These last few hundred meters were so difficult for me. As daylight drew closer and closer and the sun threatened to rise whether or not I made it to the summit, it became a personal race for me. I raced my tired body that kept begging for a rest. I raced my exhausted emotions that kept wondering when this challenge would end and if it would be worth it. I raced my guilt at the worry of holding someone else from their goal when they had so patiently encouraged me, cheered me on, and helped me find the strength to make it when I became so exhausted. I definitely couldn’t hold someone else back so I gritted my teeth to find the strength, bit down on my tongue that wanted to scream out about how difficult it was, how much I hurt, how tired I had become… I forcefully blinked through the tears that I could no longer hold in and I struggled up those last 200 meters without holding anyone’s hand.

The Final Tori Gate

When I crossed under the final Tori gate and saw my other friends waiting for me, saving me a spot on the summit, cheering because they knew how much I’d wanted to make it, I cried even more because I knew I had done it. I climbed Mt. Fuji and made it to the top to see the sunrise. A cloudy sunrise, but one from the top of a mountain almost 4,000meters tall.

I rewarded myself with a seat on the edge of the summit, facing the hidden sun and trying to eat a candy bar which was pretty much frozen at such an altitude and temperature (7 celsius). As I watched the clouds drift by slowly, thousands of feet below instead of above, I was thankful and blessed that I had come with such supportive people, knowing I may have never made it by myself.

At the Tori Gate, Cold As Ice

After 40 minutes or so, we began the descent. That was a completely different ordeal. Somehow 3-4 hours spent coming back down seemed more difficult than the seven it took to get to the summit; but it may have also been because I started my period on the way back down and didn’t have any breakfast or real food before starting the descent an ended up almost passing out in the gift shop. But even then, someone was there to take my hand.

I climbed Mt. Fuji and I learned that I am stronger than I think. Although it was difficult and my body is still sore, I accomplished a goal that I wasn’t sure was possible for me. I can be really tough and I have people who will support me if I just have the confidence in myself first. I learned that I have to give something my absolute best before I can ask someone to have so much patience with me.

I’m proud I did it, as crazy as it may have seemed for me to do.

Fuji Bound and Chotto Frightened

As I type this, I’m sitting on a bus headed for Mt. Fuji with the full intention of hiking to the summit. I am also a little scared of Japan’s most mythical mountain.

For the past few weeks I’ve been wondering if I actually have the guts to do it. I knew I had the gumption, hence, the unhesitant “yes!” to a friend’s invitation. As Fuji drew nearer, though, I began to seriously wonder if I could climb all the way up. Not without a few tears did I confide in a close friend joining in on the adventure. They reassured me I could do it and promised to help me up the mountain should I happen to need it.

I wonder now if the experience will have a great impact on me. My dad said “be careful”, my mom said “oh my goodness”, the teachers I work with said I’m crazy and told me to “頑張れ!” One of the teachers I teach English with told me that Japanese people believe that hiking up Fuji-san is a good thing for couples to do before they get married because the experience and working together as a team are great for strengthening the relationship before marriage. I found that very interesting because I hadn’t seen it on any of the Fuji information sites I read.

Sitting on the bus now with a few good friends and thinking about the challenge I’ll face in about 12 hours I feel like I can do it because of who I’m with. They actually inspire confidence in me for this crazy climb.

I’ll send a postcard from the top!

Oh Geez!!!

Gomen, yo. I feel like my Ozzie boys for not updating in over a month.  Andy’s last update was in January and Damon’s was… yipe. He just updated a few days ago so I’ve really gotta get on it.

In any case, I have survived the last vestiges of Winter to experience my first Japanese Spring and all the Sakura that make the Nihonjin go crazy.  In the past month I’ve switched my phone provider from AU to Softbank (yay for free iPhone deal!!); gotten a PitaPa which is a magical card that gives me quick access to most rail lines in the Kansai area, do quick check-outs at many stores, and is a “credit” card that is directly linked to my Japanese bank account so I can do PayPal transfers (except when I recently checked, PayPal changed their system so you can now link directly to a Japanese account… it wasn’t like that before which is why I got the PitaPa… anyway).

As per the Board of Education I am employed under, I switched schools in the beginning of April and luckily, I am still very close to my apartment, which means I can wake up late… out of ~30 foreign teachers in my neighborhood, I believe I’m the last one to leave my apartment for work.  It’s nice.

I’ve also gone to 3 or 4 teachers parties and 4 Sakura-viewing events. Made hella (bad) short self-intro-type speeches in Japanese… Although my Japanese is rapidly improving, I get nervous at making speeches or reading/reciting prepared stuff.  I’m much better when I’m freely speaking… *sigh*  But I’ve had classes with most of my new students and even though I’m at a bad school where the kids don’t really study and score (maybe?) lowest in the district, I’m having a good time because it’s a lot more laid-back, relaxed, and welcoming than my first school.

So I’ll just leave you with some images of the latest goings on.  I will be more prudent about updating =D Enjoy!

The Osamu Tezuka Manga Museumin Takarazuka

You see the camera crew?  Apparently they were filming promo material for the museum and I unwittingly (and a little unwillingly) became an extra while in the manga library. >.<

Damon had a gig at Trinity

My friend Damon had a music gig at Trinity that turned out pretty well… except for the creepy guy butchering several West Coast (California) dances in lame attempts to game on J-girls.

Ijinkan Foreigner House in Kitano, Kobe, Japan

Beth, Che, and I finally visited one of the turn-of-the-20th century foreigner houses that Kobe brags about…. it was aiight.

Crazy monkeys! Don't eat me!

Went to Monkey Mountain, a park in the Arashiyama district of Kyoto and fed a bunch of crazy monkeys from inside a cage.  The big ones were really fat, so I tried to feed the babies.  They were mecha kawaii!!!

Sakura Viewing in Akashi Castle Park

Akashi Park was hellllla crowded that day. I’m so glad I got to enjoy a few hours in an emptier area of the park… plus, no stares.

Sakura in Himeji Castle Park

Many people knew this was probably the last weekend to view Sakura before some rain came and knocked them all down (yesterday); so last weekend at Himeji Castle Park was insanely crowded as well.  My friends and I got a nice spot without too much visual interference (people).   When a strong wind blew, petals would rain down from the trees and it was really lovely.  They got into everything, haha.

Hanami Within Himeji

I imagine it was nice to be a lady living in the castle come Hanami time… this is beautiful!  More shots:

Himeji Castle with Sakura and Trees

Outside the Castle

The last month or so has been crazy, but I’m REALLY looking forward to Spring and Summer.  I feel like I have successfully(?) survived my first “real” winter, which must be why I’ve been hearing Beyonce singing in my head all week.

The weather has been nice and warm lately, you might be able to tell from the beautiful clear blue skies (which will turn grayish come the summer humidity).  Yesterday it rained, though, so the raindrops beat the sakura from the trees and now  petals litter the ground like an autumn scene that has been miniaturized and colored a soft pink.

Sunshine and warm weather make me abundantly happy.

Birthday Cake and Naked Men

Seems that many of my friends are getting sick or injured lately.  I think it may be attributed to a combination of a few things.  First off, as much as I had hoped Spring had finally sprung and I could commence with the reduction of layers (I rock 6-7 layers on the daily), I was wrong.  The weatherman tricked me with a few warm and sunny days and then *BAM*, so suddenly the gray skies and cold and cloudy days returned, almost with a vengeance.  Indeed, I had forgotten I lived in what I like to call Kita-Cuts because Kobe’s Kita-Ward is absolutely notorious for being cold, and Hanayama tops the list like a sadistic snowy layer on a tree-covered-mountain cake. *sigh*

In addition to the cold that refuses to release its icy grip on my part of town, about 10 days ago my friends and I decided to tax our bodies with an insanely-packed weekend.  It started off with a birthday party in Osaka.  My good friend Damon turned 25 so a bunch of us headed directly from our respective schools out to a tiny bar in Shinsaibashi owned by some friends and made it an awesome event.

In A 100-year old Japanese house.

The food was awesome and Damon is a real music-loving guy and most of the Japanese people he meets are involved in the creative arts in some way.  At the party were a rapper who is pretty skilled on acoustic guitar, a DJ, a didgiridoo player that beat-boxes with the rappers, a salaryman magician, and a poi performer who is also a contact juggler (think David Bowie in Labyrinth).

Another guy I’d met before, Jinta, provided the nosh food and the amazing cake, which happened to be the best cake I’ve tasted in quite a long time.  A really fluffy yellow cake with whipped cream and fresh strawberries inside, with more whipped cream and strawberries on top, creating a ring around the edge of the cake with the birthday candles.  The best part was the custom dark-chocolate “album” with “Happy Birthday D-Wolf” scrawled across it.

Scrum-diddly!!!

I mean, seriously, if that thing was a man, I would happily become Mrs. Birthday Cake. It was.that.good.

Anyway, after the festivities wrapped up at that spot, the crazies (that includes myself) decided to STAY in Osaka and make it an all-nighter.  So we headed to an experimental music… thing that was happening until sunrise.  It was quite a walk from the train, and we stopped for food and melon soda (we need it in the States!), and finally got to the tiny gig in a ramshackle structure.  Ended up staying there until 5:30am before deciding to head back home.  It took us 6 train transfers to get back to ‘yama, sweet ‘yama.  I didn’t get to bed until around 8:30 on Saturday morning.

You figured I’d take it mellow, but no.  Woke up a few hours later and headed with a couple people out on another train trip to Okayama, 72 miles West of Kobe, for Hadaka Matsuri, aka Naked Man Festival.  For those wondering what on earth that is, Hadaka Matsuri is a 500-year old festival held every end of (cold as ice) February where thousands of (slightly crazy) men run around for hours in the night in nothing but loincloths and socks through small bodies of water to cleanse and purify themselves before gathering in a temple at midnight to fight for one of two lucky sticks in complete and total darkness.  Thousands more crazy people (including myself) stand around and watch all of this go down.

Swear, Naked Man is one of the craziest things I’ve ever seen in my life.

Delirious J-Guys

Out of respect for them as my friends, and their personal shame, I will not post pictures of my friends and the other gaijin that participated that night dressed in similar fashion.  After several hours of running around like this, though, all the groups slowly proceeded into the temple to await the dropping of the sticks, which, by the way, “guarantee” you a lucky year (and 10,000yen) if you catch it.  I say you’re already lucky if you can catch and keep that sucker without losing your loincloth, a limb, or your freaking life – no lie.

Still Early in the Game, Yet

Many of the groups hadn’t gathered yet, this was still more than an hour before the sticks were dropped.  As the time drew nearer, though, the anticipation was palpable as the crowd got bigger and more uncontrollable.

Fights Started to Break Out

It was really dangerous on the edge as fights were breaking out for better placement, closer to the center of the action, and also because the core group in the middle was continuously swaying from side-to-side with their arms raised in the air… waiting… for those sticks.  To me, it looked like a gay rave and the only thing missing was It’s Raining Men over a techno track… but that was just my observation.

In any case, after all that running around half naked in the 0 Celsius weather, not a single gaijin came out with stick in hand.  They were still lucky, though, because no one got seriously injured or died, like some dude last year!  Silver lining, eh?  That night I didn’t get to bed until around 4am, then had to rush out of the door in the morning to not get charged extra for the accomodations so I couldn’t even enjoy it.

When I got back home, it was raining and I had 20 minutes to sit down before heading back out into the rain to have dinner with my Obaachan friend and her family.  But, I can’t complain.  I only have the slight sniffles while one of my naked friends fully came down with the flu.  And no stick to show for it, even.

Saying Goodbye

My flight back “home” is tomorrow morning and I have so many feelings about my departure.  I feel happy that I will be getting back to my own apartment, sadness that I’m leaving the baby and my family…  That I won’t be able to see her get older and start walking and talking.  I feel regret about not being able to see a few friends I wanted to see before leaving.  I feel apprehensive and excited about getting back into the swing of things at school… starting a new semester trying to teach some kids, trying to work with a teacher who don’t seem to like me too much or at least doesn’t know the meaning of the words “team teaching”.

I think I’m just ready to get things back to normal.  It’s funny that after five months I feel like this has become my “normal” even though I’m still not used to climbing up and down five flights every day.  And I’m still not used to the trek up from the train station.  And I’m still not used to people gawking at me each and every place I go.  And I’m even still not used to the different foods I’m eating everyday.

I guess I’ve already become used to  hearing people all around me speak Japanese instead of Spanish/Chinese/Vietnamese/Tagalog/etc.  I’ve become used to studying Kanji daily.  I’m used to sleeping on a futon.  I’m used to taking three days to dry my clothes enough to wear them… they’re never fully dry, just “not too wet.”  I like living in Japan… for now.  I’ve embraced the differences for the most part.

I’m going home tomorrow and I guess I’m just excited and ready to get back to life as usual.

5-month Restrospection

Okay, so I will freely admit that restrospection after only five months sounds kinds of lame; but as I get ready to head back to The Bay for a short visit with family and maybe a few friends, I know I will be asked many a question about everything I’ve experienced thus far.  This is a good way to get all that out because also, I’m pretty happy about some of the things I’ve done =D  So check out my little accomplishments after the jump!

2008… What Did You DO To Me?!?!

I don’t know if any year of my life has ever been so epic and life-changing.  I was looking over the blogs from the past year and I can’t recall any other time in my life that has been as epic as these as these last twelve months.

In January my Grandmother was diagnosed with bone cancer and after a few months of caring for her weekly, she passed at the end of April this year.  My sister learned she was pregnant and the baby was born in October.  I had also heard from the JET programme about my application just before beginning my last semester of college.

In February I interviewed with JET and both my brother and Grandfather were in and out of the hospital a few times.  March was kind of quiet aside from working on school projects and trying to learn Japanese while I was still waiting to hear back from the JET programme about my interview… that was agonizing.  Oh yeah, and we moved.  I hate moving.

In April I found out I was accepted into JET and just two weeks later my Grandmother passed away.  I drove cross-country three days to attend the funeral.  I also found out the baby would be a girl.  In May I finished my final project for school and graduated with my Bachelor of Arts degree after what seemed like forever.

In June I just spent time with family and in July I spent countless hours staring into my closet figuring out what to bring to Japan.  I had a going away party and in August I moved to Japan.  The last four months of the year have been an absolute whirlwind.  I’ve picked up a lot of Japanese already, I’ve met lots of great people, and have traveled to several places across the country.

Nara, Japan

I’ve had many firsts this year, like a great leap in feeling independent and having a disposable income.  2008 made me feel death, life, divorce, ridiculous drama, knowledge, growth, accomplishment, fear, apprehension, shame, pride… and love.

If this next year is anything like the one that’s coming to a close; I should prepare to get my socks rocked off.  So let’s get ready to eat some mochi, drink some sake (everyone else… not me), and ring the temple bells into the Year of the Cow!

Kobe… The City, Not the Dude.

Pretty much everyone knows the phrase “a picture is worth a thousand words” but the images I saw online before I came do absolutely no justice to my new home. Kobe, while it may be hot and unbearably humid (for me) is ridiculously gorgeous.

It’s a big port city with a lot of shipping going in and out of Osaka Bay so there are cranes dotting the coastal edge of the city and when my flight was landing into Kobe I was surprised at how much it reminded me of the Bay Area.

Kobe and Oakland

The cranes and ships at the water’s edge, the bay, the green hills as backdrop to downtown that you even have to drive through to get to the more suburban part of town on the other side. I didn’t get homesick, but I immediately felt like I would fit right in. My apartment is gorgeous, thanks to my predecessor, and it’s a great size with lots of space for entertaining; which I hope to do in a little while.

My Tatami-floored Living Room

Dining Room

The first event I went to with a lot of the other ALTs was a fireworks show in Osaka. I have no idea why there were fireworks, but Osaka is only a short train ride away so I was down. Osaka was jam-packed full of people but we did find a decent plot of grass to camp out on.  I don’t know what’s up with the Japanese there, but they must LOVE tanning because half the Osaks I saw were darker than some of my family members!!!  When we walked by one group, they kept saying “sugoi!!!” (cool) a lot.  I thought it was so funny that they were so interested in us.  It was sugoi, though because I love talking to Japanese people… especially the little kids, they just FREAK OUT when I speak to them on the trains or in a department store…. be it in Japanese or English!

After a few hours, though, the Osaka skies changed and pretty soon lightning we’d seen far off in the distance got closer and closer to us, was accompanied by thunder, and very quickly broke into a rain shower.

The group quickly picked up our tarps and everyone huddled together on the ground trying to stay out of the rain because we hadn’t thought of bringing umbrellas, even though it seems to rain quite often here in Japan during the summer. After a while, though, my legs were hurting from crouching under the tarp, so I just said, “forget it” and came out from under the tarp and stood in the rain for a while and soon after that the fireworks started (yeah, they did them anyway, rain and all) then everyone else just stood in little clusters under different tarps watching the show. I’ve never watched a fireworks show in the rain and I was soaked, but it was AWESOME!

After the show was over, a few of us wanted to go do karaoke but didn’t want to wait in the giant line of people exiting the place, so we scaled a wall, ran down a grassy slope that was slicker than normal because of the rain, and headed back to Kobe and belted out some awesome tunes. Climbing that wall I felt like someone crossing a border wall or something because it was pretty steep, we all got kinda messy, but it was probably one of the best experiences I’ve ever had.

The rest of the week was relatively mild: hoofing it all over Sannomiya and downtown Kobe learning where stuff is, touring a jr. high school, and 4 straight days of Japanese lessons. I also had a monstrously difficult banking situation for several days that got resolved the other day, but it made me angry because no one at any bank branch at home explained international banking laws to me and kept saying that things would be the same in both countries, even after I told several people that I would be moving out of the country and would not be doing many transactions from the States. Stupid bank.

There was also a food party hosted by one of the ALTs in my neighborhood. The great thing about Kobe is that there is a fantastic cultural mix, so there are people not only from the States, but also from Canada, the UK, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Jamaica, Barbados, Trinidad & Tobago, and more. Since there are so many different people here, another girl from the States and myself decided to introduce people to the S’more.

The Smore

First, I’d asked if people from other countries knew what it was. When I explained that it was melted marshmallow on top of a bit of chocolate sandwiched between two graham crackers there were some mixed reactions. Then after explaining to them what a graham cracker was, some people said it sounded awfully sugary, which, admittedly, it is. But I also explained that most people generally only have one s’more in a single sitting.

At the party I thought, “Hey, maybe this is not the greatest stereotype to reinforce about people from the States: that we love sugary snacks that could easily make you diabetic. But that was before an Aussie guy walked in with a plate of “Fairy Bread” and the girl from New Zealand shrieked in delight.

Fairy Bread... an Aussie and Kiwi favorite

Everyone from the U.S. was like, “what the *heck* is ‘Fairy Bread’?” Basically it’s a piece of buttered bread with colored sprinkles on it. It’s good, but I laughed so hard when bread-lovers talked about how you’d be the most popular kid in elementary school if your mom brought in Fairy Bread for snacks or something. No one from back home would even try to bring s’mores as a class snack because everyone sort of agreed it was just too much sugar! But it was hilarious.

That incident is one of the many examples of why I know I’m gonna like it here *humming Annie soundtrack* People seem really easy to get along with here. Not everyone gets along with everyone else, but I haven’t had any problems, so yay!

Today I’m just going to keep in mellow, probably stay in my neighborhood, do laundry, watch a movie, etc. Hopefully I can update soon; next week is summer school and I know that’s going to be hilarious.

P.S. Here’s a link to some pictures I took with my phone.

I’M IN TOKYO!!!

So I’ve made it to Tokyo, safe and sound after a 10-hour flight.  Relatively easy compared to other folks.  I’ve never flown across the ocean before, so it was pretty cool.  Now I know how Alaskans feel in the middle of summer because the entire flight, the brightness of the sun never dwindled, and when we touched down it was 5:30pm local time, and 1:30am back home.

That was about two days ago and surprisingly, I’m not jet-lagged at all; I think it’s because I hadn’t been sleeping well the last two weeks in California, but I’m glad because that made me able to stay up and go sightseeing!

The first night here, after getting checked in at the hotel and all that stuff, everyone had to go find dinner themselves, so I went out with two other girls from my prefecture and went exploring.  In the picture above, the Hotel we’re in is literally two blocks to the right.  The store on the corner is like a Japanese Fry’s Electronics or Best Buy.

Punch a button, get a meal ticket, turn it in.

We went to a restaurant where you stand at a machine, select what you want after you put in your money, punch a button with a picture of what kind of food you want and a little ticket pops out.  I didn’t feel like experimenting with a new food when I was absolutely famished, and I didn’t like any of the pictures because I couldn’t tell what everything was, all I could decipher was かつ (Katsu), which means ‘pork’ and I really felt like having chicken.  The only thing I ended up punching in was for miso soup, which cost ¥60, which is about 60¢ in USD.

I wanted more than miso, so when we sat down and handed our tickets to the waitress.  I waited a little while but knew I’d be hungry later so I asked the waitress for some rice, but I don’t speak very much Japanese at all so it went a little something like:

ME: Um… sumimasen (excuse me), can I have, umm… ichi gohan kudasai (one [cooked]rice please).

WAITRESS: [JapaneseJapaneseJapanese] Gohan [JapaneseJapanese] hyaku rokuju-en kudasai (¥160)

Two minutes later I had a hot steaming bowl of rice set before me.  I was so stoked.  And that’s when it really hit me that I would be living in Japan for the next year (or possibly more) and I said excitedly “I will not starve in this country!!!”  I felt like Hiro in Heroes… I wanted to scream “YATTA!!!“

Yesterday for breakfast the hotel had a buffet of two kinds of bacon, toast, yogurts, cereals, fresh fruit, eggs, green salad, and french fries.  Yes, that’s correct, FRENCH FRIES.  I know we’re predominantly all from the West, but I thought it was funny and cute that they offered us french fries.  They weren’t too far off, though, because I saw several people with fries on their plates.  This morning the potato dish was more like a pakora-looking disk thing, but not deep-fried.

Weirder than the French Fries, though, were the eggs.  It was like they’d soft-scrambled the eggs, added in extra yolks that had been boiled, then mixed it all together with some grits.  It’s an interesting taste combination.  Some people didn’t like it, but I ate a little bit both today and yesterday.

So then there was lots of Orientation stuff from morning to afternoon but I missed one of the sessions and went over to Harajuku with a girl from my city and a guy she knew.  Sunday is the “fashion parade” sort of day where all the people come decked out and everything, but yesterday was Monday, so we missed a little bit of that, but it was still interesting.  I got some video footage so I’ll post that up later; but the streets really were as crowded as in the photo.

Luckily the girl from my city really loves Harajuku (and DISNEYLAND!) so we both plan on coming back sometime in the next 12 months, so I’m excited about that, for sure.

We made it back in time for the Welcome Ceremony and the Kanpai (toast); and later on around 9 we went out into Shinjuku.  It was 91 degrees Farenheit, 98% humidity, and it started raining.  That’s when I was the most happy about not relaxing or straightening my hair because I didn’t have to worry about it frizzing up or anything, YAY!  We took purikura pictures and that was hilarious, I’ll have to scan them in later.

Came back, showered, crashed, and woke up.  It’s my big sister’s birthday today, so HAPPY BIRTHDAY ERICA!!!  I wish I could be there to celebrate and all that, but I’ll have to send you a present in a couple weeks. =D  For now, I have to go because another round of Orientation sessions is going to start soon.  Tomorrow morning I’ll be leaving for Kobe and hopefully *fingers crossed*, internet will already be set up in my apaato.